Blu-ray Review HTF Blu-Ray Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2 Viewers)

[James@R]

I really enjoyed this one, mainly because I viewed the entire thing as a pulp overload.

Indy riding rocket sleds and witnessing atomic blasts in the American Southwest...fighting skeleton warriors above the Nazca lines...being subjected to a psychic interrogation in the heart of the Amazon...battling Russians amid a swarm of giant ants...uncovering an ancient race of aliens beneath a lost city...and ultimately coming face to face with a flying saucer???

Nearly every major scene could be the cover of a 1950's pulp magazine sprung to life. So while I definitely saw the technical flaws and script woes, the other stuff was just too much fun for them to really matter to me.

 

[Carlo_M]

+1

And on a side note: in the documentary, I love how Spielberg refers to them as "The Raiders pics". Reminds me on which side of the fence he probably stood when Lucas renamed the first one "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark".

It's always "Raiders of the Lost Ark" because Indy himself was also a raider. And quite honestly, in his quest for treasure in all three, he's always been a raider.

 

[James@R]

I get a kick out of the diner scene, when Indy bristles at being referred to as a "graverobber".

Of course, we later see that that's exactly how he behaves in the conquistador's tomb!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It absolutely takes place in a framework of tongue-in-cheek humor:

Indy runs after the bad guys begging for a ride.

Having been ignored, he goes into a house and finds himself in the kitchen. Seizing on the fridge, he rushes to empty everything out and throws himself into it, only to have an orange keep the door from shutting. Exasperatedly, he knocks it aside and gets the door shut at the last minute.

*Nuclear explosion - See the model town destroyed not by the blast, but by the wave coming off of the blast *

Fridge comes flying over a hill and lands with a thud, Indy rolls out much like Wiley Coyote after a run-in with the Road Runner.

Only when he goes up on the hill does the film assume a more introspective posture.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Got the 2-disc SD-DVD with booklet at Target and watched it again. Still loved it. In my book, there's Raiders and three sequels of roughly equal quality far below. Among those sequels, this one definitely rates above Last Crusade, which immitates Raiders but makes the crucial mistake of turning Indy into a supporting character in his own film. Last Crusade is Sean Connery's film, and it's lesser for it.

 

[Hartwig Hanser]

I agree with your assessment of Crystal skull and Last crusade. Although one could argue that Connery is the one saving grace of Crusade. Otherwise it would have been just a shallow rehash of Raiders.

 

[Douglas Monce]

I also have to disagree with this. I thought the whole situation was hysterical. The mannequins, Howdy Doody on the TV. The whole thing seems to me to be played as a twisted farce. They NEVER build these things to this level of detail for these tests.

Then there is the irony of getting into a fridge, a place that those of us of a particular age will remember was dangerous and we were warned never to get into a fridge. (those of you of a younger age may not know that they used to have a latch on the door, and it couldn't be opened from the inside, so a kid inside one could suffocate)

For me it was VERY tongue-in-cheek.

Doug

 

[Carlo_M]

+1. And I thought the humor counterbalanced nicely with the shot of Indy and the mushroom cloud. Overall a well-played scene, IMO.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

On another note, watching the special features I was shocked by just how much was done practically in this film. I think these days we're too quick to assume anything that looks impossible must have been achieved with CG. Other than the climax with the temple's destruction, nearly everything else was achieved practically with CG sweeteners where necessary.

I also don't think Kaminski's diffusion filters do the practical effects any favors for believability. While Indy 4 is definitely the most vibrant, black-heavy picture I've ever seen from this D.P., it's still a different ballpark from Douglas Slocombe's work in the originals. His films live in shadows, and the deep, rich midtones bring an immediacy that's at odds with Kaminski's dreamier look. It also makes Harrison look remarkably different than he did in the original trilogy, because Slocombe's lighting brought out the bone structure in his face. Indy here looks much closer to Han Solo than earlier Indy because the Kaminski's lighting flattens his face and emphasizes how long it is:

 

[cafink]

Carlo's comment reminded me--although I had major issues with the "fridge" scene itself, I absolutely loved the following shot with Indy and the mushroom cloud. It's one of my favorite moments from the whole series, and definitely my favorite part of Crystal Skull.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

One wonders what frequent Spielberg collaborator Allen Daviau would have done, given that Slocombe appears to be in self-imposed retirement since completing Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and is now 95 years old.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

And most damningly, now blind.

