HOME | DD

Description
So, who's the dingus that forgot to check a box to make sure a background was transparent when making new Prime poses? Yeah, it's this guy. In my defense, I recently had to change computers thus I had to spend time rebuilding my collection of programs and thus I've been away from XNA for awhile so instead, please accept me using Prime facepalming to bemoan the fact I missed this film's theatrical run. That being said, I had a reason for it.

So for background in case people missed out on one of my unpopular opinions posts. I was kind of a weirdo Indy fan for awhile in that I was pretty decently big fan of the series... that had only seen Raiders and at one point a brief part of Temple of Doom. It took all the way until 2020 before I actually saw the whole series and while I initially didn't know why? Nowadays I can actually think through it and I think it mostly was because the original trilogy has been elevated to such godhood status among adventure films that I kind of worried about being "that guy". You know the one, that one guy who wants to join in on all the fun but just so happens to be the one person whose honest opinions just have to oppose others and while I have no problems sharing my unpopular opinions? You should hopefully be able to tell I hate being that guy. I personally find it's far more fun to enjoy things than it is to not and so while I do share negativity and will continue to do so when it is my honest opinion? Unless it's something recent or a part of an unpopular opinion post, I personally don't like just dunking on things from the past for the sake of it so going into this? I was worried I might end up the one dude who watches all the Indy movies and comes out liking only Raiders. Thankfully though when I did sit down for that watchthrough? Holy shit, the original trilogy from Raiders to Crusade is an easy and massive recommend for me. These movies have great soundtracks, amazing performances, some truly intense gripping action and Indy to me has definitely earned his place as being one of cinema's most iconic leads. As for the fourth?

Honestly its biggest sin to me looking back is that you push aside the Indiana Jones name? It's an entertaining enough action flick. It has great music, fantastic moments and honestly some really solid performances but once you add the Indy name into things? A lot of it kind of falls to pieces. For one thing? Indy himself in the movie feels invincible and way too on top of things. Now I'm for heroes in legacy sequels if that is the route they want to go still kicking ass even when they're fairly old but considering this film was clearly meant to jumpstart more films, especially ones involving Mutt? It feels like it's less interested in showing how the younger generation can be capable and more like the film's stubbornly going "Indy's a badass no matter what, shut up.". Oddly enough, the Indy in this film feels more like the Indy people envision Indy to be which does play a part in my response to this entry which I missed in theaters because honestly after seeing Crystal Skull? I kind of found myself not really caring to see more Indy films. I was totally content with just the idea that Indy's journey for me personally ended with Last Crusade and while Crystal Skull is nowhere near as bad as people made it out to be at least at the time it came out? I kind of looked at the idea of a fifth one and shrugged. That being said, I was paying attention to the details coming out about this one, especially when it was announced that James Mangold was involved which really caught my eye since he was the guy who directed Logan which is hands down probably one of the best send-offs to a character I've ever seen at least when you want to get emotional with it but also? He's not really a dude who does these kinds of movies. I mean he did do The Wolverine before Logan but you look through the guy's filmography and it really isn't what you'd expect for a film like this which considering this film had a divisive reaction from everyone should now be looked at as an omen because folks, I'd say the reaction here is basically The Last Jedi 2: Crack the Whipaloo because hoo boy. That being said? What did I think of the last outing of such a great film he-you read the goddamn rating, I think this film is fucking rad.

