Indiana Jones: SPOILERS!!

Chris and I got to see the new Indy movie this past Saturday (thanks Cindy for babysitting!) Before I comment on the new movie, here are some thoughts on the first three films:

Raiders of the Lost Ark: Clearly the best of the bunch. This is one of the most flawless movies ever made. Indiana Jones is the role Harrison Ford was born to play. The storyline is tight, the action scenes awesome, and the female lead is (mostly) a strong, interesting character. What more can I say?

Temple of Doom: Most people rate this as the worst of the three, but it's actually my second favorite. It's true, Kate Capshaw's character is hideous and if we could excise her from the movie it would be so much better. But this movie has a lot of great stuff, mainly in the action scenes: the bucket of ice covering the diamond, the liferaft falling out of the plane onto the snow, the mine car, and best of all the bridge scene. You will go to Pankot, and you will bring back Shiva Linga!

Last Crusade: This one didn't have the offensiveness of Kate Capshaw, but it didn't have a lot of great stuff, either. Frankly I was BORED during certain scenes, such as the long exposition when Donovan is explaining the holy grail setup. The lead female character was boring. Sean Connery and River Phoenix were distractions from the real Indiana Jones. I do enjoy the parts once they're in the temple, like the optical illusion bridge and the whole choosing the cup sequence.

Ok, so now my thoughts on the new one (SPOILERS!!!!): well, first of all it's colored by the fact it was the first time Chris and I were out of the house alone together in a couple of months, so that alone was fabulous. I had VERY low expectations. Overall I enjoyed the movie, but it had a lot of dumb parts as well, and I don't expect it to be something I'd like to watch over and over like the first one. It was a lot of fun to see Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones again, and I'm so glad they brought Karen Allen back, even if all she did the whole time was grin like crazy as if to say "I'm SO HAPPY I'm in the movie!"

That being said.. space aliens??? Come on, Steven! I kept expecting the theme from Close Encounters to start up. And I didn't care for Shia LaBeouf. I also thought the crystal skull was very cheesy. It might have been appropriate if John Hurt had one of the crystal skulls burst out of his abdomen..

Anyway, a fairly fluffy film, but I still enjoyed it immensely and will no doubt forget all about it soon.