Day: October 14, 2008

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Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

indy-crystalskull-posterlg.jpgI really don’t understand how people found this to be a lackluster edition to the Indy Jones films!  I’ve spoken to many people and they were disappointed with it.  In fact, a few of my colleagues went as far as to say it was the worst they’ve seen in awhile.

Maybe I’m of a different mindframe…heck, I even enjoyed Episode I!

At the very least, my expectations weren’t hyped up for this film so I was very leary going into seeing it after picking it up at Future Shop this evening.  I had tried my hardest to stay away from any spoilers but unfortunately Eric let the cat out of the bag of a major plot point.  But no matter…this was a great Indy film!

It had everything that was a good about an Indy film…Indy getting into awkward situations, funny situations for the cast to get out of, excellent chase sequences…you name it, they had it.  I really enjoyed how they paid homage to the past Indy films as well.  In fact, there may have been a part where they talk of an event back in the Young Indy television series but I’m not familiar with the show so I would have to research it.  I really enjoyed seeing older characters and it would have been great if they brought back one of my favourites – John Rhys-Davies.

Was it the best film of the series?  Heavens no.  Was it a contender to be one of the better ones?  Mmmm…if I were to say Raiders and Last Crusade were in the top echelon, then Temple of Doom and Crystal Skull are in the lower echelon.  Either way, I enjoyed all of these films and it’s a decent edition to the adventures of Indiana Jones.

To all the naysayers…seriously…what were your complaints?  The final revelation explored?  What?  You wanted ghosts coming out of an ark, hearts being stricken from a human chest, or maybe a guardian of the holy grail?  Yeah, like those are any more believable!

Throw your expectations at the door and just enjoy the film.  I thought it was great.

iplaying: Baba O’Riley – The Who (Who’s Next)

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Review: Sandworms of Dune

article43894.jpg*spoilers*

Here’s my review of Hunters of Dune: http://palmer.grumpster.com/?p=810

I ordered Sandworms of Dune a few weeks ago from Amazon, thinking I ordered the paperback version for $7 but it turns out that I ordered the hardcover version.  Isn’t it crazy that hardcover books drop in price so much within a year of release?

Sandworms of Dune is the final Dune novel…chronologically.  Originally, the seventh Dune novel was to be written by Frank Herbert but he passed away and years later his son and Kevin J. Anderson wrote Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune to become the final books of Dune.

I was absorbed by the novel and with good reason…we were at the climax of the entire Dune series.  It all comes down to this point.  We have the return of the classic characters from the series, coming back in ghola (clone) form.  We have the return of the thinking machines which the Dune universe was against for the entire series.  We have the final battle which had a satisfying conclusion.

All in all, how did I feel about the final two books in the series?

As novels themselves, I found the characters and the storytelling to be engaging and it was quite the page-turner.  As for how it fits into the Dune series…it doesn’t feel like it fits entirely, especially from some of the revelations that occurred at the end of the novel that I didn’t see coming.  I now question whether some of the elements REALLY appeared in an outline for Frank Herbert’s final novel or did his son have to really go the extra mile into making a great novel worthy of being the conclusion to the series.

In the end, they did the best they could.  And it turned out decent.  Writing the final Dune novel after the author has passed away is like having John Lennon’s son record his final album which is based on lyrics and snippets of music lying around at the time of his death.  It will never be as good as it could have been.

But it is a good ending to the series and I thoroughly enjoyed the project they undertook in fleshing out the Dune series with prequels and now they are working on novels which will bridge the gaps of the original story so it will be good to read about some old characters.

I will say this about old characters…I found it odd reading about the clones of all these characters I loved over the years and realizing that they weren’t the same.  They never did resonate with me and they were merely placeholders for the final battle.  A little more character development would have been appreciated on these classic characters returning!