THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => ENJOY => Topic started by: Dissy on 14 Feb 2008, 11:45
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The first trailer for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is out.
http://www.indianajones.com/site/index.html (http://www.indianajones.com/site/index.html)
Go forth and enjoys it all
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Oh dear Lord...Why Shia LeBeouf? Why can't Hollywood stop resurrecting the classics? If there was one great movie series I hoped they would leave alone, it was the Indiana Jones movies. I mean, all those terrible videogames would be embarrassing enough, don't you think?
I just hope there is a minimum of Shia LeBeouf and a maximum of nazi ass-kicking in this one.
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Shia LeBouf does not deserve to be in Indiana Jones.
That being said, this movie is just a bad idea. It had a good run. It's just like thread necromancy. It just doesn't work.
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The film takes place in the 50's, thus, no nazis. Only Cate Blanchett with a Louise Brooks cut. Technically, the Soviets killed more people than the nazis. So they fit as the Big Evil Villains.
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I watched the trailer, and they looked like Nazis to me. I'll watch it again.
I couldn't tell. :| Is there a blurb or something I can read about it? 'Cause I can't find anything besides the trailer on this site.
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Well, the wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_4) states it in the first paragraph, but if that's not a good enough source... I don't know. A number of (seemingly accurate) spoilers have been thrown around film news sites for the last couple of months, so I'd be careful looking about.
I'm a little disappointed that they're taking their cues from 50's B sci-fi flicks this time around. The pulp adventure vibes of the first two were what made them great, in my eyes. The third was more of a victory lap than anything else. But I'll still see this one.
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Honestly, I believe that this movie will be everything a fan could possibly want from another Indiana Jones movie. Whether its' pulp desert adventure, or pulp sci-fi adventure, it's still pulp. It's still being made by the exact same people that made the previous movies. All the stunts are 'real' and a minimum of CGI is being used, as usual. Harrison Ford still carried out a LOT of his own stunts, which, when viewing the trailer is not only obvious, but very impressive. The man is pushing 70 and still jumping through sugar-glass windows.
This is Indiana Jones. Critics are guaranteed to hate it, but it's Indiana Jones. And if you grew up in the 80s, Indiana Jones was all you ever wanted to be when you grew up.
I mean, all those terrible videogames would be embarrassing enough, don't you think?
You take that back. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Desktop Indiana Jones were modern day masterpieces when they arrived.
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I have to agree with Sox, actually. There was an article in Variety a month or so ago concerning this movie (Said article also detailed the fact these are Cold War Soviets, not Nazis). There were snippets from Spielberg himself and I couldn't be more pumped for this movie. The thing people need to take into account is that the original Indiana Jones movies were never any kind of cinematic masterpieces. They were just fun movies with great acting from Ford (In fact, I'd call Temple of Doom and outright terrible movie). Unless Ford's managed to lose all semblance of acting skills, I can't see this movie being any different.
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Technically, the Soviets killed more people than the nazis. So they fit as the Big Evil Villains.
Yeah, but the Nazis were more efficient. They also killed way more children than the soviets.
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You take that back. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Desktop Indiana Jones wereare modern day masterpieces when they arrived.
Fxed.
Technically, the Soviets killed more people than the nazis. So they fit as the Big Evil Villains.
Yeah, but the Nazis were more efficient. They also killed way more children than the soviets.
The Soviets were never about efficiency, though, they didn't need to be. They had enough soldiers that they could carelessly toss them at enemies. When we were making "pressure point" nukes that could hit strategic areas, they were packing more and more kilotons onto their "fire and forget" bombs.
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I had an Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade game on my PC. It was awesome. Pixelated awesome in an electronic monster of a box.
Though I do not care for Shia LeBouf and I think Harrison Ford is a little old for this, I will see this movie. These movies were very fun as a little girl and this one will at least be a nostalgic sort of fun when I see it. And the part from the preview where he misses the one truck when he's swinging from his whip and crashes into the truck behind him is funny.
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I think Shia LeBouf gets a lot of unfair criticism simply because he's in bad movies. Honestly, the movies he has been in so far have had no redeeming features besides the big robots in Transformers. We've seen what an effect bad direction can have on good actors. Let's not be too quick to judge. It's possible that under the direction of Steven Spielberg, Shia LeBouf can be a good actor.
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It's his face.
Also, he did technically drink from the Holy Grail. Now, as long as no one kills the guy, they can make movies about him forever!
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Actually, I think the Immortal Knight of Modern English said that as soon as they crossed that Temple threshold that caused the quakin' they ceased to be immortal.
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Guys, don't get me wrong. I am going to see this movie. I just have low expectations.
I mean, all those terrible videogames would be embarrassing enough, don't you think?
You take that back. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Desktop Indiana Jones were modern day masterpieces when they arrived.
I was referring mainly to the most recent Indiana Jones games. Like that one platformer/action game that came out on all platforms a few years ago.
The thing people need to take into account is that the original Indiana Jones movies were never any kind of cinematic masterpieces. They were just fun movies with great acting from Ford (In fact, I'd call Temple of Doom and outright terrible movie).
I guess I wouldn't say "masterpiece," but Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was brilliant. But, yeah, Temple of Doom was kind of crappy.
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Raiders is still the best one, as far as I'm concerned. I have more problems with Last Crusade than I did with Temple of Doom, but I don't have any problems with Raiders.