Now look, going into this, I really did not have any expectations. I had just one hope which is that if nothing else, it's better than Crystal Skull. It does not have to be better than the original trilogy, those films at this point are in the legend status that is rarely touched and with that in mind? It not only managed to meet those hopes but also it surpassed them and in ways that surprised me, creating a film that isn't just interested in recycling greatest hits of Indy's ventures but rather actually telling a new story that gives us an emotional conclusion for the character and seriously? Props to James Mangold and co. for doing that. It would've been so easy to try and just use this film as a launch point for another trilogy or fifty different spin-offs but to actually stand firm in going "No, this is the final film, this is to close out this chapter." takes real guts which describes this movie in general. It's very much like Indy in a way, it's gutsy, it's not afraid to take real risks and it does this while also understanding the film series it belongs to. I've heard all throughout before going into this movie from detractors that this film is about a sad depressed old man being pathetic and honestly I really don't see that. If anything? This realistic portrayal of an aged Indy is a lot more of what I personally wanted from Crystal Skull. It allows Indy chances to be badass but it's not afraid to also show him being vulnerable, to be human and to fail which for the record was also how Indy was in the original trilogy.

This is something I feel really needs to be stated upfront because I feel the more this is understood? The more you might enjoy not just this film but even the classics. Indiana Jones was in the original trilogy never this perfect action hero man who always got the girl and got the artifact. He was a simple history-buff who hated Nazis, didn't like snakes or dealing with freaky bugs and other animals and he was an expert in some areas while bumbling in others. The man was a flawed human being, he bungled relationships, he could sometimes be so dedicated to getting the artifact that his own safety is put on the line for really dumb reasons and most importantly? The films often have him towards the end losing the artifact. When I hear the criticism that Dial portrays Indy as a "sad old man" and they go on to describe what they think Indy is? It's clear that they are not describing Indiana Jones as in the character as he's portrayed but rather the imaginary friend versions of these characters. The version of Indy you might've envisioned as a kid playing with toys who had the free time to rewatch all the cool action scenes hundreds of times over. The version of Indy who you mostly got in Crystal Skull which made the choice of having Indy be the expert whose age only makes him look feeble with him otherwise being badass all the time which made all the moments where the film does Indiana Jones stuff feel ridiculous. It's why I think aside from the ultimately pedantic arguments of physics this is why something like the infamous fridge scene utterly broke people while similar death-defying tricks didn't. In the prior films? There was a real chance they wouldn't work while the fridge just cemented that Indy was a goddamn superhero and that from this point forward, you can't take him struggling seriously because it's not an older Indiana Jones trying his best to work with the condition his body's in but rather he's young Indy in an old man costume who has done training off-screen under x50 gravity to become a giga-badass who has to limit himself so lowly mortals don't die immediately. Now let me be clear, there's nothing wrong with enjoying Crystal Skull nor is there anything wrong with liking a version of the character who is a super-badass. If you want to come to me though and try to argue that version is the true version? I'm gonna have to be direct and say they're not, they're a fantasy, they're the legend you built up in your head because you likely have not rewatched the films in awhile and if you have? You're watching them through the rose-tinted lens of nostalgia and your adoration for the franchise and letting that color your perception which doesn't really allow for a fair read of any new material because how can that new material ever live up to those fantasies? I personally have a ton of respect for when I see someone who watched this movie go "I see what it tried to do and ultimately feel it didn't do it well." instead of just raging about how it totally ruined Indy or some other nonsense like claiming that they did it for the sake of propping up Helena which I'm gonna be clear? That's the indicator we did not watch the same movie for me.

