Rating of
3/4
Despite Monkeys, It's Still Good
Alex - wrote on 05/26/08
[Update 2-2-09] I rented this again. It is way better the second time. In fact, if you watch this one and think it is full of material that would never happen, watch Last Crusade...or any of them for that matter. The progressively get more and more ridiculous. Despite a few extremely weak moments, this is still a lot of fun. Also, if you listen to the special features on the DVD, you can tell the Spielberg blames Lucas for it sucking. Another reason why I hate Lucas.
Am I a spoiled little brat? Yes. But you can't blame me or my parents. One must blame Spielberg. My entire life I have grown up with Indiana Jones. I knew nothing before him and I will never have the chance to know anything before him. What were movies like with out Raiders of the Lost Ark? Probably a little less action and a little more serious. So many films have come and gone and none have matched the true fun and Genius of the series. I personally love Temple of Doom - if not for the opening scene, but for the action and the humor - possibly the funniest.
To review "Crystal Skull" in the fairest way possible, I must compare it to the other 3 films. So, for the first time I will dissect the movie based on key components.
Cheesiness: To be fair to all of the movies, none of them are too real with guns going off 5 feet away and rocks coming out of cliffs. But, Crystal Skull goes beyond real or quasi real and jumps right into cheese. Swinging monkeys? WTF! That could, would, and never should happen - nor could he ever catch up to a car. whose idea was this? A lead bed refrigerator exploding out of a dummy town?! There were better ways to do both of these scenes and these were the only two scenes were I felt Lucas and Spielberg had a little too much to drink before they decided to direct this flick. Despite these two major, major FLAWS there were strokes of genius. The opening scene for one as well as some great moments between Ford and LaBeouf.
Acting: LaBeouf would have out dueled Ford here if he would have been on screen more. Ford is a good actor but there were times that he may have lost his mind with age. A couple of times I felt he over acted pretty bad and had lost some of the confidence he gained in the other movies.
Plot: Not too bad, but the way the family comes together is a little bit too odd. It would have been better if we didn't see it coming, but instead we saw it coming before the movie was even released.
Music: Pretty good - a little cheesy though. John Williams has lost some adult themes along the way and now we are left with some music that doesn't add to the story - other than the theme song.
Sound Effects: Amazing. Like always, ford is in a battle - but he wins despite his age. Good work here with all aspects. Top Notch.
CGI: Not good. I prefer the old style. Ants crawling on ants looked pretty bad. Not to mention - why did you have to make a ground squirrel CGI? It looked bad and was unnecessary. I think Spielberg should use Weta Digital next time instead of ILM - they are not good anymore.
To put this in line with action adventure movies, I can safely say it is as good as The Mummy and The Mummy returns. Watch all five great adventure movies (Indiana Jones and The Mummy) and I am sure you will see what I mean. As for where this one stacks up, only a second viewing will really tell.