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Temple of Doom was funny because of sheer absurdity. Last Crusade is a fun movie and I get a kick out of Sean Connery in that one, but yes, Raiders of the Lost Ark is the best. I mean, the Nazis melt. How is that now awesome?
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More like Shia LeBAWWWWWWWWWW
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Having not heard anything about this film until I saw this, seeing Shia LeBouf's face in the trailer made me quite sad. That said, I'm still hella excited about this. I mean, it's Jones!
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And the part from the preview where he misses the one truck when he's swinging from his whip and crashes into the truck behind him is funny.
In that scene, that looks like the warehouse where they put the Arc of the Covenant at the end of Raiders!
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It does!
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That's because it is.
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Really, really looking forward to this!
It will be my first theatrical experience of Indy, so I'm pumped at the thought of that alone.
The whole sci-fi aspect is worrying though. I read an interview with Speilberg where he said that the originals were based in the 30's/40's so they went for the vibe of the adventure B-movies of that era, and the new one is based in the 50's so the want the vibe of the sci-fi B-movies of that period. I guess that kind of makes sense, but at the same time doesn't seem to me to be true to the spirit of the originals.
Still, I'll be there when it opens
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Bringing this thread back from the dead, because I just got back from seeing the movie.
OK. So, the biggest piece of advice I would have to anyone going to see it is to please remember to leave your perception of reality behind, and remember that the first three movies included the Ark of the Covenant melting Nazis, guys getting their hearts ripped out by someone's bare hand and Indy actually finding the Holy Grail. If you can believe those things, the stuff in this movie isn't so much of a stretch. Apparently, a lot of the people I went with weren't able to make that connection... I don't know why it's so hard.
That said, it was a fun pulp movie just like the others were. The action scenes and the humor were vintage Jones, just the plot was updated to include the CCCP and greasers. It is more sci-fi pulp than the others, but there is no shortage of Indy puzzle-solving and whatnot. And, the token swarm scene in this movie is the scariest of them all so far.
There were some great fan-service moments, too, which are pretty obvious if you're an Indy/LucasFilm fan.
It was fun, and it was awesome seeing Indiana Jones again, and I was not disappointed. I'm sure a lot of people will be, to be honest, but I was not.
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INDIANA JONES FUCK YES
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Saw it at midnight last night, and it was pretty telling that even with half the crowd in costume there wasn't any sort of enthusiastic response once the credits rolled. There were two big problems with the film. One is that the script felt undercooked. Indy and Shy theBeef got a lot of screentime but Cate Blanchett never even reached the level of that bespectacled gestapo guy from Raiders, Karen Allen coasted on Raiders goodwill, and Ray Winstone was a poor replacement for John Rhys-Davies (who I guess was too busy shooting In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale to appear here). The second is that you could feel George Lucas' influence throughout so much of the movie. The 3 different CGI gopher reaction shots, surviving a nuke by hiding in a fridge (though that mushroom cloud shot was awesome) and fucking Shia LeBouf intercepting a speeding truck by swinging on vines with fucking attack monkeys. They talked up a storm about good old fashioned stuntwork, but the greenscreening was pretty evident and a lot of the fight scenes weren't all that rousing, at least not as rousing as fights from previous films. The bike chase through Yale was maybe the best part, since it didn't seem to use any CGI at all. Spielberg's always been a brilliant visual manipulator but he just doesn't come through here.
In fact, that was the biggest disappointment for me. Any of the other movies, despite their quality, always had a definite sense of place about them, whether it was the Middle East in Raiders and TLC or India in Temple of Doom. Maybe it's because the guy they've always used for cinematography retired after Last Crusade, but the locales all felt fairly lifeless and the Lost City at the end just felt fake. Maybe it was all the green screening or maybe I'm just crayzee.
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I was definitely surprised/disappointed with the amount of CGI, considering they had been talking about using almost none... but I've come to expect certain things when Lucas is involved, and I wasn't going to let him ruin it for me.
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I went to a midnight showing, it wasn't worth it.
The CGI sucked.
The one liners seemed forced.
Holy fuck the ending fucking sucked.
I'm a fan of the series. I liked the other films. This one was ok, until the fucking end. I mean, what the fuck? What in the world were they thinking? It's like they just fucking completely half assed the end. It was terrible. I was pretty disappointed.
All that said, the movie was absolutely horrid. I probably won't go see it again in theaters anytime soon(like I typically do with movies I really enjoy), but it's not like I had a bad time.
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It's time for an Honest Movie Opinion by Kevin "Dissy" Note: Minor Spoilers, nothing you can't get from the trailers, and some useless information that somehow made the final cut.
I'll admit, I went into the movie with mixed opinions. I was really expecting something a la the first three. The introduction was really lame. The first few minutes made me roll my eyes in disgust. But then, then we get some action going. We see the classic fedora before we see the man under the hat. We also get introduced to the main villian, Colonel Doctor Ivanna Humalot, or something. This isn't your old villians. Kate Blanchet's accent keeps switching from crappy Russian to her normal English one. She also is some sort of psi-ops officer.
