My Thoughts on Indy 4

I've been putting off this post for a few days now because I wanted to give most people a chance to see the movie over the long weekend. I imagine some still haven't seen it, but I've had so many people asking my opinion that I just couldn't wait any longer to put it down in words. I will warn the wary reader now that there may be VERY MINOR SPOILERS about the plot of the movie in this post, so if you don't want to know anything at all come back and read after you've seen it. I will try hard to be as generic as possible when it comes to plot points.

First of all, this Indiana Jones experience has been more than just the movie for me. While the movie was the culmination of the entire experience, it is still a piece of a bigger pie. I will go as far as saying that the presence of Indiana Jones in pop culture these last few months has been exhilarating. For the first time in my life, Indy is popping up at the grocery store, on TV ads and in the toy aisles. My collector's mindset has been drooling over all the cool statues, figurines, etc. that I could add to my collection. Attending the midnight showing of the movie was the natural conclusion to all of the hype.

And fortunately, I was in no way disappointed with the movie. I, along with just about everyone else, had built up enormous amounts of expectations which no movie ever made could live up to. It's a miracle that the movie withstood all the reviews from people with unrealistic expectations. I, for my part, was entertained for the whole two hours and enjoyed seeing my favorite action hero back at it. The action was intense and, for the most part, in true Indy style. The opening sequence proved that Harrison Ford is still not only in good form but was made to play Indiana Jones.

The movie, however, had its share of faults, but none of them were any different than what's common in most action movies (clunky dialog, wooden characters, over-the-top action). There was one scene which should have been left on the cutting floor involving jungle vines and a certain sidekick (if you've seen it, you know exactly what I'm talking about). I think that much of the nit-picking leveled against this movie could have been leveled against some parts of the previous movies, so it didn't bother me. People have gotten more hyper-critical in the past twenty years.

A couple specific things I wanted to discuss: the sci-fi element of the film and the much-maligned character of Mutt. If there is one element that links the original films together it is the fact that they were an homage to the Saturday-morning adventure serials of the 1930's. If the 30's element had been maintained in Indy 4, it would've been a little anachronistic. In order to maintain the spirit of the originals, an Indy movie set in the 50's would have to pay homage to the popular fare of the 50's: science-fiction. In this respect, I think Indy 4 perfectly maintained an important element of the series while still giving us the adventure thrills we expect. I know many will disagree with me, but that's ok. I'm open to the dialog. I was uncertain what I thought after I first saw it as well. My other point of interest is the relationship of Indy and his sidekick Mutt. I thought that the chemistry between these two was one of the highlights of the movie, and Shia LaBeouf played an outstanding character who was both interesting to watch and believable. Ford and LaBeouf could carry another movie, if there ever is one.

Well, this ended up being longer than I thought, but I've spent a lot of time thinking about the movie. I've found that the longer I'm away from my initial viewing, I find more to like about it. I will definitely be seeing it again, and the second time I won't have to worry about bloated expectations. Overall, the movie was just shy of being great, and it's better than any other adventure fare the studios have been throwing at us the past nineteen years. If adventure has a name, it must be Indiana Jones!