Indiana Jones and the Search for Acceptance

I've read a couple of blog reviews of the new Indiana Jones movie, and feel the need to chime in.
That's right, I saw Indiana Jones. And I saw it within the first week of it being out in the theatres. And not only that, but I also liked it.

Was it the greatest movie of the year? No, probably not. Was the plot a little bit flimsy? Sure.

I guess I could sit here and talk about how it might not measure up to what we all think we remember the old movies were like back when we saw them for the first time twenty-some years ago.

I could also talk about how unbelievable some of the action pieces were - like when Indiana Jones survives a nuclear bomb blast - as though the first three movies were masterpieces of Russian realism.

I could even make the claim that the movie is unfair to the memory of Russian Communists (apparently, there are still Russian Communists and they are actually angry) and that the movie wasn't hard enough on America, the red scare and McCarthyism. Of course, this would ignore the fact that Indiana Jones loses his professorship in the beginning of the movie for ties to Communists or that one of the chase scenes breaks up a "Better Dead Than Red" rally.

I could sit here and pick the movie apart but I'm not going to. Why? Because it was fun.

It was a good, fun time and an enjoyable two hours out of my day.

Sometimes I like to sit back and not think about whether or not the movie is worthy of being the newest sequel, or if the movie is realistic enough or if it might damage the reputation of Russian Communists. Sometimes I like to sit back and watch explosions and wild car chases and elaborate stunts and crazy stories about ancient Peruvians and Aliens. Who knows, I might even be willing to suspend my disbelief for an entire two hours for that. I mean it's an Indiana Jones movie, for chrissake.

Sometimes I like to just enjoy the damned movie for what it is: eye candy. Does that make me a weak minded individual of no discerning taste? I don't think so, but if it does then whatever. I can live with that.