For a geek like myself, few things get me more excited than seeing a beaten-up Harrison Ford in a dusty fedora, desperately escaping impossible situations. Indiana Jones is probably my favorite fictional character ever. I've seen the first three movies countless times, own all 40 hours of the Young Indy television series on DVD, played all the video games, and have read all of his adventures in novels and comics. I'm something of an Indy scholar. Scholar sounds better than nerd (but who am I kidding?).
I was certainly not disappointed as I watched "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" at 12:10 AM on Thursday morning, May 22.
The last new Indy film I saw in theaters, like most people, was "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" back in 1989. My Dad and I went to see the movie at Carmike Cinemas 6 on North Peters Road (at one time my favorite theater, now sadly demolished). That was nineteen years ago! That doesn't seem possible.
So before the lights went down on that night, me and the group of friends that I was with recounted events that had happened in our lives since last we saw Indiana Jones grace a movie screen. In my case, I had moved about 5 times, graduated high school, graduated college, gotten married, relocated to Florida, and had a child. So there was quite a bit of water under the bridge since I had last visited with Indy in a movie theater.
And what about Indy? The new movie is set in 1957, exactly 19 years since we saw him in "The Last Crusade", which was set in 1938. The movie opens not to the familiar "Raiders March" by the incomparable John Williams, but to "Hound Dog" by Elvis Presley. Elvis opening an Indiana Jones movie? Who would've thunk it? But it works, and it serves to give the audience a sense of time and place. It's not the 1930's anymore.
This isn't a review of the movie in the Roger Ebert sense of the word, but suffice it to say I really enjoyed it. Thus far I have seen it twice, and the second time I enjoyed it more. It's like breaking in a new pair of shoes...I'm sure it will just get better with repeated viewings.
And Harrison Ford can take a beating at 65 years of age better than most movie stars a quarter of his age! Bring on Indy 5!
The last new Indy film I saw in theaters, like most people, was "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" back in 1989. My Dad and I went to see the movie at Carmike Cinemas 6 on North Peters Road (at one time my favorite theater, now sadly demolished). That was nineteen years ago! That doesn't seem possible.
So before the lights went down on that night, me and the group of friends that I was with recounted events that had happened in our lives since last we saw Indiana Jones grace a movie screen. In my case, I had moved about 5 times, graduated high school, graduated college, gotten married, relocated to Florida, and had a child. So there was quite a bit of water under the bridge since I had last visited with Indy in a movie theater.
And what about Indy? The new movie is set in 1957, exactly 19 years since we saw him in "The Last Crusade", which was set in 1938. The movie opens not to the familiar "Raiders March" by the incomparable John Williams, but to "Hound Dog" by Elvis Presley. Elvis opening an Indiana Jones movie? Who would've thunk it? But it works, and it serves to give the audience a sense of time and place. It's not the 1930's anymore.
This isn't a review of the movie in the Roger Ebert sense of the word, but suffice it to say I really enjoyed it. Thus far I have seen it twice, and the second time I enjoyed it more. It's like breaking in a new pair of shoes...I'm sure it will just get better with repeated viewings.
And Harrison Ford can take a beating at 65 years of age better than most movie stars a quarter of his age! Bring on Indy 5!
No comments:
Post a Comment