Helena, Indy's god-daughter is fantastic. I love how she contrasts Indy by in a way almost being the version of Indy people see in their heads. This daring badass who lives for the thrill of the adventure and how at it's through her wits and skill she gets out of trouble which I like how in ways it humbles Indy but its Indy's weariness from living for so long that humbles Helena and again, it kind of feels like this was something we should've got from Crystal Skull. Now look, I am not gonna shit on Shia LeBeouf because frankly? I think Hollywood and intense fan reactions really just fucked his life up and that the guy gets way more flak for his performances than he often deserves. Mutt was not a problem in Crystal Skull, the problem was the film did not allow much room for Mutt to really be anything other than a young dude who jokes about Indy's age before getting showed up by the old man and as a result? He sadly didn't have the room to grow into a great character. This film simply allowed Helena the room and honestly? I really like how it led to this film to primarily be more about the characters and Indy working through his issues with the adventure in a way kind of serving as a reflection of that with the whole time travel plot which I have to say for something that sounds like it is the biggest shark jump was handled so well. See, to me the biggest problem with the alien in Crystal Skull wasn't necessarily that aliens were involved in any capacity and people have made fair arguments for how it kind of just shifted Indy's focus from pulp adventure to retro sci-fi. The problem was in its execution which was excessive. The alien showing up was one thing and they did it in an initially cool way with him being in shadow with smoke all around. Then they show the alien, then we have a portal and we see this massive flying saucer disappear to, as we would later learn, another dimension. It's way too much, this is not easing into those concepts so much as it's just grabbing Indy by the belt and chucking him straight into a situation his film series is not really made for. This would be like if they wanted to incorporate zombies into Indy and instead of maybe building to there being a single zombie reanimated by some artifact? It's a whole horde and it's just revealed that there's a whole continent of them. Thankfully, the time travel plot is not like that. It would've been so easy to have the climax just turn into a big stupid fistfight where they're constantly travelling through different eras. To focus on just one period of time though, have it be a time that's hinted at in the movie and have it be the big mistake the Nazis make with the artifact is to me great and I love how the ending features a Helena who has learned quite a bit from Indy throughout the film being the one to ensure he stays in his present. That to me is a fantastic bookend to the scene way earlier where due to the spacerace and another things, Indy's class seems to be barely interested in learning from him and yet here we have someone who for most of the movie bickered and bantered with him taking his advice to heart. Overall, I genuinely really like this film. Is it perfect? No but of course no film is and really all its issues are minor stuff. It could've been trimmed a tad in certain areas, I was missing some of the Indy hallmarks like the Paramount mountain fading into some background element and there's the fact that the opening features a de-aged Harrison Ford which I will say does look stunning but it's thrown off a bit by how it's clearly old Harrison's voice and motions but it took me a few moments to get over that and really? I'm disappointed I didn't see this in theaters because this feels like it would've been so epic up on the big screen.

Description
So, who's the dingus that forgot to check a box to make sure a background was transparent when making new Prime poses? Yeah, it's this guy. In my defense, I recently had to change computers thus I had to spend time rebuilding my collection of programs and thus I've been away from XNA for awhile so instead, please accept me using Prime facepalming to bemoan the fact I missed this film's theatrical run. That being said, I had a reason for it.

So for background in case people missed out on one of my unpopular opinions posts. I was kind of a weirdo Indy fan for awhile in that I was pretty decently big fan of the series... that had only seen Raiders and at one point a brief part of Temple of Doom. It took all the way until 2020 before I actually saw the whole series and while I initially didn't know why? Nowadays I can actually think through it and I think it mostly was because the original trilogy has been elevated to such godhood status among adventure films that I kind of worried about being "that guy". You know the one, that one guy who wants to join in on all the fun but just so happens to be the one person whose honest opinions just have to oppose others and while I have no problems sharing my unpopular opinions? You should hopefully be able to tell I hate being that guy. I personally find it's far more fun to enjoy things than it is to not and so while I do share negativity and will continue to do so when it is my honest opinion? Unless it's something recent or a part of an unpopular opinion post, I personally don't like just dunking on things from the past for the sake of it so going into this? I was worried I might end up the one dude who watches all the Indy movies and comes out liking only Raiders. Thankfully though when I did sit down for that watchthrough? Holy shit, the original trilogy from Raiders to Crusade is an easy and massive recommend for me. These movies have great soundtracks, amazing performances, some truly intense gripping action and Indy to me has definitely earned his place as being one of cinema's most iconic leads. As for the fourth?

