Now, let it be known that this movie I was skeptical of early on. It was filmed and cut all within 1 year. It was rushed into production, pre and post. I had a huge bunch of friends go, and from what I determined, this is what to get from the movie...
1) George Lucas & Stephen Spielberg don't want to deal with anything that could construed as non-PC. All the Indiana Jones movies have had a religious theme and go to show the power of belief (whether it be Christianity, Judaism, or Hindu). This newest movie is a stretch on that variation. They input the belief of ancient civilizations beliefs in the so called, crystal skulls. Suffice to say that in the end, there are aliens and the mother ship comes and takes the aliens away. You probably didn't want to know that, but I just saved you $9 and 30 minutes of frustration. So, L & S decided to go the route of X-Files, and other Sci-Fi series. This is a re-occurring theme with their recent movies. You merely have to look at Lucas' newest Star Wars movies, and how they explain that dumb ass way the force works, Meta-Clorines my ass. Also, Spielberg's re-editing of ET to remove guns. Akira Kurosawa is probably turning in his grave from the way these young tykes, who owe so much to him, are acting in the later years of their career.
2) Money can buy anything, even a good review. As it stands right now, the only people that I've heard give this movie a good review are people who are die hard fans (who just wanted another Indy movie) and people with extremely low expectations in movies. Everyone else is saying that it's one of the worst movies they've seen this summer, or they are extremely indifferent. However, at current check, Rotten Tomatoes has the movie at 78%. This coupled with the fact that Iron Man got a 93% makes me think that a memo must have gone out to Hollywood. Iron Man was a decent movie, but not worth a 93%. I bet the memo went something like this...
- Dear Hollywood critic, as you may know, many of our movies have suffered as whole these past couple of years. As many of the big studios attest, we realize that it's all YOUR fault. By giving movies bad reviews, and it makes people not want to see them! Shame! Shame! We are hereby giving you this offer, if you give us some decent reviews, we'll let you keep seeing our movies and give you stylish Paramount gear, with some great coffee mugs. Also, you may find a little envelope in your mail box *nudge nudge, wink wink*
3) Hollywood is officially dead. The staff writers and studio execs are now running the show and having nothing but shit made. There are a handful of film-makers who are going through the effort to not let producers and execs run the show. Those of you who don't know, a good director never agrees with a producer. The whole director/producer (studio exec) relationship is precarious at best. There is a tolerable hate between the two. Where film-makers get their latitude is solely dependant on the profitability of their movies. However, it seems that directors and producers are walking hand in hand, through a spring meadow these days.
Now, this isn't the first time where studios turn out crap. Take example of again, Akira Kurosawa. In the 70's, Kurosawa made epic films, but had the reputation of being over-budget and not on time. Godzilla films entered the main stream in Japanese culture, and were cheap to produce and you could do them in a small time frame. The studios didn't make as much money, but there wasn't the risk. Kurosawa got sidelined and many of his movies were not made. If you look at his imdb page http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000041/ . Even though he died close to 10 years ago, he's still credited for writing. Some are remakes, but others are compiled from old notes and other things Kurosawa did not get produced later in his years. Eventually, Kurosawa had to go to George Lucas and Francis Ford Copella to get the movie Kagamusha made. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080979/
Eventually, film started coming back around and Japanese cinema got original material again, but it's been a hard fought battle. Which basically leads me to this truth, international cinema is more original and invigorating lately. As a matter of fact, I still like the Guy Richie crime drama stuff that's put out in the UK. I like the ingenious things that Japanese cinema does. Also, I like the stuff that certain American film people are producing, like Christopher Nolan. I even will watch bad horror movies and enjoy them. I had my fun with Transformers last summer, but I'm on the official hiatus from summer blockbuster remakes. If we want to keep some innovation in our movies, I recommend you all do the same. Again, don't see that crappy Indiana Jones movie!
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