An Interesting Ride But Ultimately Falls Short

Rating: 6/10 (27 February 2010)

One of the strong points of this film is the detail in the settings and the nature of adventure. However the film falls short in execution.
The film opens brilliantly in an enclosed jungle setting and is highly immersive and then paints a picture of Indy's background. Then we move to the colourful Nepal setting and lastly the Egypt setting. At this point of the film I thought it would become an epic picture. However I was quite wrong.
The major fallacies of the film are the religious overtones that are ever-present in the film. It becomes suffocating. I know that Hitler actually did send expeditions during the war to uncover certain places/artifacts that would increase the power of the Nazi regime. What doesn't make sense is why Hitler would search for the Ark of the Covenant which is solely Jewish and Hitler despising Jews. It seemed quite illogical.
Secondly the score is over the top and actually draws you away from the film. Constantly you will hear the Indiana Jones theme song being pulsated into your ear. It comes to a point where it is incredibly overbearing.
Thirdly the action scenes are dull and prolonged. To put it simply the actions scenes are like watching two snails brawling. Being an adventure film of epic proportions this film should have had interesting action scenes however yet again it falls short.
The immersion that was seen in the beginning of the film with Indiana searching for the golden artifact completely disappears in the later sections of the film. When Indiana is searching for the Ark the same level of detail and immersion is completely missing and ruins the scene.
Overall the movie is enjoyable but the fallacies ultimately cheapen the viewer's experience.