Smokies Light

In Spaceballs, Mel Brook's parody of Star Wars, the very wise and master of the Force, Yogurt (played by Mel himself), is asked by the protagonist hero Lone Starr if they will ever see each other again. Yogurt's reply was,"Who knows. God willing we'll all meet again in Spaceballs II: The Search for More Money. Good-bye, Lone Starr." After seeing the latest Indiana Jones movie last night, that line remorsefully has been stuck in my head. I rarely go see movies in the theater but this one was special. Raiders of the Lost Ark was MY movie, even more so it was my generation's movie. It was first released in my college years to packed theaters, and then re-released a few summers afterwards each time drawing large crowds. The movie had something for everyone, history, archeology, adventure, travel, good vs. evil, mysticism; it was just a plain fun summertime movie, with special effects and stunts which stretched the suspension of disbelief to the maximum breaking point but not quite exceeding it. While watching the latest movie last night, I got the feeling that I had been had. Lucas and Spielberg knew there were many thousands if not millions of Raiders fans out there hoping, looking longingly for that old magic one more time, but unfortunately they failed to deliver. Speilberg's mastery of light and composition was still there, but the old magic was gone . The script had a total lack of character development, with stunts and action scenes that were cartoonish to the point of being utterly stupid. It was good to see Indiana again in his fedora and reassuring smile, but they gave him no words to utter, no memorable lines, no memories at all to take home. Indy did look his age. He was tired, and the only memory I will take from this movie is that I'm tired also, compared to my college years. It takes a little encouragement and coaxing to get Life going now, where it used to be taken for granted, and this movie somewhat painfully reminds me of that fact. One memorable scene I will take home, the most memorable scene from last night, was one of the commercials we have to endure before the movie starts after paying good money for the seat and $4.00 for a soda pop. The commercial had former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and James Carville arguing politics, but coming together to share a Coke. Now that's one thing we can all agree on I suppose, bringing us together as a nation to heal the bitter divide, and that is buying things.