The impending arrival of the fifth and final Indiana Jones entry is inevitably reigniting conversations about its direct predecessor.
I didn’t hate Kingdom of the Crystal Skull nearly as much as most Indiana Jones fans, but I’ve always been pretty forgiving. Keep in mind here, before you blast me as a fake fan, that I watched the first three films — in particular Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade — repeatedly through my childhood, with The Last Crusade serving as my rainy day film. Y’all, I can act out Indy’s journey through the traps with perfect precision, down to dropping to my knees and rolling to avoid an invisible set of circular blades.
So I wasn’t surprised to walk out of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with a far higher opinion than many of my peers. It’s not a great movie, by any stretch, and it certainly doesn’t hold a candle to the first three, but I really liked Shia Labeouf back then and the action and heart, while not quite up to snuff, still carried a flavor of what I’d come to expect from the Indiana Jones series.
News that negative reviews are dragging down Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny won’t change my plans to see the film. They probably won’t damage my enjoyment of it, either, because at the end of the day I’m delighted to have one more adventure with Indy. Plus, the ability to send him off properly is something we all deserve, after more than 40 years of enjoying his escapades.
As it turns out, I’m not alone in this sentiment. In the wake of the first wave of negative Dial of Destiny reviews, quite a few Indiana Jones die-hards revealed themselves, and admitted that they’d be seeing the film regardless. Perhaps more surprisingly, many also admitted to their enjoyment of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a controversial confession that should absolutely not be controversial.
While the film certainly lacks some of the elements that make the first three great, enjoyment isn’t something you can police. I’ve moved far, far past the days where being cynical was cool, and now I’m just looking to enjoy a project for everything that it is. If it’s a bit less than another project, that doesn’t suddenly make it trash. It just makes it enjoyable in a different way. That’s exactly why I love Vampire’s Kiss so much. Is it a groundbreaking film? Of course not. Does it, without fail, make me smile every time I watch it? You bet.
The same appears to be true for far more people than one might have expected, when it comes to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Twitter is presently awash with admissions of enjoyment, as formerly silent fans step forward to confess their enjoyment of the broadly-panned flick.
People even admitted to avoiding Kingdom of the Crystal Skull due to the negative reviews, only to love it when they finally gave the film a chance.
It’s a freeing thing, finally accepting a movie you’ve been ashamed to embrace, and the Indiana Jones fandom appears to be feeling plenty free today.
The fourth Indiana Jones film appears to be going the way of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Initially reviled for failing to live up to impossible fan expectations, time has served the early 2000s films well. It seems the same can be said for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. A bit of distance seems to be exactly what the film needed, and who knows? Maybe the same is true for Dial of Destiny.
We’ll know for sure when we get the chance to see the film for ourselves, once it arrives in theaters on June 30.