Finally got a chance to see it, and as a lifelong Indy fan I was surprised how much I liked it! Actually find some of the negative reactions out there a bit extreme, but to each their own. I thank them for the lowered expectations I went in with!
Having watched them all again leading up to this, KotCS continues to come across as a total misfire, and I think comparatively this one stands as an enjoyable, fitting Indy send-off. Mangold captured the Indiana Jones “energy” better than Spielberg himself did with his 4th attempt.
My ranking:
RotLA TLC ToD DoD KotCS
And, I know it’s fun to dunk on the fact that Indiana Jones is old…but Harrison Ford is old! Thematically, I felt that they handled his age and the toll his career had taken on him and his relationships well. They aren’t trying to hide his age, they’re embracing it. It informed the story, character arc, and action beats. Some of it fell flat, but a lot worked well. So, either you have a franchise where the character repeatedly passes from fresh actor to fresh actor like a Bond, forever in some state of reboot, or tie the character to the actor who embodied the role masterfully for a generation, and have the character age alongside the actor, warts and all. For fans not down for the latter, this one was never going to work for them. Not sure why they’d give it a passing concern to begin with if that was the hurdle it needed to overcome for them. Personally, I’m glad Harrison was my Indy over the decades.
I wonder if people would be less bothered by the mere existence of these later entries if they’d come out with a couple more adventures in between at a more measured, Bond-like cadence to loosen the nostalgia grip people have on the OG’s. While “just stop at the classic trio” is a nice sentiment, the character was literally designed as a resurrection of silly adventure serials. They just so happened to coincide with the best blockbuster filmmaker of-all-time’s golden years and a perfect fit between star and character. As he himself has proven, Spielberg can’t even make a blockbuster like it anymore. That’s what makes them special movies, but to me, special doesn’t mean sacred. There’s room for solid, non-masterpiece outings in a franchise like this. My blu-rays haven’t disappeared. My nostalgia is untarnished.
Even more excited for the Hot Toys figure to add to my growing Indy collection!