Better than Crystal Skull at least
We can presume that this will be the final Indiana Jones film starring Harrison Ford. He's just too old and tired to be doing this anymore, and it certainly shows up in the performances. Sure, you can write that into the plot to make it make sense, but lets be real: Casting grandpa into an action movie just isn't going to work quite as well as a younger Harrison Ford.
Color me surprised then, when the first act of the film contains a de-aged Indiana Jones thanks to the magic of modern CGI. In fact the amount of CGI in this film is quite heavy and there's some uncanny-valley scenes in the film (particularly the parade scenes) which left me a bit flat. What I was watching was not real and I knew it - breaking immersion.
My third complaint is with the female foil. Helena is obviously an attempt at a Lara Croft-like competitor - coming full circle of it's inspiration here - but she is annoying and thoroughly unlikeable. Compared to the fun and antics with Sean Connery in the third outing, it's unfortunately not even a competition as to who made a better companion.
So what does this film get right? Well the story is actually not too bad. Indiana Jones films pick up right at the end for the climactic scene where the supernatural elements come in to play, and this one didn't disappoint either with the twist in the tale. Sadly there is no morality lesson in play in this one - despite the opportunities granted to it - so the ending feels a bit flat, especially for what we can assume is going to be the last Indiana Jones outing in film.
Yes, it's entertaining, but it could have been so much better. You can only repeat story beats so many times before they get predictable, and Indiana Jones' whip has been thoroughly cracked over with this one.
Color me surprised then, when the first act of the film contains a de-aged Indiana Jones thanks to the magic of modern CGI. In fact the amount of CGI in this film is quite heavy and there's some uncanny-valley scenes in the film (particularly the parade scenes) which left me a bit flat. What I was watching was not real and I knew it - breaking immersion.
My third complaint is with the female foil. Helena is obviously an attempt at a Lara Croft-like competitor - coming full circle of it's inspiration here - but she is annoying and thoroughly unlikeable. Compared to the fun and antics with Sean Connery in the third outing, it's unfortunately not even a competition as to who made a better companion.
So what does this film get right? Well the story is actually not too bad. Indiana Jones films pick up right at the end for the climactic scene where the supernatural elements come in to play, and this one didn't disappoint either with the twist in the tale. Sadly there is no morality lesson in play in this one - despite the opportunities granted to it - so the ending feels a bit flat, especially for what we can assume is going to be the last Indiana Jones outing in film.
Yes, it's entertaining, but it could have been so much better. You can only repeat story beats so many times before they get predictable, and Indiana Jones' whip has been thoroughly cracked over with this one.
- nbutcher-69458
- Apr 27, 2025