 

[James@R]

...an aspect that is even joked about during Indy's interrogation scene.

When I first saw the "Tarzan" scene, I immediately knew it would be torn apart online. It's a throwback to a style and era that is just far too innocent and hokey for most modern audiences.

But I was honestly surprised by the "fridge" backlash. I first encounterd the scene years ago, as part of a rejected Indy 4 draft. It was easily the most memorable part of that story, and one of the best cliffhangers Indy had ever found himself in.

The entire sequence is surreal, bold, and completely unexpected. It's also a pretty gutsy attempt to explore uncharted territory in the series, and a fantastic instance of Indy as pulp hero. So I was happy to see it had survived, and expected it to be praised as a highlight of the film. Instead, people complained that it was an unrealistic action sequence...in an Indiana Jones movie.

 

[Mark Hawley]

Well I think the whole "nuke the fridge" thing exemplifies the whole fanboy mentality. It shows how they go to a film like this just looking to for things to get all riled up about so they can rush to the net to complain, or at the very least taking something they don't like about a film and completely blowing it out of porportion.

I can see why some might not like the scene or feel it goes to far, even for an Indy movie - the shot of the fridge flying over the jeep, evading the shockwave destruction is what does it for me - but the whole trying to make "nuke the fridge" a phrase to replace "jump the shark", as if nothing ever unrealistic happened in an Indiana Jones movie before and the constant dwelling on it by many of the films more ardent detractors (read: bitter fanboys) is just absurd.

If they focused on the phrase "get a life" as much as "nuke the fridge", then it might actually sink in and they'll learn to stop getting so riled up or simple movies or no longer see the fun in watching movies just to find things to complain about.

 

[Chris_T]

Nicely put Mark.

Watched it with the family last night and we all thoroughly enjoyed it (again).

Maybe we can add "ride the sub", "jump the tracks" & "visit the old guy who's been who's been staring at the wall for 700 years" to "nuke the fridge". This way we can have a phrase for each "absurd" moment in the series.

 

[Travis Brashear]

Anyone get the exclusive at Target with the 80-page photobook? Look at the photo of Spielberg in his preface, with his hand to his face. Am I looking at it wrong? Where does his thumb go?!

 

[Edwin-S]

A lot of assumptions with nothing to back them up.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I like that scene. Way more than the rest of the movie. It at least had some energy.

You may now analyze my issues.

 

[Mark Hawley]

Some odd replies. Chuck, why would I want to analyze your issues with the film? I even stated in my initial post that I had a problem with the scene and understood why some people didn't like it. I was just knocking the whole "nuke the fridge" crowd for blowing all out of porportion that particular scene, a scene, given the context of both the film and the series, should've been mildly annoying at best, or worst.

And Edwin, I'd say the fact that there's a website called "Nuking the Fridge", with t-shirts made up with the phrase is enough to back up my "assumptions"
. Not to mention a trip to the imdb message boards or any AICN talkback devoted to the film or Lucas.

Unless, that is, you feel that a silly, unrealistic scene in a film that makes no pretense of being realistic, and part of a series that the filmmakers from day one have maintained was concocted as a tribute to old serials and pulp stories, warrants that kind of behavior and attention and that the people who do so are mature, psychologically sound people who lead socially and vocationally healthy lives. If so then we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

[James@R]

I do believe it emphasizes how, for many filmgoers, realism has become a higher priority than escapism. When you can spend every day discussing the same movie with others, you don't really need to escape that reality. However, you may feel a need to have it validated.

Anyway, there are two fundamental problems with "nuke the fridge" as a cultural meme. The first is that Indy surviving an atomic blast doesn't exactly take him far from his original purpose. He's a pulp hero that always encounters- and survives- the fantastic.

By comparison, Happy Days was a show built upon the concept of nostalgia. People tuned in because they could relate to that specific way of life, and felt they had been there themselves. So when Fonzie strapped a lifevest over his leather jacket, then jumped a shark on a pair of water skis, it was a clear sign the show had lost its original intent.

The other problem is that the argument presupposes Indy's universe is exactly like our own. But as we've seen in the previous films, this simply isn't true. The physics in Indy's world are just a little off...immortality exists...magic is real...and the gods make their presence known.

Indiana Jones rarely displays ill effects after surviving an escape that would've killed the average human being. You also rarely get to the end of an Indiana Jones film, comic, book, or videogame, only to learn that the myth or legend was a hoax. In Indy's life, the legend is almost always true.