We jump into the warehouse scene, and the signature character gets betrayed, oh, and the ark is there as well. He attempts an escape, and succeeds, only to get stuck in a "town" where a nuclear bomb is about to be dropped on. How does he escape? He hides in a lead refrigerator, which gets blown a mile or so away, which he crawls out of. Next scene, we get The Janitor from Scrubs, pretending to be an FBI agent. But we all see right through his disguise. This is just one of Janitor's fantasies. Well, the FBI black lists Indy as a possible Commie. The FBI ransacks his office and gets Indy fired, but ... Lucas has another strange tangent which leads to the revelation that Marcos Brody (played by Elliot Delholm in Raiders and Last Crucade died several years ago) is dead, and so is Dad (Sean Connery).
Next scene introduces Mutt, and we get 30 minutes of American Graffiti. After that, we go to Peru, and we find the said Kystal Skull. From here, the movie is all down hill. I saw this movie with a couple of friends. One of us and I laughed through the rest of the movie, while the other two had facial expressions ranging from disgust to complete surprise(and not in a good way.)
The movie ends, the villain dies, Lucas squeezes in his crappy love story (the same one used in every movie of his), and the fedora is passed on to a new generation, wait, nevermind. Indy leaves the last scene with the fedora on his head, and credits roll.
The first thing that comes to all of our minds as we leave is "MY CHILDHOOD! RUINED!" and "LUCASSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"
Yes, I will most likely buy this movie on DVD, I will go see Indy 5, if it comes out, but I won't shell out 10 bucks to sit though the movie in a thearter again.
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I was pretty disappointed with the raping of my childhood yeah. Like Emaline, I went to a midnight showing (really just because that was the only time me and my brother could go with my sister, who is moving down to Texas again). It wasn't worth it. At all. Oh god. The sad thing is, Harrison Ford was pretty good in my opinion, everyone else sucked balls, an you can only do so much with a shitty script, and lines like "How could I have ever doubted you my old friend," inundated the film. I wanted to throw rotting lettuce at the screen and call for an execution. Lucas, you are on my list.
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Aaaaah. You guys are ruining my Saturday night plans... --Double Feature Indiana/Ironman at the local drive-in. Don't tell me one of the movies sucks the day after its out in theatres! Ah well, maybe the fact that it is the drive-in will make it better. That always makes the night better, even if the movie does suck.
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Slight spoilers.
I thought the movie was actually pretty good. Maybe because I was predicting it to be about aliens for the past year or so, so the ending really didn't bother me. Mutt was actually a decent enough character, he didn't really hurt scenes that much, I thought. Most of the action sequences were really good, in my opinion, as well, especially the motorcycle chase through the college and the chase through the jungle.
I will also say that I think it's ridiculous to complain about your childhood being raped. The first three movies still exist, and this movie isn't any worse than Temple of Doom (which is still an entertaining movie.) Everybody just needs to calm down and remember that they can't demand too much out of their movies or else they're going to hate it even more, in my opinion.
Edit: Also, PQ4, I wouldn't worry about your drive-in plans. Iron Man was a great movie and the new Jones isn't as terrible as fans make it out to be (most of the critical response I've seen is not outright negative, just not ecstatic). Just don't expect your dreams to come true and Indy to come driving through the screen and personally present his fedora and whip to you and you should be alright.
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Sooooooo... this movie is not worth dropping ten bucks on?
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I'm not going to tell you you're going to love the movie cause it's a genuinely great movie that I think everyone with good taste will love. But I will say that I think the highly negative response from fans is somewhat unreliable. I would say the more trustworthy response is the "meh, it was decent and entertaining."
It's about as good as Rocky Balboa is when compared to Rocky and as Live Free and Die Hard is when compared to Die Hard. Not great like the originals, but people who aren't overly emotionally invested tend to enjoy them well enough.
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Having just seen this and as one of the few people on here who is actually old enough to have seen the original in the theater (seriously, what's with someone who is 20 saying their childhood was raped when 20 years ago is when the last movie of the trilogy was in theaters?) I feel like I should give my opinion.
It's good. The whole cast is good. Cate Blanchett is much better than the nerd rage backlash is saying. Shia LeWhatsisface is just fine.
Most reviews I've read say that the film opens with nonstop action and then slows down. I must have seen a different film because the opening action sequence felt like about 15 minutes long and wasn't really astounding. For me the movie didn't really engage me until around the halfway point.
I liked the ending just fine. I don't see how it's much of a disappointment, if anything it's almost too similar to the way the other films ended.
The returning characters from the first film (I guess one of them is supposed to be a surprise so I won't mention either by name) were good. One of them entertained me greatly, one of them showed up and did their job.
All that said, it wasn't good enough to prevent me from sneaking into a second viewing of Iron Man after I left in order to feel like I'd gotten my money's worth of entertainment.
However, having re-watched the original Raiders a few days ago, I think people are cutting that movie a bit of rose-colored nostalgia slack, because I had forgotten how utterly boring a big chunk of that film actually is (after the nth viewing, of course, the first 10 or so times I saw it as a kid were still amazing).
And I do find it puzzling that this was the best script they could come up with after countless re-writes. Some of the lines are just kind of mediocre.
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Sooooooo... this movie is not worth dropping ten bucks on?
...Honey, no movie is worth dropping 10 bucks on unless your buying it. Seriously, some people pay craaaazy prices at movie theaters. Even the night-shows here are only like $8. Afternoon shows are only $5.50 and have been for -years-.
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$2
The only benefit to living in this tiny little town.
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Having just seen this and as one of the few people on here who is actually old enough to have seen the original in the theater (seriously, what's with someone who is 20 saying their childhood was raped when 20 years ago is when the last movie of the trilogy was in theaters?) I feel like I should give my opinion.
