My Bride and I saw the movie on Saturday. Spoilers ahead.
We saw the movie in a theater in Bloomington-Normal at a noon showing. The theater was almost empty, not a good sign for a summer blockbuster during the long Fourth of July weekend.
The film started off with a bang in 1945 with Jones battling Waffen SS over the spear of Longinus. The first few minutes of the film are a traditional Indiana Jones adventure and was a trip down Nostalgia Lane. The “youthenizing effect” worked well with Ford looking at least four decades younger, and giving no hint that you were not looking at Harrison Ford in a film circa 83. In the age of Deep Fakes I found this unnerving. Likely won’t be long until we see advertisements for a new “John Wayne” film. O’ Brave New World that hath such techno deceptions in it!
The scene then shifts to 1969 on the date when New York held a parade for the astronauts from the moon landing. Indiana Jones is retiring, his wife is divorcing him and his son has been killed in Vietnam. Harrison Ford looks every one of his eighty years. He comes across as what he is: an old man phoning it in.
One of the high points is John Rhys Davies appearing as Sallah. However his role is not much more than a cameo, too little to save the film.
Indiana Jones goddaughter who he calls Wombat is the heroine of the piece. Her successfully fighting Nazis two to three times her size is as realistic as elderly Jones doing it.
The film is a confusing melange of Nazis, time travel, Archimedes, etc. The best that can be said for it is that I stayed awake throughout the entire film.
If this were not Indiana Jones 5, I would give the film a C. It had the look of a made for television tag on to a feature film, and as such it was not completely devoid of entertainment value, especially since my Bride and I only had to pay eight bucks total to get in. However, as the tail end of the Jones saga it is a solid F. It even manages to make Indiana Jones 4, not a very good film, a masterpiece in comparison. If the property owners were eager to make more bucks out of the Indiana Jones brand, better to do a new cycle of films with a new actor, or upgrading the original films with new features and commentary. As it is, I think this bomb will probably lose 300 million dollars and kill the franchise. Jones deserved better.
The 13 minute review says it all. Although I’d like to see a version by Weird Al Yonkovic. Harrison Ford always had a rugged face now it’s more rugged.
FYI, Secret of the Incas, the film that inspired Indiana Jones is free on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/2TS7Fabyolw
If Deep Fakes must be done, a Harrison Ford-Charlton Heston film in their roles of Indiana Jones and proto-Indy is one I would pay money to see.
I pull up photos of Ford with a DuckDuckGo search. Either all the photos have been retouched, or he has a much better plastic surgeon than did Joan Rivers, or he has aged well.
Ace of Spades has been offering periodic installments on the saga of Disney under Pedo-enabler Bob Iger. Evidently this particular producer is one of Iger’s pets and she stays in place no matter how many financial disasters she causes the company.
AD: Entertainment news item yesterday said this was the first run at the AI de-aging process.
Likely won’t be long until we see advertisements for a new “John Wayne” film.
Been saying this for years, ever since I saw the first Pixar short film 35+ years ago. Soon there will be no actors. There will be CGI avatars, perfect in every aspect and articulated by the controlling elite. Sergei Eisenstein and Leni Riefenstahl could not even dream of what the next wave will look like.
[…] Judge Dismisses Texas Monastery’s Lawsuit Against Fort Worth Bishop – CNA via The CWR Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny: Review – Donald R. McClarey, J.D., at The American Catholic US Bishops Laud Supreme Court’s […]
WK said; Soon there will be no actors. There will be CGI avatars, perfect in every aspect and articulated by the controlling elite.
The first “actors” will be inept politicians…any dementia ridden politician come to…ah …mind?
The question that Memorex asked in the era of cassette tapes was;
Is it live..or is it memorex? Good catch phrase huh. Who would of thunk it that one day in the future we might be asking that question regarding humanoids?
Waiting for the solar fart that knocks out the grid may be a smelly blessing in disguise.
Suzanne:
Indiana Jones did say “Belloc”
Gandalf said: “Mellon”
We (husband, daughter and I) went to see Sound of Freedom last night — it is well worth your time and manages to portray the evil of human trafficking without explicit sex or graphic violence. It’s also gripping without a lot of over the top action. I give it a solid A!