Honestly its biggest sin to me looking back is that you push aside the Indiana Jones name? It's an entertaining enough action flick. It has great music, fantastic moments and honestly some really solid performances but once you add the Indy name into things? A lot of it kind of falls to pieces. For one thing? Indy himself in the movie feels invincible and way too on top of things. Now I'm for heroes in legacy sequels if that is the route they want to go still kicking ass even when they're fairly old but considering this film was clearly meant to jumpstart more films, especially ones involving Mutt? It feels like it's less interested in showing how the younger generation can be capable and more like the film's stubbornly going "Indy's a badass no matter what, shut up.". Oddly enough, the Indy in this film feels more like the Indy people envision Indy to be which does play a part in my response to this entry which I missed in theaters because honestly after seeing Crystal Skull? I kind of found myself not really caring to see more Indy films. I was totally content with just the idea that Indy's journey for me personally ended with Last Crusade and while Crystal Skull is nowhere near as bad as people made it out to be at least at the time it came out? I kind of looked at the idea of a fifth one and shrugged. That being said, I was paying attention to the details coming out about this one, especially when it was announced that James Mangold was involved which really caught my eye since he was the guy who directed Logan which is hands down probably one of the best send-offs to a character I've ever seen at least when you want to get emotional with it but also? He's not really a dude who does these kinds of movies. I mean he did do The Wolverine before Logan but you look through the guy's filmography and it really isn't what you'd expect for a film like this which considering this film had a divisive reaction from everyone should now be looked at as an omen because folks, I'd say the reaction here is basically The Last Jedi 2: Crack the Whipaloo because hoo boy. That being said? What did I think of the last outing of such a great film he-you read the goddamn rating, I think this film is fucking rad.

Now look, going into this, I really did not have any expectations. I had just one hope which is that if nothing else, it's better than Crystal Skull. It does not have to be better than the original trilogy, those films at this point are in the legend status that is rarely touched and with that in mind? It not only managed to meet those hopes but also it surpassed them and in ways that surprised me, creating a film that isn't just interested in recycling greatest hits of Indy's ventures but rather actually telling a new story that gives us an emotional conclusion for the character and seriously? Props to James Mangold and co. for doing that. It would've been so easy to try and just use this film as a launch point for another trilogy or fifty different spin-offs but to actually stand firm in going "No, this is the final film, this is to close out this chapter." takes real guts which describes this movie in general. It's very much like Indy in a way, it's gutsy, it's not afraid to take real risks and it does this while also understanding the film series it belongs to. I've heard all throughout before going into this movie from detractors that this film is about a sad depressed old man being pathetic and honestly I really don't see that. If anything? This realistic portrayal of an aged Indy is a lot more of what I personally wanted from Crystal Skull. It allows Indy chances to be badass but it's not afraid to also show him being vulnerable, to be human and to fail which for the record was also how Indy was in the original trilogy.

This is something I feel really needs to be stated upfront because I feel the more this is understood? The more you might enjoy not just this film but even the classics. Indiana Jones was in the original trilogy never this perfect action hero man who always got the girl and got the artifact. He was a simple history-buff who hated Nazis, didn't like snakes or dealing with freaky bugs and other animals and he was an expert in some areas while bumbling in others. The man was a flawed human being, he bungled relationships, he could sometimes be so dedicated to getting the artifact that his own safety is put on the line for really dumb reasons and most importantly? The films often have him towards the end losing the artifact. When I hear the criticism that Dial portrays Indy as a "sad old man" and they go on to describe what they think Indy is? It's clear that they are not describing Indiana Jones as in the character as he's portrayed but rather the imaginary friend versions of these characters. The version of Indy you might've envisioned as a kid playing with toys who had the free time to rewatch all the cool action scenes hundreds of times over. The version of Indy who you mostly got in Crystal Skull which made the choice of having Indy be the expert whose age only makes him look feeble with him otherwise being badass all the time which made all the moments where the film does Indiana Jones stuff feel ridiculous. It's why I think aside from the ultimately pedantic arguments of physics this is why something like the infamous fridge scene utterly broke people while similar death-defying tricks didn't. In the prior films? There was a real chance they wouldn't work while the fridge just cemented that Indy was a goddamn superhero and that from this point forward, you can't take him struggling seriously because it's not an older Indiana Jones trying his best to work with the condition his body's in but rather he's young Indy in an old man costume who has done training off-screen under x50 gravity to become a giga-badass who has to limit himself so lowly mortals don't die immediately. Now let me be clear, there's nothing wrong with enjoying Crystal Skull nor is there anything wrong with liking a version of the character who is a super-badass. If you want to come to me though and try to argue that version is the true version? I'm gonna have to be direct and say they're not, they're a fantasy, they're the legend you built up in your head because you likely have not rewatched the films in awhile and if you have? You're watching them through the rose-tinted lens of nostalgia and your adoration for the franchise and letting that color your perception which doesn't really allow for a fair read of any new material because how can that new material ever live up to those fantasies? I personally have a ton of respect for when I see someone who watched this movie go "I see what it tried to do and ultimately feel it didn't do it well." instead of just raging about how it totally ruined Indy or some other nonsense like claiming that they did it for the sake of propping up Helena which I'm gonna be clear? That's the indicator we did not watch the same movie for me.

