Film Pundits

Indiana Jones helped define the movies of a generation and found his way into the hearts of many of the teens and children from that generation. The newest installment of the series, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, opened last Thursday with big fan fare. Since it was graduation night for many of the schools in the area, we thought it would be the perfect time to slip into an early showing without a lineup.

We were wrong.

The line began twenty minutes before the theater even opened – unusual for any movie at four in the afternoon. There were kids of all ages who had their parents in tow, and there were just as many parents who had their kids in tow.

The new installment starts out in typical Indy style – action, bad guys and escape. Unlike past movies, it seemed a bit forced (and ridiculous at times) and the special effects were not so special.

The first hour and a half is filled with slow, painful dialogue that doesn’t add very much to the movie. The plot twists are not that inventive, and you can see some of them coming from a mile away. This was the first movie I have been to in a long time with people freely going in and out of the theater. No one was afraid of missing anything important (or impressive).

I would have been completely disappointed if it were not for the last thirty minutes of the movie. This showed the Indy that I grew up loving. The last part is fast paced, offers great action, and even with the usual predictability of some situations, it still kept the attention of the entire audience (no more moving around).

I do NOT recommend taking younger children (under 10) to see this movie. There are a couple of grisly scenes that made many of the kids in the audience crawl into their parent’s lap. The sad thing is that if the producer and director had left out those couple of scenes and had taken out the two curse words, then the movie would have been more suited for the whole family to enjoy.

All and all, I would say that if you have to go see it then be sure to get some snacks before it starts. You will need them to help you get through the first part of the movie. If you can wait, then this is definitely one I would save my money on and rent the DVD when it comes out.