Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Indiana Jones (new film)!!!

Newsarama link trailer

Indiana Jones website!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the name of the film.

Indiana Jones is my favorite film franchise! As a kid I wanted to be an archaeologist because of it. It also made me a huge fan of everything pulp.

So I saw the preview on Wednesday, it was very entertaining. A good companion to the previous films.

I enjoyed it.

Glad to see they didn't even try to keep in in Nazi era, and gladder still to see how 40s/50s elements had been added to Indy's life in between Crusade and now.

I wish Karen Allen had been given a bit more to do; other than one chase scene she's largely a bystander. But it was damn good to see her again, too.

It was mostly an action romp, a bit over the top, but I like that kind of thing. I had fun.

I've decided to wait for the DVD, like I do with most movies these days. Shia LeBoeuf as a 50s greaser sounds like a golden opportunity for MST3K-style snark.

Fun little review by Heidi MacDonald with SPOILERS

Saw it with the 5-year old today. The sum of its parts was less than the whole--many wonderful scenes and characters, but the whole thing failed to hang together or make much impression.

Does ANYONE understand how the film's first sequence (which was great fun) really fit into the rest of the plot, aside from foreshadowing? I can't figure it out. Indy at the test site, though, was worth the illogic. And the whole film went on like that. The chase through

I think the film serves as sort of a coda on the original 3 -- Indy has grown old, gotten diverted into a lot of things (Army OSS work), that, while rewarding and patriotic, may or may not have fulfilled him as an archeologist. He and Marion drifted apart. He has lost his dad and Marcus Brody. This film gives Indy a chance to reclaim what is left of his past and have some promise of a future other than as an old coot in the nursing home.

I actually enjoyed the ancient astronaut stuff, but wish, like all elements of the story, we had learned more. Like the Cate Blanchett chick--why'd she carry the rapier, beyond setting up a cool fencing duel on moving vehicles in the Amazon?

I was channel-surfing yesterday and came across the end of some newsfortainment segment thingie... apparently this movie has Russia's knickers in a twist. What's up with that, anyone know?

Basically, the Russian government and media (same thing) have been on a campaign for the last few years to gin up a pseudo-cold war-type struggle with the west, especially the US. This is likely being done for the usual reason-- distract the populace from issues at home (like the further restriction of civil liberties, continuing insurgent wars, the insane oil wealth of the well-connected few). Like Americans, Russians are very prone to nationalism, which is why this trick works so well. The Russians have deployed armed bombers to the Arctic and larger naval fleets to the Baltic, the Black Sea, etc. Of course, the behavior of the US the last few years has done nothing but encourage this, especially the deployment of US anti-missile systems in former Eastern Bloc countries. Most of this is for show, for internal consumption within Russia, and a little left over to raise Russia's profile, especially in Europe, as true power not to be neglected or ignored.

In regards to the Indy movie, I think this is more knee-jerk Russian reaction to rouse anti-American sentiment. If you set an Indy movie in the 1950s, who ELSE would the bad guys be, the Turks? The French? The Russians are depicted as uber-tough and uber-clever, so I would think the Russians would be flattered. The real motivation is to get the Russians hating American pop culture icons like the Indy movies as a way of building up national pride.