Reactions to Indiana Jones IV (Spoilers)

[NecronLord]

Does anyone remember the "Young Indiana Jones" tv series? He mentions riding with Pancho Villa in this movie and something is telling me that was a reference to one of those episodes but I'm not sure?

I didn't really watch the series. But yeah. I thought that might be a reference too.

Sure enough...

[Superman]

Does anyone remember the "Young Indiana Jones" tv series? He mentions riding with Pancho Villa in this movie and something is telling me that was a reference to one of those episodes but I'm not sure?

It was. I specifically remember watching that episode. Cool tie in.

[Enigma]

I watched the movie today and I liked it very much. One thing bothered me though is his about face of his reaction to his name. He preferred to be called Indiana and hated being called by his real name yet in this movie he calls himself Henry Jones Jr, and I don't think he ever called himself Indiana. Might as well called the movie Henry Jones Jr and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

[Drooling Iguana]

I think a lot of his reluctance to go by the name Henry in the first three movies is because it's his father's name. After reconciling with his father in The Last Crusade he probably didn't mind it so much.

[Superman]

I think a lot of his reluctance to go by the name Henry in the first three movies is because it's his father's name. After reconciling with his father in The Last Crusade he probably didn't mind it so much.

I thought the same. He made peace with his dad, and he obviously missed him a lot. Sort of a Freudian "father becomes the son" type of thing. When a son stops associating his father with feelings of anger and bitterness, he becomes proud to have the dad he has.

That was my experience anyway (no death defying adventures here though... just a lot of hours with a psychiatrist ).

[Dienonychus]

Hav, you simpleton, just because it's Indiana Jones doesn't automatically make it good.

This movie blew. It was silly, characters were shallow, the plot was vague, and definitely not worthy of the Indy franchise. Anyone notice how the musical score never once rose to the situation at hand like it does in the previous movies... or even the ride at Disneyland? There were some decent parts, but this movie isn't even in the same ballpark as the previous three.

Yeah, It seemed like John Williams mailed it in again. It seems he did a large amount of that for the Star Wars prequels too.

[Superman]

It seems he did a large amount of that for the Star Wars prequels too.

Big time. I wonder why.

[DPDarkPrimus]

The movie was great. My major complaints are that the villains were a bit under-developed, the climax was way too showy and drawn-out, and the CGI monkeys.


And during the credits I heard, without any doubt, a key phrase from Han and Leia's Love Theme. Further proof of Williams phoning it in is not needed.

[Elfdart]

The movie was great. My major complaints are that the villains were a bit under-developed, the climax was way too showy and drawn-out, and the CGI monkeys.


And during the credits I heard, without any doubt, a key phrase from Han and Leia's Love Theme. Further proof of Williams phoning it in is not needed.

The first few notes of the Indy/Marion theme are very similar to the Han/Leia theme.

It seems he did a large amount of that for the Star Wars prequels too.

Big time. I wonder why.

Look up the word leitmotif.

[Xess]

Saw it today and loved it. The commies as villains weren't the best but I had a great time watching it and that's all that matters to me.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Oh, and there was a line they should have had when Indy was looking upon the nuclear mushroom cloud.

"Now there's something you don't see every day."

[Dienonychus]

Oh please, the CG prairie dogs were obviously just to tweak people and set a comedic tone.

Heck, I half-expected a Jawa cry of. "Oo-tedi," when the jet cart flew past them.

[Rawtooth]

I'm with Elfdart, the music was just fine and Williams is still damn good. I especially liked the Call of the Crystal theme.

[The Grim Squeaker]

I'm with Elfdart, the music was just fine and Williams is still damn good. I especially liked the Call of the Crystal theme.

It sounds even better in the soundtrack, it's very...creepy.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Usually a Jon Williams soundtrack will have me humming when I leave the theater. Even the Harry Potter movies and Episode 1 got some music stuck in my head. ROTS and Indian Jones atKotCS both failed to leave any kind of musical impression on me, therefore I must agree that he is phoning it in.

The technical aspects might be spot on, but to me it seems like he has had less variety and strength in his scores, and seems to think one or two leitmotifs will get him by rather than coming up with the dozen or so variations on interlocking musical themes his old scores had.

Basically, he's now just a competent composer rather than Jon Williams.

[MKSheppard]

I've got to say that this was the first movie in a while that I felt I really had gotten my money out of; other than Iron Man. I was sure entertained for those two hours by Indy.

A lot of people are saying that Indy jumped the shark in this one; due to all kinds of absurdities; but if you go back and look at the original three Indy movies; they all have absurdities that Indy survives; or ends up in - he gets his dad's journal autographed by Hitler of all people, at a book burning, and survives a Bf-109 flaming wreck in a tunnel in Crusade alone.

I also don't get the bitching about the elements involved in this film; Indiana Jones has always been about the supernatural, weird ass shit; and it was great to hear about Indiana being involved in the Roswell incident, as well as all the 1950s elements from nuclear tests, to greasers and jocks; etc.

