“Deus ex machina” is a Latin term that literally translates as “God from a machine.”

Back in ancient Greece, hack writers used to resolve hopeless situations by lowering a God from a crane onto the stage, who would then solve the problem by bringing a character up to heaven at the last second after they had sold their souls to Hades.

Let’s play the Deus Ex game kids!!

(Insert you favorite game show tune here)

The Chinese army has trapped Brendan Fraser and four others in the mountains of Tibet. Snipers are surrounding them. They have an undead dude who can control the weather (why is it that mummies can always control the weather in these films?)… How will they escape?

Your choices are:
“Sudden storm”
“Weapons freezing”
“Avalanche”
“Snow blindness”

Can I have the envelope please?

If you answered “Saved by Yetis” then you win!!

And Indy?

As long as we’re on the topic of lazy writing, let’s break down just how badly they ripped off the original movie in this film:

Do you have a ten minute fight scene that takes place on a convoy of moving trucks, filled with soldiers along the edge of a cliff?

Affirmative.

Do you have a temple scene in which a poisonous dart pierces a piece of wood that someone is holding?

Thunk!!

Got any angry cannibal chase scenes?

Of course.

Does Indy risk life and limb getting something out of a temple only to find jack booted bad guys waiting at the exit for him so that they can take his prize?

Hell ya.

Heck, they were so busy stealing scenes from their own movies that they even lifted a classic line from “The Untouchables” when Indy tells Mutt that he brought ‘a knife to a gun fight’.

http://rtheygood.blog.com

The first Mummy movie was a great Indy rip off, the second Mummy was pretty terrible and I expect the third to be more of the same. Still, you can always enjoy a bad film if it is fun. The same cannot be said of Indy 4, which while it might have the same bad but fun qualities, it is also sh*tting all over a previously brilliant legacy. Also see Star Wars Ep1-3.

ps. This article is a breath of fresh air from /film compared to the rubbish the other bloggers have come up with, Rambo 10/10 anyone?

*Yep, the Fraser/Weisz chemistry was sadly missed here…

1) hey, some of those Asians were resurrected to fight evil, let’s not diminish their significance now; 2) it doesn’t matter what race you are, if you’re a nameless character in an action movie, you’re going down!; and 3) that’s a given, I learned this from you.