I’m now back from travels to the hinterlands of Tennessee, where I saw — among other things — Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. As someone who has long considered Raiders and Last Crusade two of my favorite movies, I’ve looked forward to the next Indy sequel ever since the rumors started flying back in the mid-90s.
Even so, I had low expectations. Overhyped sequels rarely do well. How else does one explain Spiderman 3, a film that competes even with Twister on my all-time worst film list?
Thankfully, Indy 4 avoids such pitfalls. Is it a great film? No. Among the other films of the franchise, it probably ranks 3 out 4. What it is is entertaining, far fetched, and loads of fun. Any attempt to read anything else into the movie is taking higher criticism too far.
If you’re a fan, go see it. If you’re not, don’t even try to comprehend.
Hey, Twister’s not so bad! Not plausible, bad dialogue, bad acting, etc., etc. But it has flying cows! Hard to beat that.