Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Geneseo moviegoers looked and sounded disappointed after a screening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on Thursday, Aug. 28, at the Wadsworth Auditorium.
“In the other movies, at least the story was relatively believable,” said Donald Walters, a SUNY Geneseo senior and long-time fan of the series. “It was hard for any part of this story to be plausible.”
For instance, the plot included aliens and a psychic super weapon (a stretch even by Indiana Jones’ standards), the special effects felt forced, the dialogue was over-acted and one outlandish scene saw Jones escape a nuclear blast by hunkering down in a refrigerator (really a true testament to the versatility of the appliance?).
“I couldn’t get over the refrigerator scene,” said Greg White, a SUNY Geneseo senior and biology major. “It’s almost as if they gave Indiana Jones superpowers by letting him do what he did.”
And while Harrison Ford, 64, is getting up in age, he still performed a majority of his own stunts. Also, fans should be delighted with the return of Jones’ old flame, love interest Marian Ravenwood (Karen Allen). Henry “Mutt Williams” Jones III (Shia LaBeouf) has relatively good chemistry with the returning actors,and it shows.
Still, that wasn’t enough to recapture all of the nostalgia of the first three films, but was good enough for the film to gross $780 million worldwide, due to the reputation of the series (The Last Crusade won an Oscar in 1990) as well as filmmkers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, who collaborated on the film.
Nearly 20 years in the making, the film felt like a half-hearted run to the bank by both Spielberg and Lucas. It’s only a necessary see for only the most dedicated of fans, but otherwise it’s a huge disappointment.
Rating: five out of 10 stars
