All I wanted out of this movie was for it to be at least as enjoyable as Temple of Doom. And the whole time I just felt... I don't know, a bit weird watching it. I enjoyed it, and it had some cool action scenes, funny moments and characters. But on a whole the movie felt really bloated and I thought they could shape up the flow of the movie. A lot of things went unexplained that I felt could have been easy to work in.
Anyway, pros/cons
Pros:
-For the most part the visual effects didn't bother me--the scene with the tower looked terrible in the trailer but on the big screen it worked well. But why open with a CG gopher? Why? I mean really how many times were there gophers in that movie?
-I liked Mutt. I liked him a lot actually.
-Indy's reaction to seeing Marion was pretty funny
-The Crystal skull and the alien/cross-dimensional beings were good macguffins
-The fire ants eating that dude
-The set pieces were all really good they actually felt, like, organic.
- I liked the end with Shia going for the hat only to have it snatched away. I was thinking "Don't do this. Nonono. Don't have him put on the goddamn hat. Nooonoononono--*Indy snatches hat* Thank you fucking Christ.
- Greaser v. Jock fight in the diner and the subsequent chase. Nice.
Cons:
- Bloated beginning. I first adventures in the others were all pretty short and really just kind of set the tone for the rest of the movie, this one felt about 20 minutes long and had CG Gophers, a drag race, and a fucking nuclear explosion in it.
- Where did all of these natives come from? Were they undead? Do they live in little pods? Was that why the conquistators were all preserved? Was it like that? What was that? Same with the guards at the graveyard.
- Psy-ops. Okay, that didn't really go anywhere. It suggested that Blanchett's character was psychic in the beginning. Or wasn't she? Why did the Reds want the skull? Just. FUCK.
- Mutt in the vines was ridiculous. Just. Really, really stupid.
- Indy and Marion didn't really have any chemistry in this except right near the beginning. After he tells her that none of the girls were like her it was just all "oooh Indy"
- What was the deal with John Hurt's character? What was the Indy/John Hurt/Marion/Mutt connection again?
- Indy wasn't given much solo time in this one. Hardly any, really. I mean, it's Indiana Jones, he can carry a movie.
- Mac needed to die better. I wanted my one "Aw gross his skin melted" gore scene and didn't really get one.
- Their treasure was knowledge, Mac. And that's why you should stay in school.
I guess I just felt like there were things and relationships that weren't giving enough attention that could have been an easy fix. Maybe local villagers trying to protect the skull were the guards/Mayans. Indy and Mutt could have met some in the town with the Asylum and found out when they broke the mask. Stuff like that bothered me.
In any case, I still enjoyed it but I think I need to see it again to be able to really give a final opinion on it. It's kind of the first Indy movie I've been able to watch objectively, they other ones have always... just been there.
*edit- Can't spoiler links, huh.
