This was the seventh film at the 2014 Brindley Place Film Festival. Yes, I know that I missed the sixth film. I shall also miss the last two of the nine films.
Here are links to my posts about this year's film festival.
- Day 1: E.T.
- Day 2: Mrs. Doubtfire
- Day 3: Top Gun
- Day 4: Dirty Dancing
- Day 5: Ghost
- Day 6: Toy Story 2 / Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
- Day 7: Aladdin / Three Men & a Baby
It was glorious weather today, probably the sunniest day all week. This had the negative side effect that the sun's glare in Brindley Place made it difficult to make out the details in the film's darker scenes.
This is the second film in the Indiana Jones series, made three years after the first part, but it takes part before the first film. Technically it isn't a prequel, because the film's events play no part in introducing what happens in the first film. It's a totally unrelated story which could just as well have taken part after the first film.
The story opens in 1935 in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. Indiana Jones has to flee from a gang boss after a trade goes wrong, and his plane crashes in the Himalayas. When he arrives he's told by the villagers that his coming was foretold, and they send him on a mission to retrieve the village's stolen holy stone. This leads to a confrontation with a cult of Kali worshippers who are in the process of collecting five stones with which they can conquer the world.
I enjoyed this film, which I saw today for the first time, a lot more than "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark", which was shown at last year's film festival. Maybe the reason is that it's more of a typical Steven Spielberg film. George Lucas has kept his fingers out, apart from writing the story for the film. After watching it today I feel the need to see it again, so that I can enjoy it without the distraction of bright sunlight.
Here's a little quiz for my fans. How many of you can spot your favourite film fan, Dansator, in the crowd? I'll give you a clue. I'm the only person wearing orange. (Click on the picture to enlarge it).
This is my personal favourite Indy film. It has some obvious flaws and silly leaps off reality, but it's just so fun... Evil Indy was a trope that should have been done more.
ReplyDeleteI don't see any problem with the film leaping off reality. This is a fantasy film and I accept that I have to suspend disbelief. Whenever I watch a film I have to decide, usually before it starts, sometimes in the first 10 minutes, what system it belongs to and what sort of reality I have to expect. To take a few examples, in science fiction films I have to expect space ships, in supernatural films there are ghosts, and in romantic comedies it should be the world exactly as I know it. However, the first Indiana Jones film did break the rules by having something ridiculous in it, unbelievable even in a fantasy world. Would Hitler have used a Jewish artefact to gain victory? Impossible!
DeleteI don't remember if I've seen all the Indiana Jones films. If they're not on Netflix I'll look for a cheap box set.