Reactions to Indiana Jones IV (Spoilers)

[Havok]

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.

It was fun. See, I've never been in love with Indy like some other people here. To me the movies have always just been fun and this movie certainly qualifies as fun. I absolutely don't watch an Indy movie for it to make sense.

The one thing I don't get is people saying the plot was vague. The plot isn't vague. Friend needs help, Indy goes to help friend, gets wrapped up in friends dangerous situation, helps solve dangerous situation. The end. Pretty standard Indy fare, but hardly vague.

[Anguirus]

Anyone notice how the musical score never once rose to the situation at hand

It absolutely did this during the big jungle chase scene.

I can't think of any reason to prefer Temple over this one, though I can see not liking it as much as Crusade. (IMHO this was the best Indy apart from Raiders, which is in a league of its own.)

[Big Orange]

I do wonder if Lucas and Speilberg have both become very cynical or their lifelong fans have.

The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is not a patch on Raiders and struggles to keep up with Crusade, sharing a similar tackyness with The Temple of Doom in places, but I don't find it as oddly bland as The Lost World and (most of) Saving Private Ryan or as impossible to sit through as thankfully forgotten, unlamented clunkers like 1941 and Hook. I'd put The Crystal Skull in the same league as the overrated Jurassic Park, the off beam War of the Worlds and the cold Minority Report; very nice to look at and has it's heart in the right place, but not quite working at a certain level or succeeding in being a genuine classic.

The CGI was satisfactory and very well executed in most places (the CGI prairie dogs and monkeys were likely intentionally put in to torment the rabid fanboys), and I wager KotCS had more solid props and sets than the original Indy movies put together (CGI, puppets, claymation, model work, blue & green screen: the whole lot is artistic fakery anyway, and I'm getting tired of the "lolz SEE GEE EYE" being used as a scapegoat for bland movie making).

And Shia's 'Mutt' character is far superior to that chuckling brat from The Goonies, although he should've been given more to do (he could've escaped the Soviets at that sand pit, then showing up on horseback and derailing that big Soviet convoy led by that buzzsaw tank piece by piece; more truck/tank chase than minecart chase).

[Venator]

I enjoyed it. It had pretty cheesy moments, but it was great as a source of entertainment. The portrayal of the 50's was believable enough and a fun departure from the norm.

How I think their creative process went:

"We can't do something Biblical again because of the PC crowd, plus we already covered the two best-known relics. We can't rely on B-Movie horror, because Temple of Doom sucked. We can't even justify super-advanced ancient civilizations so much, because people are wising up."
"Aliens did it."
"Meh, works for me."

[The Grim Squeaker]

Just got back from seeing it. As a great fan of the series, I fucking LOVED it .
The ending felt full of plotholes (How did the commies climb down into the chamber? there weren't any ropes), and the Aliens behaviour was unexplicable (As was said. "We'll let them chop our heads off, then we'll want the head back, then we'll go away but not before trying to flame bake your minds"). I loved the jokes, they felt damn excellent to me (From the opening scene with the hat to the very end), and the movie just felt good to me.
It was too predictable though, and the ending fell very flat compared to Raiders. (That was the first time my parents covered my eyes during a movie ).

And the Ants were....Urgh. That was a damn R15 sequence if you ask me, so damn NASTY! .

[Darth Yoshi]

Ark of the Covenant!

Greasers vs. jocks!

The ants were nuts. Was that an accurate portrayal of tropical ants? I want to say yes, but likely I've been influenced by media depictions of killer ants.

The biology of the alien(s) was weird. So you have thirteen crystal skeletons, and they fuse together to make one flesh-and-blood one? Huh?

The fake-out with the hat at the very end was funny. Junior picks up the hat, and starts to put it on, and then Indy takes it back. Yeah, Indy isn't retiring yet.

[MKSheppard]

The movie fucking rocked - it's everything all of the Star Wars Prequels should have been, combined.

When Indy ran into the town in the middle of nevada, and it was freshly painted; I KNEW what was coming; and rubbed my hands together with glee; and yes, I was right.

The scene of him climbing the sand dune, and watching the mushroom cloud rise in the background while tugging on his fedora was awesome.