Because you know, Indy finding the Lost Ark of the Covenant, which is full of Angels of Death, and saving mystical sanskrit stones which glow and burn through stuff is in no way absurd compared to finding a flying saucer buried under a South american temple!

[weemadando]

I've got to say that this was the first movie in a while that I felt I really had gotten my money out of; other than Iron Man. I was sure entertained for those two hours by Indy.

A lot of people are saying that Indy jumped the shark in this one; due to all kinds of absurdities; but if you go back and look at the original three Indy movies; they all have absurdities that Indy survives; or ends up in - he gets his dad's journal autographed by Hitler of all people, at a book burning, and survives a Bf-109 flaming wreck in a tunnel in Crusade alone.

I also don't get the bitching about the elements involved in this film; Indiana Jones has always been about the supernatural, weird ass shit; and it was great to hear about Indiana being involved in the Roswell incident, as well as all the 1950s elements from nuclear tests, to greasers and jocks; etc.

Because you know, Indy finding the Lost Ark of the Covenant, which is full of Angels of Death, and saving mystical sanskrit stones which glow and burn through stuff is in no way absurd compared to finding a flying saucer buried under a South american temple! :roll:

I acknowledge the complete ridiculousness off the argument but it just felt ham-fisted and poorly handled.

[Shroom Man 777]

I think we shouldn't have seen the Grey up close like that. Something more absurd and incomprehensible and weird and hard-to-describe, with more lights and noises and weirdo sounds and shit, would've been cooler. Something Gainax-y.

It would've been cool to see that after that freaky-deaky light's show, Irina Spalko would end up collapsing in utter catatonia (her mind reduced to a gibbering state of un-thought by the existential terror of her newfound knowledges!) as she is left in the ship, alone with the crystal skeletons of the aliens, as that forsaken vessel lifts off and vanishes off the face of our universe.

Now THAT would've been cooler than eyeballs exploding!

[Molyneux]

Just saw it last night, with some awesome friends. My reactions may be colored by the crowd with whom I saw it, but I found it to be quite an enjoyable movie, with really only one flaw - the relative incomprehensibility of the ending. Why the heck DID the alien kill her? The best explanation I've heard is that the knowledge transfer was going both ways - and it saw what she was planning to do, and was horrified. But it would have been really nice if something like that was mentioned on-screen, in whatever capacity - even just one of the heroes speculating.

Greatest villain in the film was definitely the ants. As a friend of mine put it, they were seriously nasty largely because there are ants in real life that pretty much DO almost everything they were shown doing - including build bridges and towers out of themselves.

I walked out of the theater with one question burning in my mind: When the hell did Shia leBoeuf take a level in badass? I find myself in the strange position of actually looking forward to the next movie he's involved in.

[Darth Yoshi]

Perhaps he gained bad-ass via osmosis working on the set.

[Stark]

Because you know, Indy finding the Lost Ark of the Covenant, which is full of Angels of Death, and saving mystical sanskrit stones which glow and burn through stuff is in no way absurd compared to finding a flying saucer buried under a South american temple!

For my money, finding mythological objects as an adventurer archeologist is fine, whereas finding made-up hippy New Ager bullshit 70s hoaxes that ARE FROM ALIENZ is just lame. It's absurd without having the cachet of 'holy grail', it's just Lucas saying 'check out those hoax skulls, they're from aliens'.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Because you know, Indy finding the Lost Ark of the Covenant, which is full of Angels of Death, and saving mystical sanskrit stones which glow and burn through stuff is in no way absurd compared to finding a flying saucer buried under a South american temple!

For my money, finding mythological objects as an adventurer archeologist is fine, whereas finding made-up hippy New Ager bullshit 70s hoaxes that ARE FROM ALIENZ is just lame. It's absurd without having the cachet of 'holy grail', it's just Lucas saying 'check out those hoax skulls, they're from aliens'.

To be fair, crystal skulls have been around a lot longer than the 1970's, even if most of them are fake.

[Stark]

To be fair, crystal skulls have been around a lot longer than the 1970's, even if most of them are fake.

Crystal skulls + aliens is New Age crap. And if you can point me towards a single 'not fake' crystal skull I'd be surprised. Made in France!

[Imperial Overlord]

Saw it, liked it.

As for aliens, there's a history of alien related crap attempting to pass itself off as "amateur" archeology, especially relating to Mezo-America. To me its just as crazy (and as unrelated to real archeology) as the neutron bomb Ark of the Covenant. I don't watch Indy movies for real archeology.

As a side note, when my dad was running digs in interior BC during the 80s, finding "The Legendary Crystal Moose Femur" was a running joke.

[Gandalf]

I had trouble buying the alien part of the story.

In the first and third films, there's wacky bible based artifacts. I took that to mean that within the Indyverse, there's some truth to the bible. Now there's aliens, and it just seems odd that there's a god as well as some interdimensional aliens. Did they make the magic cup and ark?

I understand that the idea of Erich Von Daniken style aliens are about as sensical as a god, but it doesn't gel. It's like having a film in which Thor fights Ra, how do they coexist without some interesting backstory?