Friday, May 23, 2008

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull

Venue: Seri Q-lap Cinema
Show: 9.30pm screening
Snacks: Bottle of mineral water and some gum


Hmmmmm.... where do i begin?... Let's start off with WTF? Haha.... Oh mannnn, i'm gonna be honest with you guys, i was really looking forward to this movie,i mean as soon as i heard that they were gonna make a 4th Indy(ie?) movie, i was stoked! I didn't care that Harrison Ford would probably be 70 or whatever he is now, (he's like 66 now btw), I mean c'mon the last Indy movie was in 1989! That's like Star Wars the prequels style anticipation for me!... Haha, which obviously was another George Lucas/Harrison Ford partnership (plus since the Indy movies are directed by a certain Mr. Spielberg, one could argue that Indy movies are better than Star Wars movies, hahaha, but i didn't say that and i don't wanna make trouble!)


Anyway, back to the movie, it stars Harrison Ford as Indy (obviously), Cate Blanchett as Spalko the 80s Russian baddie, Shia LaBeouf as Mutt the hotheaded sidekick/offspring/future Indy, Ray Winstone as Mac the friend/traitor/friend again/traitor again/friend again?, and other acting heavyweights like John Hurt and Jim Broadbent. The movie basically starts off with Indy being "forced" into a new adventure to look for his friends and the treasure (i.e. The Crystal Skull).


The Director with the cast... note the lack of eye candy


Somehow, the premise seems a bit formulaic, the storyline is basically the same, Indy is "forced into looking for the treasure by the bad guys, but also at the same time try and rescue his friends, they discover the treasure and treasure turns out to be pandora's box... to see what i mean watch the other Indy movies, and also see the recent pretenders to the Indy throne such as Sahara and National Treasure, but hey why mess with such a tried and tested formula eh?...


Indy and Indy Jr.


Mr. Spielberg please leave your aliens out of the Indy series,I mean you've had them in E.T., Close Encounters and War of the Worlds, did you really need them in Indy? I mean sure, you could have hinted that aliens were involved or whatever, but did you really have to actually show them?... Damnnnnnn..... and thanks to Aprilsky for reminding me, what's with the 13 crystal skeletons combining to form the alien? Whattttt?.... :-p


I honestly love the Indy movies, i mean, what's not to love right?, adventure, treasure, awesome hero, etc, and this 4th instalment has all those things AND MORE!... but let me just say this, Mr. Spielberg/Lucas, sometimes less really is more...


"If Willis and Stallone can still do it, so can I!"


Please don't think that i'm saying that i didn't like the movie, because i did like it, but it could have been so much more, if only it didn't have so much "extra" (haha, geddit?) in it... The action sequences were still pretty awesome, Harrison Ford can still kick ass, though i would have liked to have seen more of his trademark sense of humour and one liners, although maybe there could have been a bit more action in the movie, but i can understand, as Harrison Ford really isn't as young as he used to be! but the fedora hat and whip are still iconic aspects of the movie... Shia LaBeouf was pretty good too, i'm definitely thinking there's more to Even Stevens than Meets the Eye (hahaha... i did it again!), Cate Blanchett was good as usual, but i couldn't help thinking that the Cold War was over, and so i had to remind myself that the movie was set way back then, poor russians, hahaha... but hey at least the baddies aren't muslim extremists this time eh?


Indy Icons - This picture got all the fanboys giddy with excitement



Personally i'd like to give this movie 2 ratings:

Rating before all the "extras" - 4.5/5

Rating after all the "extras" - 2.5-3/5 (Did they get the endings for Indiana Jones 4 and X-Files 2 mixed up?)

11 comments:

aprilsky said...

oh no! spielberg made one indy fan reaall angryy!
ahahaha
i thought the movie was so-so man.. it was abit nostalgic though.. watchin indy back on the big screen.. and its like u said, they used the same formula from the old indy movies to keep the "flavour" intact.. but i dont know.. i guess it's not as awesome as before..
as for the x-files plot.. i thought it wasnt that bad mann.. although abit far-fetched.. hehe it was alright laa.. since im a big alien fan anyways.. some parts are a bit lame though.. but anyways.. its still an enjoyable movie, just dont get ur hopes up too high. 3/5 for me

A Baharein said...

