Indiana Jones and the Middle of the Road

I saw the new Indy movie...

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of ** whew... take a breath** the Crystal Skull. That's a mouthful. Who comes up with these titles?

Some background - The first movie of the franchise, Raiders of the Lost Ark (note... no 'Indiana Jones and the' in the title), may well be at THE top of my all time favourite movies list... if I had such a list. The next two, while I don't think are quite as good, stayed true to the spirit of the genre and the character. This one... not so much.

Why? Hard to put my finger on it. The previous movies (especially Raiders) struck the right balance of pulp, b-movie, action, comedy, and slap-dashedness (add anything else you can think of to the list). The action sequences were perfectly interspersed with witty, tongue-firmly-in-cheek dialogue, so that you wouldn't get a crease in your butt from the edge of your seat... Maybe they were formulaic, but it was a formula that worked.

I think Kingdom missed the mark. Basically... it was too clean. Too 'polished'? I know... It sounds weird. Maybe all the CG did it. Maybe the subject matter (sorry, no spoilers). I know that the changes they made in the Indy character... I didn't like those at all. Yeah, yeah... he's supposed to be older and all that crap... I still don't buy it. Not in an archetype like Indiana Jones, especially one that draws on an established pulp tradition.

Honestly... the writing wasn't all that hot either. Most of the time, the wry wit that Indy is supposed to spout... fell right on its face. Barely a chuckle. The action sequences... TOO over-the-top. There's a fine line between suspension of disbelief and suspension of brain activity.

I think they (writers, producer, director) may have fallen into the trap of trying to please today's audience too much and of sticking to what made the Indy franchise too little. I know... some of you are saying... 'Today's audience rules! Who else should they make movies for, idiot?'

I say F&%$ today's audience. 85% of people are mediocre... Doesn't mean you cater to them. If you do that you end up with a country/planet run by the mediocre, for the medio... Oh... right.

What it comes down to is... Indiana Jones and the Kingdom...etc... is a thoroughly OK movie. Only I was expecting something more than just OK.