3 out 4 ain't bad

Well, I made three out of four opening weekends this month. “Iron Man” on May 3rd, Speed Racer” on May 10th, and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” on May 25th. Once I manage to get Anita to watch “The Chronicles of Narnia,” then I’ll head out to see (or rent by that point) “Prince Caspian.”

I’ve discussed “Iron Man” and “Speed Racer” in a previous post, so this post will be limited to Indiana Jones. After seeing the latest installment of the “Indiana Jones” series, I still hold that “Iron Man” is the best of the summer blockbusters so far. To be perfectly honest, I was disappointed by “Indiana Jones.” Not Harrison Ford, mind you. Even at his age, he still pulled off the role quite capably. I never got the feeling that he was just going through the motions, as some of the reviews indicated. In fact, they referenced his age quite a bit in the movie to assist in explaining some of the lack of the typical Indy action. Oh, he still had his moments here and there, but a lot of the major stunts and action was handed down to Shai LeBouef’s character, Mutt.

The thing that disappointed me the most in this one was that it strayed from the emphasis being about the archeology, and delved more into the fantasy realm. In “Raider,” the archeology was practically another character in the movie, as it was in “Last Crusade.” And let’s all be honest, “Temple of Doom” was pretty much the ugly step-child of the ‘original trilogy,’ so there’s no reason to discuss that one too much.

In this installment, the archeology was almost a throw-away, a means to get to the ‘real’ plot line. I won’t discuss exactly what happens – no spoiler alerts today – but suffice it to say that I felt like I was watching another Spielberg movie (or two) at different points of the film.

The one highlight of the movie was Shai LeBouef. He sat at the adult table (with Ford, Spielberg, Lucas, Karen Allen, John Hurt, Cate Blanchett), and proved he belonged. This kid’s going to be a star for a long time, assuming he can keep the DUI’s to a minimum.

“Kingdom” definitely ranks higher than “Temple of Doom,” but is vastly inferior to “Raiders” and “Last Crusade.” Still, it’s a fun summer escape, but catch it on a matinee or at a drive-in (don’t spend full ticket price on this one).

Still to come this summer: “Get Smart,” “Hancock,” “The Dark Knight,” and a number of other flicks that I’d like to see, but probably won’t until they hit Blockbuster.