[Majin Gojira]

The ants were nuts. Was that an accurate portrayal of tropical ants? I want to say yes, but likely I've been influenced by media depictions of killer ants.

Yeah. The only way ants can kill anything larger than a small lizard is if the creature in question is tied down or otherwise unable to move.

And they actually kill you by crawling into your lungs and suffocating you with bites, numbers and your own blood.

And Siafu are native to Africa, but they have killed people (elderly), though.

[Starglider]

A friend dragged me out to see this film.

It's a cash-in, basically competent but without anything special. I was kind of hoping for a return to a darker Raiders style but of course I knew that wasn't going to happen. Instead it was just silly, neither the plot nor the villains were even vaguely credible. The 50s theming was well done, but really the vehicle sequences were the only genuinely entertaining parts, and even they looked horribly contrived. The previous films had contrived setpieces of course, that goes with the pulp style, but they managed to lead you through them without 'there is no reason for this to be happening other than the director wanting it to happen' being at the front of your mind.

The single biggest reason why this film didn't work for me is that there were no genuinely dark moments. Raiders had many of them. Even Last Crusade, mostly a light-hearted comedy, had moments that were genuinely chilling and moving. Crystal Skull didn't. Maybe the ending could have been, if the preceeding sillyness hadn't completely destroyed tension, mystery and suspension of disbelief. It was sufficiently bad that as I was watching the credits and the classic themes played, I thought 'wow, wish I'd spent that time rewatching Raiders instead'.

[Superman]

The first half of the movie was pretty good, I think the third act is where it became a big cluster fuck. And in my opinion, the use of the CGI took it down another notch.

[weemadando]

Really disappointed. It peaked way too early. After the big jungle chase it was all downhill. And that's half an hour or more for me to get more and more bored by the fact that it's going nowhere.

And then with the aliens? Now, I'm more than willing to go: "sure, why not aliens, after all we had the wrath of god in Raiders, "Kali-ma! Kali-ma!" in Temple and a goddamn immortal knight and the grail in Last Crusade". But this was such a let down. It just felt like Spielberg taking it too far.

I mean he fucked AI with the alien bullshit, now Indy? What's next, him re-doing Schindler's List and having the mothership coming down to rescue the Jews?

The first 2/3s were great. The final 1/3 was utter failure.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

The first half of the movie was pretty good, I think the third act is where it became a big cluster fuck. And in my opinion, the use of the CGI took it down another notch.

This is pretty much how I feel. The action set pieces were very much in the style of the previous films, except for the monkey scene, but the whole why and how of the story was weak and completely undermined the movie by the third act.

However, I must add that the aliens' role in the film is far too ambiguous for me. Just what in the hell were they doing? What were their motives? They waited for several thousand years and then decide to wait to "fusion" until one of them has his head stolen and shortly thereafter (only 400 years) returned? Why did they kill the soviets? Why did they build human societies up to a certain level and then just decide to ditch us? So, the crystal skulls from the Roswell crash, etc, have absolutely no psychic powers now? Was the film actually served by having the aliens be from another dimension as opposed to being from some other planet?


Compared to the previous Indiana Jones films, there seems to be less discovery, less satisfaction, by the end of the movie. We still don't know shit about what actually happened. Maybe the novelization takes care of that?

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I really hope his next film involves some sort of elder race, like the starspawn or the Great Old Ones, or some other cheesy sci-fi goodness from beyond time. He is an archaeologist, after all.

[Big Orange]

I wasn't bothered by the involvement of aliens per se and I liked the sequence where the flying saucer takes off, but the last quarter of the movie felt darn rushed and lacked little of the climax or tension that featured in the final scenes in RotLA and TLC - maybe instead of those twelve skeletons inside the inner sanctum, you get a saucer control room (dressed up by Incan architecture) with aliens implied rather than seen and Spalko dies when she tries to control the saucer with the Crystal Skull.

[Winston Blake]

The start was awesome. Overall I enjoyed it but it was pretty cheesy and poorly structured. Standing in the fog outside the warehouse (and in other parts), it looked a bit like 'The Making of Indy IV' rather than the actual movie. There were many niggling little things like the way everyone just stood there until Harrison Ford shouted 'Go' (when they ran up the stone ramp with the cogs colliding behind them).

