- Mar 6, 2020
- 394
- 904
Hate might be a strong word, but I am never going to get past the "Indy survives a nuclear bomb inside a fridge" plot point as the jump-the-shark moment for Indiana Jones movies.
Yeah, I absolutely feel you. Indiana Jones has, before then, NEVER featured anything so fantastically over-the-top that makes little sense that would have surely resulted in him dying like seven times over.
(And no, that isn't the only one.)
People love to pick apart Kingdom like it's some outlier of a grounded, realistic series. It's not, it's right in line with every other entry. The franchise has always been over-the-top and fantastical in a myriad of ways. This argument just holds zero weight for me. If Kingdom had come out three years after Last Crusade or between Temple and Crusade, it would probably be some people's favorite and not even blinked at twice with regards to 'quality'.
People rave about some of the artistry Spielberg puts on display in Raiders. While it's not nearly as abundant in Kingdom, there are several moments where he shows he still has it. Some tremendous use of shadow work, some great oners, amazing camera movement, interesting scenes of just characters talking, all those things are still there.