Indiana Jones... the long-awaited sequel!

You may not want to read this if you haven't seen the movie yet! Just a warning. :-)

I saw "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" on Wednesday at the midnight showing. It was pretty fun going to the first possible showing... the Wynnsong Theater in Provo had three midnight showings! My roommate Christie hadn't seen any of the previous Indiana Jones movies, so I think she thought the whole scene was pretty amusing. Mostly, it was college kids, mixed with a few older and younger people. Also, to my delight, there were a few Indiana Jones hats being worn by the fans :-)

I don't think I've ever been quite this excited for a sequel before... as fun as it has been to see the Harry Potter movies or Narnia or others, it didn't compare. Maybe it's the nearly 20 years that has passed since the last one or the nostalgia associated with growing up on these movies?

Despite my excitement, I had my reservations. "The Last Crusade" is one of my favorite movies, and I was pretty sure trying to come back after that would be like Michael Jordon coming back out of retirement from the NBA. As soon as I heard that they were attempting another movie, I thought, "Stop while you're ahead!" Despite these feelings, however, I was still excited.

Well, I wasn't very impressed, I'm sad to say. Not that I should have been surprised, but I was more disappointed than I hoped I'd be. I've actually been watching "The Last Crusade" as I've been writing this (I got it tonight at Target for $10!) and it's pretty apparent that the "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" doesn't even come close.

The special effects and action sequences were over-the-top. Also, I didn't like the whole "alien" story very much. There didn't seem to be much a clear moral to the story, at least not in the way that "The Last Crusade" had one. Also, It just didn't flow that well... some parts were really slow and too obvious and others I wished had been more developed. Shia LaBeouf did a great job as Indiana's sidekick, though; I was surprised how much I liked him. And, it was pretty cute that Indiana got back together with his original love from "Raiders of the Lost Ark." 

So, I'm glad I saw it, of course, and I'm sure I'll watch it again sometime, but surely I won't be watching it as much as the others. It did get me interested in the other movies again, though, and I can't deny... part of my really wants one of those Indiana Jones hats :-)

Go see it and let me know what you thought--I'm curious!