kingdom of the glamorously violent skull

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
2008, directed by Steven Spielberg

What an almost lovely film this was. Making a sequel "fresh" is a challenge that few films are ever up to. And the history of this particular franchise can easily be described as a cautionary tale. The second sequel should appear in dictionaries under the heading "mailing it in", and the first sequel was simply one of the worst films of all time, so unworthy of the original that hate was the only sane response.
But this new sequel almost pulled off the improbable, being worthy of an amazing original. It never found its feet, but it's the only one of the three which came close.
In the end, the film was killed by the plague of violence that has Hollywood twisting and degrading our collective soul, when it could be a force of the most wondrous good.
It's not realistic violence, a la SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, which is poisoning our soul.
Nor is it even gratuitous violence, a la slasher films.
No, it is the most insidious form of cinematic violence: glamorous violence.
A glamorously violent film will batter you over the head with the message "Violence is fun! You should want to be just like these people, who LOVE violence! Don't you want to be that sexy and happy? They may even pretend to not like violence, but look at them having fun! Killing can be giggle-worthy! Being attacked with murderous intent is just so silly! HahaHAAAAA, he just kicked that guy in the face!!"
Am i just reaching a level of evolvement and sensitivity which is placing me too far outside the realm of the tastes of the "common man"? No, i think that's too convenient an explanation.
When movies have built-in violence (or sex) based on some formula that the marketing boys came up with (i'm not being sexist, i'm just hoping that girls wouldn't be as idiotic), then we're stepping into an area where capitalism is compromising our very soul.
I hope that you personally never have to experience the unglamorousness of real violence. I hope that an egregious physical attack is never visited upon you, and that you live your life without maiming or murdering.
But maybe that's a big part of the problem. We in the West have had such a comfortable existence that for most of us, brutal violence is only an abstract idea, so we can take in glamorized versions of it, and our spirits don't scream "NO, something is very wrong here."
Anyway, Cate Blanchett is a pretty amazing actor, and it was almost a good movie.