I watched the movies as a kid, thus they are part of my childhood. I've also watched the original three movies over the past few days before this and I still say The Last Crusade is one of the best films of all time. I think my main problem with this movie is that it just didn't have that sense of awe and mystery that the other movies had.
Possible spoilers:
There wasn't enough history, or mystery to it. It lacked that touch that the other movies had of secret societies of grail defenders or Shiva worshipping cultists. It was too easy to figure out. Everything popped into their heads without much of a struggle and the information was just handed to the audience. It made me feel like they thought I was dumb, to be honest.
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I paid $9 for my midnight showing. And then all together the three of us spent $17 on popcorn and drinks.
But since somebody already said it, I am going to repeat my main concern with the movie. But if you've only been skimming and didn't read the whole thread SKIP THIS POST. FUCKING SPOILERS.
Fucking aliens. What the fuck???? Why? Why? Why? Why were there fucking aliens in my fucking Indiana Jones move? Why???? Somebody explain this to me. Please. Something slightly more believable would have been preferred. I mean, what the fuck?? It's like they worked on the movie for a while, and then realized they had to write, and film the ending in two weeks,and did the first bullshit they could come up with. Absolutely fucking horrid. Fucking aliens.
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Something slightly more believable would have been preferred. I mean, what the fuck??
So, something like...finding the Ark of the Covenant, which sends out spirits to kill all the people who look at it? Surviving a 300 ft drop in a rubber dingy? Pulling out a man's still beating heat without killing him or leaving a mark on his chest? Voodoo dolls? The Holy Grail? Immortality? Invisible bridges? Discovering Atlantis and being transformed into a god? Having your hapless sidekick transformed into a giant bad creature?
Your main problem with the ending of the movie being a tad too removed from reality is pretty hilarious. The previous movies all but confirmed the existence of a biblical God for crying out loud.
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Slightly more believable? The first movie had The Ark of the Covenant and the third one had the Holy Grail!
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goddamn you and your agile typing, darryl
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I mean, what the fuck?? It's like they worked on the movie for a while, and then realized they had to write, and film the ending in two weeks,and did the first bullshit they could come up with. Absolutely fucking horrid. Fucking aliens.
Well they pretty much hinted at the possibility of the film being about aliens since the very beginning (Y'know, when they were pulling into Area 51 RIGHT AFTER the credits?) And people were speculating about the film being about aliens since very early buzz on the movie. Hell, I think it's safe to say most people who were keeping up with the movie were EXPECTING it to be about aliens (They even hinted in the friggin' trailer with the shot of the Roswell, New Mexico label on the magnetic box.) Early versions of the script outright declared in the title that they were about Martians and aliens. Even just thinking about the fact it took place in the late 50s during the Cold War and not long before the space race should've given you a hint.
I mean, seriously, you should've seen it coming.
And I second what both Sox and E. Spaceman have said.
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Wouldn't it be a bit weird of Luke Skywalker suddenly accepted Christ as his lord and Saviour towards the end of return of the jedi?
Not really, no. We cover the entire universe.
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I understand Emaline's anger. Wouldn't it be a bit weird of Luke Skywalker suddenly accepted Christ as his lord and Saviour towards the end of return of the jedi?
Not comparable because the concept of Christianity doesn't exist in the Star Wars universe. There is religion and faith in Star Wars, just not Christian religion. Now see, the concept of aliens and UFOs does exist in the real world, the world that Indiana Jones is extremely close to existing in. The concept of the film's plot is grounded to the real world by real events like the Roswell incident and UFO sightings. Just like the historical and biblical based plots of the previous films. As far as I'm concerned expanding on Roswell and UFO paranoia in the 20th century is as much historical fantasy as searching for and finding the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant.
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I'm not really saying anything about the previous films, just that the fictional universe in Star Wars has nothing to do with this one and Christianity does not exist there, but Indiana Jones are films that exist by and large in our own world, where UFOs have been sighted and people believe in extraterrestials just like they believe in the Bible. So I really can't say the comparison is entirely valid, as a matter of fact I'd go out on a limb and say it really boils down to hyperbole.
No offense, of course, and if you just don't like the direction of the film, then that's your own problem. But I don't think realism is the issue at all. Just tone, for some people at least.
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I know that all the Indy movies are pretty far fetched. That is why I said SLIGHTLY. Stuff about Jesus is a little bit more believable than fucking aliens.
Anyways has hit the nail on the head though.
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The aliens didn't bother me at all. Especially since they're in the movie for about 10 minutes. The way the movie dealt with everything still meshed with the previous movies' tone, I felt.
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I was supposed to see this with friends, but then I discovered I was broke, so I didn't go. After hearing what my friends said about it, I will not be seeing this until it's on video. I'm not wasting $10-15 to see it in theaters from what I've heard from not only my friends but here as well. I think I can wait...
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I've heard a bunch of really bad stuff concerning this film....so I might stay away unless someone pays for me. I've heard that it's disappointing in the same way that the Phantom Menace was....which is completely understandable. Also I hate LeBouf so I'll wait probably just wait for the rental.
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Whoah now. It is nowhere even remotely nearly as disappointing as Phantom Menace was. Not even in the ballpark.
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I saw it with my wife on Thursday (which was also our 9th anniversary). We were both disappointed, mainly because they could have done more.