I felt that there were a lot of things that could have been taken out without damaging the story or excitement at all. For example, the beautiful CGI shot of the flying fridge bouncing around, with Indy popping out - I had switched over to 'cartoon mode' and was thinking 'oh haha that's cool'. I just couldn't take it seriously because there's no way anyone could just walk away from those kinds of impacts, even if the fridge was filled with water. BOOM, shot of fridge embedded in dirt ridge, Indy pops out - would have given same result, but without the cheese.

Another thing which put it into 'cartoon land' for me was the magnetic gunpowder. I know it was kludged into 'gold isn't magnetic either lolz', but when he throws it up and it flies away, you just can't take it seriously. You've got priceless artifacts everywhere, and the whole damn warehouse is being pulled towards one spot? Why are only certain items affected, and only when dropped or thrown? Things were attracted only when it was cool, and only just enough to be cool.

The fight scenes were like anime fight scenes, full of ridiculously improbable actions. At least in anime they don't practically nod to the audience, like when Marion drove the amphibious vehicle off the cliff, and just knew exactly what would happen, and was all grins afterward.

There's no real sense of immediacy when you feel like you're watching a cartoon. If anything dangerous happens, they'll just pull off some incredibly improbable move and have a witty punchline. When Dr Jones Sr took out that fighter with a flock of birds, or Indy and the girl drove a boat between the closing ships, they were lucky stunts, but you could see yourself in their positions. Who here would watch monkies and instantly know how to swing on vines into a moving car? Or drive a vehicle off a cliff like that while gaily smiling? I thought it was awesome when Indy failed to whip-swing into Evil Woman's car at the start.

Anyway, this is quite rambly, but overall I think it could have been incredible with some more editing. Little loose ends everywhere, like what happened to Mudd's bike? Is it still hidden in the armpit of South America? Why didn't he give a damn? Why bring it along if it wasn't going to play a role?

Oh and another thing. LOLZ PROFESSOR I ALMOST DIED BUT CAN I ASK YOU A PROSAIC QUESTION, I WAS BORN WITHOUT A SENSE OF SELF-PRESERVATION.

Also bits from Star Wars - heading into the asylum, Bad Dude stalks across the screen just like Commlink Anteater Man on Tatooine in A New Hope. Also the -cantina- milk bar scene. Gotta have a milk bar, be it Tatooine or Coruscant. And there were some other bits I can't remember.

[Superman]

After seeing that Lucas got the writing credit for this movie, I really think it's time for him to throw in the towel, at least as a writer. His big sequels in recent times (Eps 1 through 3, Indy) have been pretty damn bad (IMHO).

[Guardsman Bass]

Saw it last night, and really enjoyed it. It's not as good as "The Last Crusade" (nevermind "Raiders of the Lost Ark"), but it was still very fun to watch, in my opinion.

One thing about why the skull killed the Russian woman - remember that one line in the movie where Indiana mentioned that the skull "told him to" during the psychic experiment with it that the Russian woman ran while he was strapped in the chair. Perhaps he also told some rather negative things about her to it.

[tim31]

As a movie, I really enjoyed it. As an Indiana Jones movie... I think I'm going to have to watch the first three back-to-back and then review KotCS. I liked:

*Jungle chase. Was kind of expecting death scene for big bad guy involving tree-chopping truck.
*Fifties stuff. Lucas obviously loves doing it; look at American Graffiti. Jocks vs Greasers was fun, I even enjoyed the opening scene with the cool kids egging on the army guys(who turned out to be bad, OMG!) as a scene setter- Yup, we're definately in Happy Days era.

I disliked:

*Not sure... But when it fell off pace, the magic went with it.

[Civil War Man]

Little loose ends everywhere, like what happened to Mudd's bike? Is it still hidden in the armpit of South America? Why didn't he give a damn? Why bring it along if it wasn't going to play a role?

I can't remember exactly what he said, but when he and Indy were captured by the Russians, he was bitching about them leaving it. And after that he was a bit too busy to worry about going back and getting it. So yes, it would still be in South America.

[SylasGaunt]

I can't remember exactly what he said, but when he and Indy were captured by the Russians, he was bitching about them leaving it. And after that he was a bit too busy to worry about going back and getting it. So yes, it would still be in South America.

