INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF WHINY MOVIE FANS - A Completely Un-Topical Article

I'm in the process of watching the Indiana Jones movies right now, and rewatching the movies in order has made me even more confused about why everyone hates KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL.  Don't get me wrong, I understand a lot of the complaints:

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Yeah, the monkey scene is pretty damn close to a "Jar Jar" level of stupidity.

I agree....Shia Leboeuf kind of sucks.

The Russians are lame compared to the Nazis.

The Fridge.

Why didn't they just make them aliens?  What the hell are Inter-Dimensional Beings?

Aside from these complaints, though, I don't have an issue with KOTCS.  In fact, it might be my second favorite of the Indy films after RAIDERS.  Don't worry....I have my reasons

1)  Cate Blanchett is awesome as the villain - In fact, she's the first villain to really make an impression since RAIDERS.  Neither TEMPLE OF DOOM or LAST CRUSADE had a villain who stood out, and I was glad that KINGDOM gave the Russian menace a "face."  Her performance may have been "over-the-top," but like everything else in KINGDOM this simply a result of a loving homage to the type of movie an audience would have seen in the fifties.

2) Spielberg was very up-front about Aliens being involved due to the 50's setting. - It really does make sense to involve aliens if you are going to set a film in the 1950's.  The Nazi's were obsessed with religious artifacts, so that made sense for the 40's, but America was obsessed with aliens in the 1950's.  It's not like they dropped the religious artifacts entirely, they just made them less biblical.

3)  The basic plot structure is exactly the same as RAIDERS and LAST CRUSADE. - Villain searches for artifact.  Indiana searches for artifact.  Indiana gets artifact.  Villain steals artifact.  Villain is destroyed by artifact while Indiana Jones sits back and laughs.

Sometimes movie geeks just can't be pleased.  They scream for FAMILY GUY to come back on the air......and then complain when it comes back.  The same thing happened with STAR WARS.  Poor Indy suffered the same fate.  Here's my message to you, movie fans:  Don't be so sentimental about the past....RAIDERS was great, but it's just a movie.  TEMPLE is just a movie.  LAST CRUSADE is just a movie.  They are really good movies, but they are....just.....movies.  Movies are meant to be enjoyed.  Enjoy them.