Several things were good: Harrison Ford still has it, and is the reason that the movie was as good as it was;
Cate Blanchett looks good with the pageboy haircut and the pseudo soviet form fitting outfit;
The sword fight between Cate and Shia was well done (both of them look like they've had some training)
Several things were not:
Mac, what was the point of this character;
The relationship between Indy and Mutt could be seen coming a mile away, at night, during a snowstorm (you get the idea);
The ending was unsatisfying.
This isn't the worst in the series though, that "honour" still belongs to Temple of Doom.
BR and the wife rate the series in the following way:
1. Last Crusade
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark;
3. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; and
4. Temple of Doom.
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In context with the previous movies, this movie sucked hard. Too much CGI and did we really need Indy's son? Even the monkeys weren't real.
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Well, in the context of the movies its been 20 years since the end of the Last Crusade, expecting him to have remained static is unrealistic.
In the thirties we had adventure serials with fanastical adventures with a semi-historical basis, but when we got to the fifties the most popular serials were science fiction ones. Both Spielberg and Lucas were inspired by these serials, and switching to the type most prevalent in that era makes sense.
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And that was their intention anyway.
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To be fair, Indy still did "old stuff" in this movie too. The "old stuff" just happened to have an extra terrestrial origin.
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The "old stuff" just happened to have an extra terrestrial origin.
"Extra-dimensional, in point of fact..."
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FUCKING SPOILER POST (Which is what a lot of the posts above me should say by the way)
I'm not really sure I'm pissed about the idea of alien conspiracies and roswell and stuff in the movie, but did they have to show the Alien? In full obvious 3D rendered glory? I think that's the part that didn't fit within the Indiana universe the most in my opinion, 3D graphics of giant transdimensional aliens and their fucking spaceships! Imagine all of a sudden the Muppets fully rendered in 3D, and you see how wrong this is. The highest level of animation in a previous Indiana Jones movie are the spirits that rise out of the ark of the covenant. If they had taken out the scene where the crystal skeletons turn into the 3D alien, and even left in the goddamn spaceship, I think it may have worked better.
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Yeah I mean imagine if they had like actually shown the Holy Grail and this like 2,000 year old dude actually fucking guarding it and shit.
Fuck.
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That's not what he's saying, he's saying the alien looked lame. A man in a suit would probably have made the movie much much better. Most complaints seem to be about the CGI used in the movie. I blame George Lucas. Spielberg does CGI very well when left to his own devices.
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Man, fuck all y'all I thought it was good for an action movie. The Indiana Jones series has always been "things exploding" movies. You don't go to a "things exploding" movie and expect realism at all. Here are things in this movie that I took issue with:
- Cate Blanchett's dodgy, wavering accent
- the fucking fridge thing
- Karen Allen's awful, phoned-in "let's do her a favour because she was ok in the first movie" performance
- the monkeys thing
- a few of the action shots were pretty dumb
All that said, go back and watch the original Indiana Jones movies. They were fucking ridiculous. This is probably the weakest of the series, but it was still a lot of fun to watch, which was all these movies were ever supposed to be.
Btw, only having Transformers as a reference I went into the theatre expecting to hate Shia's character, but I think that they did a really good job on his introduction and development.
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It's true, we haven't even brought up the monkeys thing. Est, you're right, for an action movie the entire film wasn't bad, it had more or less pretty much non-stop action. I almost wished for a few more rests from that action actually, I think the pacing would have felt better if there were a couple more spots for dialogue, good places to add the air of mystery to the movie that I feel it lacked.
And actually zerodrone, I was thinking more along the lines of making parallels between the aliens and the Judeo-Christian God. The other three movies show powerful artifacts supposedly made by God, (or in the Temple of Doom, Shiva) and a knight who for some reason had lived an incredibly long life thanks to the power of that God. I think it would have been more effective for a spaceship to take off being powered seemingly by a circle of 13 skeletons, rather than them turning into one "living" one that gave Cate Blanchett a mean look before setting her on fire. If she had been destroyed just by the knowledge of looking into the skull of a transdimensional being it would have been better. I think it was really just the terrible CGI of the alien that got me the most, maybe the monkeys. The other parts that relied heavily on it, like the space-ship (non-living things are just easier to pull off) and the giant ants swarm, weren't that bad.
Also, notice how I've said nothing about the believability of the movie, most people here know my stance on Christianity and God and what I think of their believability. The first three movies were just better with integrating the more fantastic elements into a good story.
Also Also, with all this said and done I was entertained at the theatre (mostly) while watching the movie. I got to sit near my sister and brother and annoy them by correctly predicting plot turns and point out stuff that I noticed like I usually do at most movies. I drank Mr. Pibb and ate skittles, it was a good night. And when all's said and done I'll forget about this movie when the next big thing comes out, say The remake of The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Night come out later this summer, along with whatever other blockbusters that hit theaters.
Edit: And he's not 2,000 years old, that's how old the grail is. He's from one of the Crusades, so only a few hundred years old, duh. [/nerdiness]
**When the hell did we get the delete button?
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Haha, I fixed that a while back after seeing Joe complaining about it.
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well it just helped. I actually quoted my own post on accident first instead of modifying it. Now there isn't any annoying extra posts in between the real meat of the discussion.... oh wait shit.
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I was okay with the movie. Wasn't the best, but wasn't the worst to me.
