Indy Returns, (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (DVD))

Member Name: Scottyboy_Peanut

Product:	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (DVD)
Date:	08/05/09 (9 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: As always Harrison Ford turns in a great performance.

Disadvantages: Why so much CGI?

Well this seems to be the season when all the old films are finishing off the series with one last outing before the star attraction, in this case Harrison Ford, gets too old to do it.

It's impossible to watch the new Indy film without thinking of what came before it and hoping that this is more of the same. Exciting, breathtaking, funny, the previous efforts had it all. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had a lot to live up to. For me, sadly it doesn't. It's not the disaster some would have you believe (South Park for example!) but is without doubt the weakest in the Indy series.

I always found the previous films quite exhausting as we were taken from one scene with near fatal consequences to the next with a near death experience. It kind of felt like what could go wrong would go wrong but it didn't' matter because Indy could save the day and get out of it no matter what happened. There was a certain element of realism in the impossibilities that Indy was faced with and I'd sit back and say "What a Guy," as he swaggered out victorious once again.

This new offering is a different take on the action adventure genre and not one I am so keen on. When watching it the first thing that came into my mind is that it was like Indiana Jones meets Roger Rabbit. A little CGI can enhance the special effects but there is a little too much here for my liking. Escaping unscathed from certain death is impressive in Die Hard because the danger seems real and deadly. On the other hand none of us are impressed when Daffy Duck is shot point blank in the face and survives with little more damage than having to pick his beak up from the ground. We just laugh.
Ok that comparison is a little bit on an exaggeration on the differences between this and the previous trilogy. It's not that I believed the old ones were real but there was some part of my brain that could believe it if I wanted it to. With this one, I really can't.

I am not saying this is a bad film overall. If it was called something other than Indiana Jones and didn't' star Harrison Ford then I'm sure we'd all hope there would be a sequel. I guess that's what happens when you revisit an old friend after so long. Sometimes old friends change and move with the times and we're left wishing they hadn't.

Summary: A little disappointing but really not that bad.