Sunday 18 May 2008

Indiana Jones & The Cannes Press Screening

Sunday 18 May 2008

Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull had its press screening in Cannes today, so now we have lots of professional reviews to mull over before the film opens on 22 May.

The response seems to be very mixed, as expected:

"The good news for Ford fans is that Indy may be older and greyer, but there’s still a spark to his repartee." -- John Harlow, The Times more...

"Between a series of stunt-driven set-pieces, implausibly linked, the film gets bogged down in wearying talk." -- David Gritten, Daily Telegraph more...

"Welcome back Indy. Lord knows we’ve missed you." -- James Christopher, The Times more...

"Despite the genuine excitement, and one blinding flash of the old genius, this new Indy film looks like it's going through the motions." -- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian more...

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull gets swamped in a sea of stunts and CGI that are relentless as the scenes and character relationships are charmless." -- Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter more...

"Spielberg clearly got enormous pleasure employing a lifetime's worth of skill and turning out wave after wave of smartly done stunts and effective set pieces." -- Kenneth Turan, L.A Times more...

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crustal Skull feels simultaneously self-conscious and self-satisfied, as if a little warm glow of past glory will soothe our bumps and blows from the clumsiness of the script." -- James Rocchi, Cinematical more...

"The magic is still there, only you have to work a little harder to make yourself believe this time." -- Leah Rozen, People Magazine more...

"A lot of the picture veers uneasily between solemnity and slapstick and 47 different genres." -- Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune more...


Some of those "bad" quotes seem harsher out of context, but the general consensus is definitely to lower your expectations. But I'm hoping a lot of those reviewers are middle-aged (i.e, they weren't kids in the 1980s) and can't enjoy it for pure childish nostalgia.

I haven't hyped myself up expecting something on par with Raiders Of The Lost Ark, fortunately. Hell, I may even agree it's the weakest of the four films... but it's just great to have a childhood hero back on the big screen. And none of those reviews lead me to believe it's going to be a Phantom Menace-style let-down. I think it'll be enjoyable, particularly if you're a fan and child of the 80s. We'll see.

Now if we could only get Ghostbusters 3 into production...