I admit though, at the end with the flying saucer I turned to my friend and said, "What the fuck Lucas, what the fuck"
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..................There's a flying saucer? Christ. Now I really am going to avoid this movie....like the plague.
God I think I hate George Lucas. I think I'm going to download and watch THX 1138.....because that could possibly be the only good film that he's done.....plus it has the advantage of not being raped by updated cg and added scenes.
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American Graffiti says hello.
I'm just going to say people complain about Lucas way too much. My instinct is he didn't have nearly as much to do with this movie as people want to blame him for. Everybody needs to realize he directed, wrote, and produced the three prequels. And if there's anything that they proved it's that he serves best in the producer role (What he did for Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and the Jones movies and many movies in the 20 or so years he didn't direct at all.)
He did not write or direct this movie, the Lucas bashing is bearable for the prequels, but in this case it's pretty grating. Get over it and boycott Lucasfilm movies if you think he taints everything he touches.
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Lucas had a much bigger part in the making of this movie than jut a production role. He and Spielberg worked together very closely, trading off ideas constantly. Name one Spielberg movie other than this one which had bad CGI comparable to the star wars prequels. To my knowledge, there isn't one.
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Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (phew) suffers from the same problems as that the previous George Lucas movies (ie. the new Star Wars Trilogy.). Far too much relianace on special effects and far too many drawn out and cheesy action sequences of which half way through you are sitting there thinking "will it never end???".
The dialouge is also very ropey on occasion, as well as the acting. Not so much from Harrison but more from the supporting cast. And the sheer amount of silly escape sequences. I mean how many times can a group of people be captured and threatened with death, only to then escape, only to be re-captured and threatened with death, etc etc etc.....
I found the movie dull, and the storiyline a little stupid. Yes the Indiana Jones movies of the past had an element of the supernatural and mystical about them, but this current storyline I felt just took it a little too far.
Had to go and see it of course as it's an Indiana Jones movie, but I do feel that Lucas has lost his touch (or after Attack of the Clone he already had). Too many chase scenes and silly action scenes and not enough on the story and characters. A big disappointment for me I'm afraid.
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Oh also, can we please stop with the liberal use of the word "rape/raped" when referring to someone doing something you don't like to a movie? It's got less to do with me objecting to you using the actual word in this fashion and more to do with people resorting to stupid, cliched, outlandish statements to explain their distaste for something. Learn to explain your displeasure in a less hyperbolic fashion and maybe I won't disregard your opinion wholesale from now on.
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Lucas had a much bigger part in the making of this movie than jut a production role. He and Spielberg worked together very closely, trading off ideas constantly. Name one Spielberg movie other than this one which had bad CGI comparable to the star wars prequels. To my knowledge, there isn't one.
I'd be extremely surprised if bad CGI is caused by George Lucas. I doubt any of Lucas's ideas and notes ever included "Make sure the CGI is really bad and looks like the prequel trilogy."
It's ridiculous to assume that George Lucas deserves such derision because of special effects that you don't like. The man's a producer, not a special effects artist. It's more to do with ILM, who used to be the leading effects studio, but by now they've definitely fallen behind studios like WETA Digital. And Spielberg was the one who decided where and how to shoot the movie, to my knowledge. I know for sure Spielberg was behind the decision to not shoot any of the movie outside of the US.
And while we're at it, as far as the script and plot as a whole goes. The various versions of the script were not written by George Lucas at any point (though the main plot device and the switch to a more 50s sci-fi serial feel was originally his idea, and I maintain it's not a bad idea), and all three of the principals (Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford) all had to be in agreement upon the final script before the production started.
I'm not saying Lucas is as good a filmmaker as he was in the 70s, because he's not, but the things that are wrong with this movie are not all his fault, and Lucas bashing is just getting ridiculous lately.
Edit: Everyone just seems to want to believe that Lucas's overbearing influence completely took over Spielberg and made him make a bad movie. Like somehow the evil Lucas mind-controlled Spielberg into making a movie you don't like. I really can't understand the logic, it just seems like the Lucasfilm logo is a catalyst for nerd rage.
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I would imagine Lucas is such an easy target because, while this film is "good" by Hollywood standards, it's easily one of the worst movies Spielberg has directed, especially in the past 20 years.
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I saw this yesterday and I was pretty disappointed. Honestly the film just didn't have the same spirit of the first films. To be fair I wasn't crash hot on the original trilogy, I really only enjoyed Last Crusade and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull just didn't live upto it. I found that Indiana Jones, while stubborn and belligerant in the previous films, totally gave the Russians all the information they asked for as soon as they said boo. Shia LaBeouf was actually pretty good and I really enjoyed the fight in the milkbar but I still don't think he can hold a film by himself (especially after Transformers but I guess we'll see after Eagle Eye). Cate Blanchett I can't stand in any film ever and Karen Allen is honestly a terrible actor. She ended up killing the whole film for me because every time she appeared in a scene I went mad with rage.
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Yeah, Karen Allen was kind of awful. Makes no sense, she was great in Raiders.
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She just seemed terribly out of practice, like she essentially hasn't done anything in the past good many years. She's probably started a family and hasn't done any acting jobs in a long while. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case, I would look up her filmography, but eh.
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Pretty much, yeah. She's done Law and Order and apparently played the mom in The Sandlot. That's about all she's done that people would recognize since Raiders.
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Yeah, Karen Allen was kind of awful. Makes no sense, she was great in Raiders.
