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Indiana Jones after all these years

Over the past month I have watched all the Indiana Jones movies again, and recently Kim and I went to see the new one, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I was so very excited to see it, as I have already written about. I tried not to be be distracted by the mixed reviews of the movie and to view it with fresh eyes and take it on its own terms.

Well...I loved it! It was not a great movie, by any stretch of the imagination. Nor was it even a great "Indiana Jones" movie. I used to think Raiders of the Lost Ark was the best, but now that I am a father, I prefer The Last Crusade to the others; it has more humor and warmth, and the relationship between father and son provides an emotional anchor to the narrative. And while I enjoyed "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" on TV, the young men who played Young Indy never got it right, in my opinion, not like River Phoenix did in the opening minutes of The Last Crusade ("Everybody is lost but me!"). I think I like Crystal Skull better than Temple of Doom, but I haven't made up my mind yet.

I was struck by how old Harrison Ford looked. I suppose it has been a long time since I really looked at him, and seeing him in the fedora again was a shock. He looks great for his age, no doubt about it, but Indiana Jones is not supposed to grow old. I kept saying, "Has it really been almost 20 years?" All in all the movie was fun, a little confusing, and a great way to spend an afternoon. But let's face it, if they made a movie with Harrison Ford called Indiana Jones Runs His Errands, I would still pay $10 to spend an afternoon tagging along with Dr. Jones (Now we go to the dry cleaners, but don't touch anything!).

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