I have a slight feeling that april would like 'his' endings...hahaha....

Anyways...where do i begin? I'm also gonna start by, What...The...EEEF..??? I was really looking forward to this one...INDIANA JONES IS BACK....and theres more treasure hunting...the famous brown fedora and whip crackling! Heck, i even played "Indiana Jones and the City of Atlantis" in my Apple CGA Computer when i was like what, 11? So hey...lets catch a movie of Indy going for El Dorado! Besides, it is the most scripted mythical golden city that everyone know off. LETS SEE WHATS IN STORE FOR US WITH SPIELB-ERRR. So, where do i start? An old indy came to frame and i was really excited to see the now mr Baggy pants of an old Indiana. with the russians came to frame, and saw the HANGAR being Area 51, i smell something is going to be....extra terestrial...I mean yea, Cold war, Yuri mind-powers, the search for greater power..the research was well done to be honest. Thought that it might be a VODOO mystical and aint GALAXY LIKE SILVER SURFER TYPE, get it? I Also had some laughs when Ox was the Stoned Hippie, lol... but to be frank, i do find the storyline to be a bit loose here n there, without the funny 'indy' jokes and the authentic feeling to the movie. I didnt mind one bit really of the used of CGI, since we are in the modern age of technology and it does help to bring frames alive.. but the question is...why would YOU WANT TO BRING YOUR AFFILIATION WITH ALIENS TO THE PICTURE? YES! and WHY MUST U BRING THE ALIEN...BACK TO EJKWAFLAWFEW#$! SERIOUSLY, I WAS LAUGHING SO HARD YESTERDAY WHEN I SAW THAT!!!.. EEEEEEEEEEE.TTTTTTT! Spielberg is a MORON. I'm sorry if ive offended any spielberg fans out there but hey, it's like u'r teasing us with the aliens man.

Theres nothing more to talk about after that scene and all i could think about is e.ts face. I rate the same as ZKZ...but I'm gonna drop a "ATOMIC BOMG" for after the alien bits. i'm givin it a ZERO. and to think of previewing it in Cannes festival is..quite the Extra Terestrial.

A Baharein said...

just for fun, they should've put this instead,

"Spielberg and the lost Alien".

Z K Z said...

HAHAHAHA... and i thought my review was bad.... fedora hat's off to atipsky! hahaha, i do agree with you though for the most part bro!

Aprilsky... you love your aliens! hahaha...i was waiting for the alien in Indy 4 to say "E.T. phone home..." Hahahahahahaha

aprilsky said...

boo!
too many alien haters here
haha
anyways u guys should catch x-files 2 in july
u know why?
coz dis time there's NO aliens in it. seriously. only monsters this time around.
hahaha

"i want to Knoww" - Irina Spalko

Z K Z said...

hahahaha... dude hulk coming out this month... looking good!

A Baharein said...

apsal alien kene otak dia besar, skull besar...asal alien tak otak kecik, kene hebat? theres only one race of being thats perfect in all ways....aka HUMANS.

Alien aka Aprilsky aka Axe Files.

Anonymous said...

lost in translation

King Shen said...

hahaha i was reading your review half way when i realised the word alien and quickly closed it. SPOILER ALERT man..

Watched it yesterday with low expectations and it pretty much turned out the way i thought it would. I didnt mind the aliens concept, but really wish that the ending wasn't "oh hi thanks for my head and now im off. Bye". I really thought the head would power up this city or something but when it turns out indy was just a delivery boy, it really is a letdown compared to all the other indy films.

Still im an indy fan and i got to see him probably for one last time. 3/5 purely coz i luv indy.

p/s- i think its a nice touch that they brought back the chick from Raiders of the Lost Ark to be the mother to indy's child. And shia labeouf was actually decent.

aprilsky said...

haha king shen for once i agree with u man
thanks for the head! bye! zooom!
hahaha

danielkrane said...

fuuuh, thanks to your reviews, im seriously considering on skipping the movie and saving me 10 bucks HAHA, somehow the thought of indiana playing aorund with aliens doesnt fancy me hoh hoh