Yesterday, I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it though I think it wasn’t quite as good as the earlier films.
This film was certainly much much better than the Star Wars sequels (well technically prequels). I think the credit for that goes largely to Steven Spielberg. I read that Spielberg insisted on using stuntmen instead of CGI, and CGI effects were used only when absolutely necessary. I think the film is much better off for it.
For the most part I enjoyed the Star Wars prequels. I think each of them improved on the previous one, not coincidently because each successive film had less Jar Jar Binks. But none approached the quality of the original trilogy. I think they suffered in part because of George Lucas’s fascination with digital effects and the emphasis of those effects over the story. While I originally thought the idea of revisiting the original trilogy and improving the special effects was a good one, watching those films now many of those new effects seem superfluous and distracting.
But the Indiana Jones film does not suffer from these problems at all. It is a very good film in it’s own right. Also, Indiana Jones is now clearly a Republican. When asked for his last words by the villain, he replies “I like Ike.”
That’s something else I liked about the movie. While filmed in brilliant color, it was one of the more black and white films of recent memory. Aside from a nod to McCarthyism, the Americans were clearly the good guys and the Soviets were clearly the bad guys. Not that every film has to be like that, but it would be nice to see Hollywood produce a few more patriotic action films. I think they would do well at the box office.
In the meantime here are two interesting articles I found about Indiana Jones I would recommend.
10 Awesome Indiana Jones Facts
Indiana Jones 10 Finest Moments
This film was certainly much much better than the Star Wars sequels (well technically prequels). I think the credit for that goes largely to Steven Spielberg. I read that Spielberg insisted on using stuntmen instead of CGI, and CGI effects were used only when absolutely necessary. I think the film is much better off for it.
For the most part I enjoyed the Star Wars prequels. I think each of them improved on the previous one, not coincidently because each successive film had less Jar Jar Binks. But none approached the quality of the original trilogy. I think they suffered in part because of George Lucas’s fascination with digital effects and the emphasis of those effects over the story. While I originally thought the idea of revisiting the original trilogy and improving the special effects was a good one, watching those films now many of those new effects seem superfluous and distracting.
But the Indiana Jones film does not suffer from these problems at all. It is a very good film in it’s own right. Also, Indiana Jones is now clearly a Republican. When asked for his last words by the villain, he replies “I like Ike.”
That’s something else I liked about the movie. While filmed in brilliant color, it was one of the more black and white films of recent memory. Aside from a nod to McCarthyism, the Americans were clearly the good guys and the Soviets were clearly the bad guys. Not that every film has to be like that, but it would be nice to see Hollywood produce a few more patriotic action films. I think they would do well at the box office.
In the meantime here are two interesting articles I found about Indiana Jones I would recommend.
10 Awesome Indiana Jones Facts
Indiana Jones 10 Finest Moments
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