No, Not Indy!
I just went and saw the new Indiana Jones movie. I guess I got what I expected, but still. Despite the signs in the earlier films of George Lucas’ insistent, steady drive to transform Indiana Jones from an engaging, hapless archaeologist and treasure hunter to a flat, boring superhero, a small part of me still had harbored a tiny flame of hope. What a bucket of cold water.
The movie is best seen while shouting at the screen, making fun of the camp dialogue, and generally taking it as a very good parody of the Indiana Jones series. Like any good parody, it comes complete with extraordinarily campy dialogue, over-the-top in-jokes, trite characters, mindless plot, and a John Williams score. It has to be on purpose. There’s no way that the movie would have been this much of a parody by accident.
Either that or it will be a movie that years down the line will be shown as a shining example of what happens when mediocre movie-makers get to make exactly the kinds of films they want, without the good taste that editorial oversight and budget constraints provide.
Well, at least I’ve seen it now. And I got popcorn.
