INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY and PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS season one eps 1 to 3

 

INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY and PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS season one eps 1 to 3

 

Okay, had no desire to watch either of these. An aged movie series with an aged movie star who might be flouting his aging? Action movie that can’t be as good as the second INDIANA movie (yeah, that’s right TEMPLE OF DOOM is my favorite) and as each subsequent movie came out, I found myself disappointed in all of the others. So, no, thank you.

 

A series based on a book I couldn’t finish (sorry, I love the premise of the books of PERCY JACKSON and for that matter, TWILIGHT and HARRY POTTER, too but all three of those book series have prose and text that…leave me cold; love the premises and the characters but the actual writing of the three writers involved….no, just does not grip me; yet maybe Anthony Horowitz spoiled me so much that he’s ruined me for all other fiction books)? Nope.

 

PERCY had two movies that I enjoyed mostly with a good cast.

 

So, going into that last night, I…was drawn into trying something new instead of the dvds of CHARMED and/or DARK SHADOWS.

 

I found that the INDIANA movie was…well, not as bad as I thought and again, yet not living up to the value I think these movies can have and the excitement that can be. Then, I realized somewhere toward the last quarter or last half of the movie that these are sort of based on the old….make that VERY OLD Republic chapter serials they used to show in the theaters. 15 to 20 minutes or so long, they have a charm about them and still do. They’re unpretentious, crudely made, and yet filled with outrageous and fun action and stunts and old time special effects that…almost no one tries today. They’re pure action adventure without any BS (see Irwin Allen, too). The best of these weren’t Republic but the three FLASH GORDON universal serials (FLASH GORDON’S SPACE SOLDIERS, FLASH GORDON’S TRIP TO MARS, and FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE).

 

That said those three are not as crude as some of the others (UNDERSEA KINGDOM? JUNGLE GIRL?) and whatever else was put out in the 1930s, 40s, an 50s (at least one with Leonard Nimoy and possibly Bela Lugosi and a very early one with Boris Karloff?).

 

Looking at this outrageous INDIANA JONES movie that way, the action adventure and slow ideas seem to grow on one. Sure, there are chases but even those feel old and boring compared to fast paced action of the second movie and frankly, all the others (except YOUNG INDIANA JONES which as a TV show had merit but was slow as paint drying). The action was…here…sort of routine and nothing innovative or even interesting. On a another negative side, as keeping up with the modern notions of bad guys being very bad, we also get several cold blooded murders on screen of what seem like good people, shot dead, mostly not dying right away (even the man outside the caves). Nasty.

 

Then, something about the end idea and I will try not to give it away and what happens there, was so out there that…it made me realize the roots of this type of movie by Speilberg (and Lucas, too): those old time chapter serials and the cliffhanging outrageous and impossible action.

 

My favorite character here is Teddy who manages, without brute strength to overcome the biggest, baddest and solid giant of a villain without brute force and a lot of luck. Teddy can also fly a plane…sort of.

 

In any case, a nice ending here for Indy makes this worthwhile. Not sure I want or need any more Indy but I felt the same way about Godzilla (MINUS ZERO changed that notion) and still feel that way about Tarzan, James Bond, and maybe even Avatar the Last Airbender (getting nervous about this new live action on Netflix, the notices I keep seeing sound ominous).

 

I also felt that way about PERCY JACKSON. Didn’t I see this story already? Won’t watching a TV show that goes over the same material feel like a re run without actually being a rerun? Can a book I really didn’t feel inspired to read be turned into a Disney Plus TV show that I WANT to keep watching?

 

Turns out, the answers to those are no, I haven’t seen it told the way it was meant to be told (younger cast, more explained scenes, characters reinserted), and no, it does not feel like a rerun (Percy’s mom’s fate feels fresh and new to me as does Percy’s reactions to things, though I still wonder how a hero can trust someone like the Medusa and be SO VERY WRONG), and yes, I want to keep watching. Frankly, while I like the cast of the movies, the casting here is better and inspired. I do not know where they found the actors playing all the major kids but they’ve hit on a gold mine of young talent from the actor who plays Percy to the actor who plays Luke, they’re all great.

 

Everything they say feels so natural in this god filled, demi good filled unnatural world here on Earth. And it ALL works. The visuals, as in INDY, are all great. We don’t have to even say that about modern movies or TV shows any longer do we? I mean I also felt that way about MY FAULT, another movie I watched recently. The sex scene on the beach was lit by a lighthouse light spinning around and hitting the two lovers every so often…inspired cinematography.

 

I also love Percy’s responses to things. To the Oracle, that creepy old woman who sits in a chair and stares at nothing while Percy tries to converse with her and fails, he says “I see you’re pretty busy. I’ll come back later.”  And that’s just one example. Before that, he told her she looked like a Halloween decoration!!!

 

The actor playing Grover is excellent. In a quirky series like this with action, adventure, gods, over the top villains, monsters, and good and evil, it helps to have relatable, well cast characters that are sympathetic, funny, and even say realistic things even though they are a satyr.

 

PERCY is the better of the two but INDY can also entertain. If you don’t go into these things with too much expectation, you can be pleasantly surprised and entertained and you can enjoy them.  

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny: 22 WTF Moments – Page 13 (whatculture.com)