Helena, Indy's god-daughter is fantastic. I love how she contrasts Indy by in a way almost being the version of Indy people see in their heads. This daring badass who lives for the thrill of the adventure and how at it's through her wits and skill she gets out of trouble which I like how in ways it humbles Indy but its Indy's weariness from living for so long that humbles Helena and again, it kind of feels like this was something we should've got from Crystal Skull. Now look, I am not gonna shit on Shia LeBeouf because frankly? I think Hollywood and intense fan reactions really just fucked his life up and that the guy gets way more flak for his performances than he often deserves. Mutt was not a problem in Crystal Skull, the problem was the film did not allow much room for Mutt to really be anything other than a young dude who jokes about Indy's age before getting showed up by the old man and as a result? He sadly didn't have the room to grow into a great character. This film simply allowed Helena the room and honestly? I really like how it led to this film to primarily be more about the characters and Indy working through his issues with the adventure in a way kind of serving as a reflection of that with the whole time travel plot which I have to say for something that sounds like it is the biggest shark jump was handled so well. See, to me the biggest problem with the alien in Crystal Skull wasn't necessarily that aliens were involved in any capacity and people have made fair arguments for how it kind of just shifted Indy's focus from pulp adventure to retro sci-fi. The problem was in its execution which was excessive. The alien showing up was one thing and they did it in an initially cool way with him being in shadow with smoke all around. Then they show the alien, then we have a portal and we see this massive flying saucer disappear to, as we would later learn, another dimension. It's way too much, this is not easing into those concepts so much as it's just grabbing Indy by the belt and chucking him straight into a situation his film series is not really made for. This would be like if they wanted to incorporate zombies into Indy and instead of maybe building to there being a single zombie reanimated by some artifact? It's a whole horde and it's just revealed that there's a whole continent of them. Thankfully, the time travel plot is not like that. It would've been so easy to have the climax just turn into a big stupid fistfight where they're constantly travelling through different eras. To focus on just one period of time though, have it be a time that's hinted at in the movie and have it be the big mistake the Nazis make with the artifact is to me great and I love how the ending features a Helena who has learned quite a bit from Indy throughout the film being the one to ensure he stays in his present. That to me is a fantastic bookend to the scene way earlier where due to the spacerace and another things, Indy's class seems to be barely interested in learning from him and yet here we have someone who for most of the movie bickered and bantered with him taking his advice to heart. Overall, I genuinely really like this film. Is it perfect? No but of course no film is and really all its issues are minor stuff. It could've been trimmed a tad in certain areas, I was missing some of the Indy hallmarks like the Paramount mountain fading into some background element and there's the fact that the opening features a de-aged Harrison Ford which I will say does look stunning but it's thrown off a bit by how it's clearly old Harrison's voice and motions but it took me a few moments to get over that and really? I'm disappointed I didn't see this in theaters because this feels like it would've been so epic up on the big screen.