Anyway I thought I'd take this moment to give you my take on something else that has not been with us for a while.......and by that of course I mean.........
Yes after 19 years the man in the hat returned to the big screen. (Stop reading now if you have not seen the movie and are planning to. Unless you don't mind spoilers.)
Overall I enjoyed the movie very much. It was fun, exciting, funny, and for the most part captured the spirit of what Indiana Jones movies are all about.
However, there were a few things about this movie that I really could have done without. So without further ado I present you with the "Cringe Moments" of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Cringe moment #1- The atomic bomb.
Now while the special effects were cool in this sequence and the science of leads abililty to shield a human from the radiation that an atomic bomb creates is accurate, this movie makes one teeny tiny oversight.
THERE IS NOT A REFRIGERATOR THAT HAS EVER BEEN CREATED THAT CAN WITHSTAND THE BLAST AND SHOCKWAVE OF A NUCLEAR EXPLOSION!!!!!
Sorry about that. So anyway our hero after escaping from the Soviets at the begining of the movie find himself at a nuclear testing facility at the time that a test of an atomic bomb is taking place. To save himself he hides in a lead lined refrigerator and manages to ride out the explosion and subsequent shockwave with only a few bumps and bruises to show for it.
Cringe Moment #2- The Shia/Tarzan moment
He freakin' swings on vines with a bunch of monkeys following him. While a nice homage to Tarzan not really necessary for the story.
Cringe Moment #3- The alien angle
Now while for another movie the whole alien/inter-dimensional being storyline would work fantastically, in an Indiana Jones movie it only works well. See in my opinion one of the best things about the other three movies is that for all the fantastic supernatural things that happen, there is no scientific explanation of why. The only thing we are left with is the idea that there are somethings that have no scientific explanation and can only be followed by faith.
To actually state in the movie that the whole basis for a religion is because of alien influence is, again in my humble opinion, not faithful to one of the major themes of the whole series.
Cringe Moment #4- The hidden natives
I have my brother to thank for getting me to think of this one, but the temple where the climax of the movie takes place is located in a lost civilization that has not been visited by outsiders for hundreds of years. Yet when our heros make there way through a pyramid on their way to it there are natives that just happen to be hiding in nooks and crannies just waiting for outsiders to pass by so they can kill them.
Cringe Moment #5- The flying saucer
Again a cool special effect but very cliche and not needed. Since the aliens were supposedly form another dimesion and not another planet it would have been just as easy to make the temple dissapear through a portal instead of having a giant flying saucer come up out of the ground and fly away.
Well that's it. Again the movie as a whole is extremely enjoyable and let's face it, it ain't everyday that an Indiana Jones movie comes out. So go see it and enjoy. I look forward to discussing it with you.
'Til we meet again
Paul
