Kingdom of the Crystal skull, anyone?

Rating: 5/10 (26 September 2015)

I re-watched this for the first time in years and have to say: It's not very good. There are many problems with this movie (watch the cinemasins take on it for a complete list) which I might have forgave when I saw it in the theater, but these issues are hard to ignore on the small screen. First of all, there's the visuals; While the original JP still looks really good after 22 years, some of these look a little under-done, like they trying to do too much with the technology they had available or up the ante to the point that they just weren't realistic. Don't misunderstand, there are some amazing practical effects and once again they meld these with CG flawlessly most of the time, but when they don't it really stands out. Second of all, there's everything else. This movie is so full of clichés and goofy, unrealistic dialogue and actions that it's kind of painful. About 3/4 of the way through I decided to find out who was to blame and discovered that it WAS directed, again, by Spielberg and the screenplay WAS written, again, by David Koepp. What went wrong? I'm not sure, but I do know the is the same team that would later give us Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. (I really, really, hope these two don't make any more sequels.) There are a some redeeming aspects to this film, top among these is the performance by Pete Postlethwaite. I think I enjoyed the deleted scene of him in Kenya more than I did the actual movie. (Minus the groin gag; Spielberg and Lucas must be friends based on a mutual love of 8 year old boy humor.) The last San Diego part of the film is entertaining, if for no other reason than to watch a T-Rex run around in a city, despite feeling like it was tacked onto the film for that reason alone. (Which, if you watch the making of documentary, you learn that it was.)