Indiana Jones 4

I'm a huge fan of the Indiana Jones Trilogy, so I've put some thought into how to respond to Indiana Jones 4. I was really excited when I first heard a fourth Indiana Jones was in the works (rumors have been around since I was in high school so it's been a long time coming). Then, more recently, when I actually started seeing posters and trailers, I started to get nervous. It would be practically impossible for them to add something to the trilogy that would actually make it better overall - the curve was already set pretty high by the first three. So I saw it last night.

Overall it was still a fun movie, but I think I will still refer to the Indiana Jones Trilogy (not four-ology), and if I show the movies to someone who's never seen them I might not mention that the fourth one exists. To me, the fourth Indiana Jones is like a mix of people who love the trilogy saying, “Hey, remember how he's afraid of snakes?” Oh yeah, remember how he pulls his hat down and sleeps on the plane.” etc. - only the conversation is in movie form. It also seems to be more the beginning of the Mutt Jones series which could be good than the end of the Indiana Jones. Indiana shares the screen much more than in the previous three movies, which I guess is ok, but definitely has a different feel.

If I had the ability to edit the movie myself, there are a few things I would definitely take out. (And thanks to Paul who warned me about these things in advance.)

1. CGI Gopher - What was going on with the CGI gopher in the beginning (and then again later!)? It was odd enough to seem silly, but not funny enough to laugh, so it was just kind of weird.

2. Surviving a nuclear blast in a fridge - The past movies have pretty ridiculous events, but they are more in the highly improbably category rather than the completely ludicrous category (except for events involving the actual artifact of interest, which are exempt from this rule). For some reason, they decided to start out this movie with this frustratingly ridiculous scene. Was it supposed to be funny? It might have worked on road-runner, but the idea that Indiana Jones survived a nuclear blast by hiding in a lead fridge and being blown away from the scene just makes me grown. Plus, if that worked, where were all the other fridges from town?

3. Warehouse Magnetism - Just a small gripe - why was the gun powder only magnetic after he threw it in the air? And why, once there, was it completely free from the laws of gravity? Similar to the nuclear blast frustration, this also just seemed a little too out there - like they were thinking, "Consistency? Who needs that?"

4. Russians aren't Nazis - I guess I can't be too hard on them for this, since time had to pass, but still, fighting the Russians just isn't as cool as fighting the Nazis.

5. Irina Spalko - This was the main bad guy in the movie, but she was almost painful to watch. Was she trying to be corny?

6. Giant Ants - I don't really get why they needed to invent a scary insect for the South American jungle. Aren't there like 1,000,000 varieties of super creepy animals and insects that actually exist that could kill you? Have they seen the Planet Earth series?

Anyway, go see the movie, don't expect too much, ignore the above-mentioned items, and I think you'll enjoy it.