No she wasn't. She killed that movie for me too.
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For some reason I don't mind her so much, maybe there were so many other gaping flaws in the movie that her part didn't seem so bad. Of course, I don't mind her in Raiders either.
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(http://www.shortpacked.com/comics/20080528janitor.png)
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Blah - there will probably be spoilers. You are forewarned.
As for Karen Allen: She may not be the most amazing actress, but she was my favorite of the original "Indy Girls". I was honestly glad to see her back as opposed to the alternatives.
As for the interdimensional beings (a.k.a. aliens): Yeah, they bugged me too. Mostly because the whole idea of aliens doesn't hold the historical gravitas of THE ARK OF THE COVENANT or THE HOLY GRAIL or HUMAN SACRAFICE. Sure, the movie had EL DORADO, but that idea took backseat to the aliens, which just feels like too modern a concept. Whether it is or not is debatable, but it felt wrong. It felt more The Mummy or Tomb Raider than it did Indiana Jones.
That said, throughout the entire movie, my hands were clasped in front of me and an expression of utter delight was on my face. This movie was just plain enjoyable. It's not the kind of movie you scrutinize for quality, it's the kind of movie you watch as a twelve year old and it forever shifts your idea of what adventure is. It's a B movie, and it's proud of it.
it was still a lot of fun to watch, which was all these movies were ever supposed to be.
hear hear.
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I note that about ninety percent of the complaints here essentially boil down to "ableeblabloo my childhood waaaaah not my indiana jones *sniffle*"
Seriously, people, it's taking everything I have to not be TOO harsh, but sack the fuck up. Times change, things change. You can't have thirties conventions in a movie taking place in the sixties. For years now, they've been saying they were going to go with more sci-fi conventions than the old pulp ideas because that was what was prevalent to the age this film took place in.
Yes, the villain's accent was atrocious. Fair point.
Yes, there were some rather groan inducing points, like the monkey swing scene and the wedding scene (Which is no worse, to me, than the mine car scene from Temple of Doom).
Yes, there was some cheesy dialogue (About half of Marcus Brodie's dialogue).
Yes, some shit was pretty drastically unbelievable (As said, no worse than some of the utterly fucked up stuff the prior movies have done).
But you know what? These are primarily things that apply just as bad, if not worse, to the originals. The movies have ALWAYS had cheesy dialogue and ridiculous moments that would've made us all groan had we not been watching these movies since some of us were fucking toddlers.
I basically agree with the last sentiment of singeivoire's post. Why in the fuck are you people going into an Indiana Jones movie with an analytical mind?
Woopdy do, there were aliens. Bluntly speaking, and I'm no conspiracy nut, I am MUCH more heavily inclined to believe that maybe an advanced alien race could've given a surprisingly advanced ancient civilization a helping hand than to believe that there's some omnipotent, yet unknowable being controlling history.
Yeah, Jones deals heavily with history and legend, but guess what? El Dorado is history and legend. The Mayans are a great historical society. The Roswell Incident is a modern peace of historical legend.
Overall, I enjoyed it. The fact I'm 24 and watching a movie whose last installment was released when I was 5, I didn't expect it to have stagnated for 19 years. Some of you are too young to remember and understand the real wait between Return of the Jedi and Phantom Menace. I watched the original trilogy in 1987, when I was three. Twelve years later, sixteen for those who saw it originally, they were greeted with Phantom Menace (Which, while not a good movie, is not as atrocious as people like to say, in my view). This movie was an even longer wait and many of you were around for the last movie. There was no feasible way for it to live up to elevated expectations. Also taking into account it was much better than Phantom Menace was, I'd call it a success.
Overall, it wasn't the greatest movie of all time, but it was a good action flick in the vein of the prior films in the series. My only legitimate grievance was something no one had control over: how much Harrison Ford really has aged. He's one of my all time favorite actors and having grown up on his work in Star Wars and Indiana Jones to finally look at him and think "This guy is essentially done with movies after this" was rather heart wrenching.
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Amen brother, testify.
I was entertained, my wife was entertained. We had an enjoyable anniversary afternoon. The movie served its purpose - which was to entertain us and make us forget the outside world until the credits rolled.
Besides, I got to see the trailer for Passchendaele (http://www.passchendaelethemovie.com/), which despite the attached love story looks like its going to be a "kick ass and take no prisoners" war movie.
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Man, I got Kung Fu Panda and that animated Star Wars flick (Which I do not like the look of). I got hosed.
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I really don't much care about how this movie affects the Indiana Jones legacy. It was a boring movie. The one-liners fell flat ("I Like Ike"? Really? What does that even mean in context?) the characters were all anemic and the action scenes were devoid of tension, just like in, yes, The Phantom Menace. 2 weeks from now the only things about the movie I remember will be the nuclear explosion and the final liftoff, because they were the coolest looking parts of the film.
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In reference to the "I like Ike" remark, he was patronizing the FBI guys. They accused him of being a Communist, so he remarked with a US propaganda slogan.
I dunno, I found it pretty obvious...
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I don't think he said that to the FBI dudes, he said that when the Russians asked if he had any last words, before he bolted.
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same deal.
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i wasn't really going planning on seeing this in theaters but having accidentally read a butt-load of spoilers and opinions in this thread, i'm definitely going to go see it.
hell, i might go today if i can find a date.
