Saturday, August 23, 2008

Can I still like Indy?

I could use this question to answer all things Indianapolis/Indiana. But that would be pretty short, since the answer is just plain "no". You've probably figured out that I'm referring to Indiana Jones in some fashion. I still have yet to see whatever this new one is called that came out this summer. I guess I have a hard time justifying paying full-price for movies these days. And even though the 4th installment hasn't made box-office for crap in a month, it still isn't in the cheap seats. So after perusing the walls of Hollywood Video for something decent that my bottom-of-the-barrel MVP program would allow, I hit the library section and went back and got "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Okay, I got Nightmare on Elm St. 2, but that's another story.

I remember liking ROTLA and TOD a lot. Not so much for the Last Crusade. And I meant to buy the box set on dvd if it was ever on sale for something decent. Nothing working there either. So, after probably a decade-plus, I thought I'd see how much I could still have with Raiders. And well...after watching them again, I'm not sure if they hold-up to anything that could be described as classic status. The dialogue/jokes at times are...lame. The action sequences are okay, but often so fantastical that it goes beyond "well, it's supposed to be ridiculous" territory. And the acting is...eh...Harrison Ford no doubt carries both of these and Karen Allen and Cate Capeshaw are definitely respectable with what they have to work with, but the rest of the casts? Jonathan Rhys-Myers as Sallah is decent, but the rest of them I can't tell if they just can't act or the scripts are just blah and the characters are so stereotypical (you know, especially the bad guys). And the jingoism? I'll stop there. Oh wait, there is the endless repetition of the theme song that made me wanted to carve my ears off with a knife by the end of TOD.

Are they still fun? Yeah, to a point. Let's just say after renting them on the Hollywood MVP plan, my previous desire to buy the dvd-box set has definitely been quelled. In another 5 years I'll check these out again and see if my stance has lightened. Don't hate me if you still think they are beyond reproach classics.

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