Monday, May 26, 2008

can't non-European ancient civilizations just be smart without the help of aliens?!



so. the fourth installment of indiana jones. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (aka- an amalgam of ancient meso and south american civilazations that us Americans don't care to be accurate about!) communist russians, led by cate blanchett, who of course does a good job, but is nonetheless in an awkward role. its ridiculous that indy can't possibly fight just some random assholes, the films always have some political undertone thats never explored. and whats more, the political tension between the states and the soviet union isn't enough any more. Spielberg and Lucas needed to add the Maya, the Inca, and others to the list of misconstrued and poorly explored socio-historical foundations to their film.
The film follows Indy, his illegitimate son, and his ex-girlfriend on a fight contre the russians for the crystal skulls of the maya in peru, the land of the inca. while the story is a bit ridiculous and the film doesn't compare to the originals, it was still a fun summer film to see. until...
Aliens HAD to be involved. Its bad enough that Spielberg and Lucas couldn't allow this mystery civilization (Maya/Inca/Teotihuacan) credit for being amazingly culturally and technologically advanced for their time. instead, aliens taught them everything, giving them a leg up to other ancient civilizations. But beyond this, the end had to be one big CGI effect of cheesiness when the aliens leave in their spaceship.

While I appreciate the amazing technological advancements of CGI and what it has allowed films to become, Spielberg and Lucas take it too far. With all their funds and creativity of ole, their films could be much more fun and less ridiculous with some good old fashioned anamatronics and hand-crafted props. then, perhaps the stories wouldn't end with cop-outs like flying alien spaceships.

all in all, its a fun, mindless summer film, but its taints the name of indiana jones. i will admit, if they make another indy flick, ill probably go, but ill go to matinee showing after its been in theaters awhile. Just like you all should do with this one.