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I took the oldest to see it last night (he's 8) because he needed a break from his brothers and he really liked the two he's seen. He was fine with the movie - except for the kissing at the very end.
And I liked it more the second time.
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i loved it (for the most part)
there were very few people in the theatre so i didn't feel so bad when i involuntarily said (kinda loudly) "fucking spielburg and his aliens!!!" when they actually showed the damn extra-dimensional being.
other than that, i loved it.....even the monkeys.
fucking spielburg.
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"Knowledge was their treasure."
You hear that? That was me cracking up in the seat behind you.
I'd say it was a very entertaining movie, peppered with absolutely god-awful cinematic moments. The old movies, in my opinion, managed to keep the kitzchy panache flowing; they eased you into the suspension of disbelief and then kept you there. I don't think this one succeeded quite as well at that, so people are less forgiving. That gunpowder shit at the beginning was below any levels of acceptable shtick. I kinda felt offended at the CG they used to justify it. Maybe if they had come up with something a little more tasteful, I could have enjoyed the refrigerator part a little more--and so on, and so forth. That said, there were some really good moments to it: the swordfight was a great idea and fairly well executed; and the ants were an awesome way to provide the requisite gruesome-death-after-a-fistfight sequence.
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(he's 8)
I read that as he's cool, but now that I've quoted you I realize you meant he's eight. Moving along.
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(he's 8)
I read that as he's cool, but now that I've quoted you I realize you meant he's eight. Moving along.
I'm allowed to say that he's cool. Just not in front of any of his peer group. (Moms and Dads are apparently not allowed to pass that sort of judgement - and having been in his shoes at one point, I sort of understand..)
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Its forever the parent stigma, I feel for you.
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I just saw this movie today and I went in with the absolute lowest expectations ever. I can happily say that this film was incredibly enjoyable. It's not going to win any academy awards or anything like that but it was a fun popcorn film. I even got to turn around partway through the movie and tell two annoying kids to shut up which always makes me feel good. The whole aliens thing felt like a stretch at first until I realized that this is Indiana Jones, we've already seen the holy grail in action.
However there was one scene that bugged the living hell out of me. The first scene in Area 51 with the super-magnetic thingie. Whoever thought of that stupid idea deserves to be slapped in the face. The thing can attract gunpowder from a mile away and yet guns that are a meter away are practically unaffected? THAT is stupid. It can pull the lights from a ceiling 20 meters up and yet the cars aren't sliding towards it or anything. Eugh.
But that aside the movie was incredibly.....fun. It's too bad that Ford is getting way too old to keep doing stuff like this, some of those fight scenes were pretty unconvincing.
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Irkik, when you go into watch a movie, you wilfully suspend your disbelief.
That said, I went and saw this with my older sister and we enjoyed it immensely. I was very grateful that they didn't have running "old-man" gags throughout the film and the aliens weren't too ridiculous, they were just tall grey humanoids. LeBeouf was actually pretty good and some of Ford's really flat lines were delivered in perfect b-movie caricature.
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I just saw it today as an escape from the sweltering heat. For the most part, I liked it a lot. I was surprised by this but I though it was really fun and enjoyable. This isn't high cinema, people, but it never set out to be. I think it captures the feel of the original three fairly well. I hate to admit it but Shia LeBeouf was quite good and Harrison Ford was bad-ass, gruff, and awesome as ever. I thought Marian was kind of useless as a character and was more of a reference to the earlier movies than anything. I also think the whole alien thing at the end was unnecessary. At that point, I wasn't enjoying the movie. Everything before that was pretty great. The fight scenes were ridiculous as always in Indiana Jones films and the action was consistently campy yet intense. I noticed at the end that there was an obvious toying with the idea of LeBeouf taking over, perhaps as the protagonist in a fifth film/spin-off. I know Lucas has also mentioned this is possible. I think the end of the film also playfully rejected that idea, however. I truly hope this never happens. This one did a good job of reviving the franchise for one final, fun hoorah. Now it needs to sink back into pleasant nostalgia where it belongs.
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As I understand it: Ford is under contract to make the fifth and final one, and LaBeouf is signed for the three spinoffs. I'm not sure if that's good news or bad
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It's bad news. Very, very bad.
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This movie would have been the perfect ending to the series as far as I'm concerned. From here what can they do to the series? I mean, isn't aliens a final step? Or will Dr. Jones be taking a tour of the lost city of Atlantis?
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There's a lot of 50s/60s era pulp to explore. Never fear that they'll run out of material.
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In 20 years or so: Indiana Jones visits Luke Skywalker.
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I forgot: LeBeouf turning into Tarzan for that vine-swinging segment was pretty damn stupid.
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^^
My Friend and my reaction to that Scene:
Me: Its Tarzan!
Friend: Why the hell am I watching George of the Jungle?
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Funnily enough that scene didn't really bug me all too much, because I think that Lebouf reminds me enough of a monkey anyway. It was slightly ridiculous but it didn't really trip my "wtf" sense.
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Or will Dr. Jones be taking a tour of the lost city of Atlantis?
He already did!
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Haha, I don't think the 1992 adventure game really counts, great as it was.
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Man, he is older then I am (22 as of today)
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Oh, Christ almight fuck. The dude is younger than me.
If anyone needs me, I'll be over here.
At my grown up job.
Funding my 401k.
And aging.
Swiftly.
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He's older than me, and also hot. I would totally do him.