Indy Fever

Here is Nate, all dressed up at the theater. He was so excited, which was very cool to be a part of!


For the past six months or so, what can only be describe as Indy Fever has descended on our household. It started when Nathan, possibly the world's biggest Indiana Jones fan, introduced our son Gabriel to the first and third movies (the second is WAAAY to graphic and disgusting). As he fast-forwarded the scary parts, it soon became clear that Gabe would be as big a fan, if not bigger, than his dad.
Thus followed several months of my sons playing Indiana Jones nonstop. Gabriel would come home from school and tell me that the boys had played "IJ" at recess. (Yeah, you guessed it, more Indiana!) Then quickly followed individual fedora hats for the boys, Asher's curtain swinging adventures, and action figures with real whip-cracking sounds and wise-cracking remarks, recorded straight for Harrison's own mouth! Oh, and don't get me started on all the Jones Lego sets we now own.

Last night, Nathan and I went to see the newest installment -- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Nate even dressed up for the occasion, in his Indy gear, including his fedora and whip. People at the theater seemed to appreciate the efforts, and as we stood in line for the the super screen doors to open, I began to think to myself ... after nearly 20 years of waiting (The Last Crusade came out in 1989, if you can believe that!), how can this movie POSSIBLY live up to the lore, legend and pure hype that has been building around the series? The answer? It can't. Not really.

It was a good movie, don't get me wrong. But it wasn't superior. Nate and I left feeling like we'd enjoyed ourselves, but that maybe, if we had put our heads together, we could have come up with a better screenplay. Don't get me wrong -- there was plenty of action. Lots of tombs and tomb raiding and all that jazz -- I had been nervous about the whole alien plot line that I had heard rumors about -- I didn't think I could buy into that within an Indy storyline. The strange thing is ... they ALMOST sold me on it. Almost ... Up until about the last half hour, when it got kinda bizarre. (I would almost have preferred it to be more ambiguous and mysterious than it already was).

But the movie was -- all in all -- mostly fun .... a little campy ... a little cheesey ... a little fake at parts ... almost too many visual/special effects ... the first half was the best, and I agree with the critics that Harrison didn't seem all that old. I mean sure, he seemed OLDER, that's a given, but he didn't seem ancient. (as Shia LaBeouf remarks in one scene, "What are you, 80?") No, he didn't seem 80, but my issues with Indy in this movie had nothing to do with his age really .... he wasn't quite the earthy, nitty-gritty Indy with the eternal swagger and snappy one-liners that put people in their place.... like the Indy he used to be. He was more ... tired ... slow on the swagger and delivery of lines .... okay, so maybe that IS his age. It was also interesting to see him more reserved ... like his own dad was in Indy 3. A kind of cool turning of the tables.
Karen Allen, returning as Indy's love interest, seems to have lost her ability to act somewhat. Her line delivery seemed a bit off, a tad overdone, as if she hadn't been in front of a camera in a good long while. The last scene of the movie, which I won't divulge, is something I could have done without. I would have prefered less romance (I can't believe I'm saying that) and more pizzaz from Indy, who, dare I say, may have been exiting the scene for good????
All in all, a good film. Much more archaeology than I was expecting, but a story line that I didn't QUITE end up buying in the end. Not as gruesome as Indy 2, but not as fun as Indy 3 and all in all -- it seemed like all the parts were there to make the familiar old machine run ... but things were just a bit rusty from disuse.



Nate is ready to go see Indy!


The boys were super jealous, and wanted to come too. Too bad!!


Me and my Indy!!