Yeah Mutt stated repeatedly that they left his bike behind when they grabbed him. Didn't seem happy about it.

One thing about why the skull killed the Russian woman - remember that one line in the movie where Indiana mentioned that the skull "told him to" during the psychic experiment with it that the Russian woman ran while he was strapped in the chair. Perhaps he also told some rather negative things about her to it.

There's also the fact that earlier she stated she wanted to use the Crystal Skulls to mentally manipulate the whole planet. I figure the aliens wouldn't have been very happy about that idea considering how long it took to get one skull back.

[Gil Hamilton]

I liked the movie alot, though it didn't blow my socks off. The parts in the jungle chase almost seemed drag on and I'm surprised just how cool everyone was about the whole "aliens" thing. The latter half of the movie was kind of weak, though I really liked the set up. I kind of wish they'd have invested more time at the end with having some ramifications of the aliens, rather than just a throwaway line about them being archaeologists, them incinerating Irina, and then leaving. It kind of was a dud, in my opinion, that the bad guys got neatly taken care of and Indy and gang sat around all cool like massive inter-dimensional flying saucers are something they see every day.

Plus there were scenes that were just too over the top. Did Mutt really attack the Soviets with a monkey horde?

The first half of the movie was good though. I'm even willing to forgive Indy, you know, NOT being killed by a nearby thermonuclear bomb expressing its love of Eisenhower, given the silliness of the film. I just wish it went somewhere.

[weemadando]

The latter half of the movie was kind of weak, though I really liked the set up. I kind of wish they'd have invested more time at the end with having some ramifications of the aliens, rather than just a throwaway line about them being archaeologists,

Archaeologists who just trashed possibly the most priceless collection of artefacts gathered in history.

Those aliens were total dicks.

[Jadeite]

After the jungle chase begins, the movie goes downhill in my opinion. The ants and the Soviets machine gunning their way through the Indian warriors were the best parts in that entire segment. The worst offender was the three waterfalls sequence for its sheer idiocy on the part of the characters and the writers.

Also, characters seemed afflicted by a total lack of common sense throughout the movie. The best example would be when Irina gets back the skull (yet again) during the jungle chase, and one of the protoganists yells "She's getting away!"

They had a machine gun on the front of their amphibious jeep. Just get someone onto the hood and splatter the bitch across the back of her vehicle.

Did anyone else notice that Indiana Jones was responsible for very few enemy dead? The only person he killed by direct action was the guy with the blowgun, everyone else was simply set up for deaths by environment (jet engine, ants, etc.) Definitely a big contrast to his character in the previous films, in which he killed people all the time.

As for what I liked about the movie, the atomic test scene, despite the silliness with the refrigerator, was my favorite part, along with the car chase and diner fight.

[Oskuro]

After seeing that Lucas got the writing credit for this movie, I really think it's time for him to throw in the towel, at least as a writer. His big sequels in recent times (Eps 1 through 3, Indy) have been pretty damn bad (IMHO).

To further emphasize that:

Writing credits
(WGA)
David Koepp (screenplay)

George Lucas (story) and
Jeff Nathanson (story)

George Lucas (characters) and
Philip Kaufman (characters)

[Sidewinder]

I mean he fucked AI with the alien bullshit, now Indy?

The "aliens" in 'A.I.' are futuristic robots.

2,000 years later, Manhattan is buried under several hundred feet of glacial ice, and humans are extinct.[6] Mechas have evolved into an alien-looking humanoid form.[7]

But in a sense there’s a darker outlook with A.I., because somehow A.I. is about the end of the entire human race that is superseded by the Frankensteins that man has put on the planet in the greedy effort to make a boy who could love you.

Kubrick had envisioned a New York of the future being swallowed up by floods and tidal waves. More specific plot-points are vague, but several of the contributors have leaked glimpses of the story line over the years. One such scenario, given to me anonymously, would be that sometime later, a boy would be found amongst the swamp-like ruins by an advanced group of robots. At some point it would become clear that the boy himself was an arcane version of these robots, long since forgotten.

I don't know if making the "alien" a time-travelling robot would've improved 'The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'.