Afternoon Tea: The new Indiana Jones hobbles to opening day on a walker

 

Indiana Jones and The Dialing for Dollars The Dial of Destiny landed with the thud at the box office. It managed to dig up $24 million on its opening day.  The movie didn't exactly receive the high-five people were expecting. I took a peek at Rotten Tomatoes where it received a 58% approval rating. 

The movie reportedly cost almost $300 million to produce, giving it the distinction as one of the 20 most expensive movies made. Hooray! At least it can brag about that.

This is supposedly the last movie in the Indiana Jones franchise - at least with Harrison Ford anyway. If it manages to eek out a healthy profit (IMO about as likely as my dog learning to pan for gold in my backyard), I'm sure Hollywood will find a way to keep the franchise going...and going.  

I loved the first Indiana Jones movie. It was a great mix of good story telling, old Hollywood swashbuckling,  outstanding stunt work, and solid acting. 

However, the sequels have been one dried up bag of bones after another. Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (3rd movie in the franchise) was passably digestible. Actually the last 10 minutes of the movie was the best part - that's when they found the holy grail in the cave with the ancient knight who looked like a Grateful Dead roadie who got left behind at a renaissance fair. The knight gave us the memorable line, "He chose poorly". Wise words that seem to have fallen on deaf ears when Harrison Ford decided to dust off his fedora to make this latest installment.

 Photo: Variety