Spare us all! Another Indiana Jones film could be on the way - Page 4

Yet you can't blame it all on Lucas as a rather talented writer/director wrote the screenplay, David Koepp.   It was a joint failure.

Koepp's involvement was the first major warning sign for me. I don't like his writing and I don't understand why Spielberg likes working with him.

Karen Allen said this week to expect another Indy movie: http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2764305

I, for one, welcome a new movie, and I think the title of this thread should be changed, especially for a site that is always respectful of filmmakers. Successful filmmakers like Spielberg and Lucas should get no less courtesy.

They should have had the courtesy to make a good fourth installment in the Indy series first. If they had done that, the title of this thread would have been much different. As it stands, the title of this thread seems entirely appropriate. Indy IV was so mediocre that it honestly raises the question whether a fifth one will do little more than result in more tarnish to a great character.

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Originally Posted by Edwin-S 

They should have had the courtesy to make a good fourth installment in the Indy series first. 

I'm pretty sure all involved felt that they were making a good movie. I don't think there were crew members sitting around, twirling their mustaches, laughing maniacally as they intentionally made a bad movie as a middle finger to their fans. And as this thread has pointed out, there are many people who enjoyed the fourth film.

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Originally Posted by Chad R 

I'm pretty sure all involved felt that they were making a good movie. I don't think there were crew members sitting around, twirling their mustaches, laughing maniacally as they intentionally made a bad movie as a middle finger to their fans. And as this thread has pointed out, there are many people who enjoyed the fourth film.

Hey, when they made Road House or Showgirls, they thought they were making a good movie. But that doesn't mean it is. And just because people like a film, also doesn't make it good!  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chad R 

I'm pretty sure all involved felt that they were making a good movie.

You could say that about any filmmaker, including the likes of Ed Wood, Roland Emmerich, and Michael Bay.  A good movie isn't defined by what the filmmaker thinks of his own effort.

I will be the dissent.  I liked Indiana Jones IV.  Probably more then any other save "Temple of Doom", which I thought was the best of the series.   Part of what makes Indiana Jones appeal to me is how strongly it follows, a bit tongue and cheek, with the 1930s/1940s movie serials that were presented, adventures that were over the top. 

I thought Indiana Jones Crystal Skull was almost a near perfect jab at the 1950s serials which became infactuated with aliens, hidden aliens, etc.  It was a great riff on all of those, and like I said, only "Temple of Doom" really did it better with regards to over-the-top portrayals of characters straight out of those titles.

In regards to "this action sequence was.."  Come on.  That's part of what I enjoyed.  Is it any crazier then falling out of a plane on a liferaft (Temple of Doom), and are Aliens any more strange then a locked up "Wrath of God" in Raiders? 

I get it, that some really didn't like it.   But I say bring on more.  Stay over the top.  I'm hoping they go back for more 50s era serials and fall right in that boat.  Which, I guess, means that if they all the sudden had a 50' snake, I'd laugh my ass off and roll along. 

I think part of it is what you expect the films to be.

To paraphrase Indy from Raiders: "It ain't the idea honey, it's the execution."

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Originally Posted by RobertR 

You could say that about any filmmaker, including the likes of Ed Wood, Roland Emmerich, and Michael Bay.  A good movie isn't defined by what the filmmaker thinks of his own effort.

True, but I was responding to the fact that Edwin said that they "...should have had the courtesy to make a good fourth installment..." like they didn't bother to even try. They tried. Just because you felt it was unsuccessful doesn't mean they didn't try. And that goes for Ed Wood, Emmerich, Bay, "Showgirls" et al. Well, maybe not Emmerich

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chad R 

 

True, but I was responding to the fact that Edwin said that they "...should have had the courtesy to make a good fourth installment..." like they didn't bother to even try. They tried. Just because you felt it was unsuccessful doesn't mean they didn't try. And that goes for Ed Wood, Emmerich, Bay, "Showgirls" et al. Well, maybe not Emmerich

They may have had the courtesy to try, but not the courtesy to succeed. 

I'm not even sure you can fully claim they tried.  Reading Spielburg's comments about the history of getting Indy IV made, it sounds much more like he simply stopped trying to fix the problems and said "Fine George!  We will use your damned script but it is not what I would have done."  That is my read between the lines as Spielburg did not want aliens in Indy IV and after sending the script back several times and getting basically the same plot back time after time, settled for "Extra-dimensional beings" as a non-compromise.

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Originally Posted by Chuck Anstey 

I'm not even sure you can fully claim they tried.

Do you seriously think that they all spent a year or more of their lives (which are much closer to the end than the beginning) on a character that they must love and instead of trying to make the best movie possible, they just did it half-heartedly?

Something else that I think needs to be said, these films are very much like James Bond as in they really are not interconnected. Sure, there's a sense of history and a timeline, but you don't need to see one film to see another. They really are independent entertainments. Unlike Star Wars that's telling this huge interconnected story, these films stand on their own. And if you don't like one, it in no way affects the other.

Just look at the reactons in this thread. Some like Crusade but hate Temple of Doom. For others Temple of Doom is the nadir of the series. In fact, the reaction to Temple of Doom is specifically cited as Spielberg's reason for lightening up Crusade. So instead of using the fourth film as a reactionary point as to the quality of a possible fifth installment, everyone should consider that Spielberg and Lucas heard the criticisms and might make appropriate adjustments, just like they did in 1989.

Just like the Bond producers recovered after Die Another Day and pulled out Casino Royale, we should all have hope that a fifth Indy film can be similarly awesome.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TravisR 

Do you seriously think that they all spent a year or more of their lives (which are much closer to the end than the beginning) on a character that they must love and instead of trying to make the best movie possible, they just did it half-heartedly?

In a very real sense, yes.  I don't know what line of work you are in but I have been on projects that I knew up front were not going to be fully successful because the person in charge simply would not listen to alternatives.  I still worked my hardest to achieve the objectives put forth as well as possible, it's just the objectives (or in this case the script) just wasn't the best it could be and nearly everyone but the person in charge knew it.