Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) (1 Viewer)

[JeremyErwin]

source

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". Please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.

All HTF member film reviews of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" should be posted to the Official Review Thread.

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Crawdaddy

 

[Edwin-S]

Well I, for one, think that the THE LOST WORLD was worse than WAR OF THE WORLDS could ever be: however, I'm biased because I think that JURASSIC PARK was complete shit too.

WOTW's biggest mistake was that his family miraculously survives the alien invasion, even though they were smack in the middle of a major city that would have been under attack. The rest of the ending was completely consistent with the book's ending. It would have been stupid to end the film any other way than by the book's ending. It amazes me that people would actually think that Well's classic story should have had the ending changed.

Of course, again, I'm biased. I'm one of the few that thinks that the ending for LOTR didn't go far enough. Cutting out the Scouring of the Shire was a mistake. Please don't tell me how it would have been anti-climactic, because I don't care. Cutting the scouring ruined the circularity of the entire story.

Right now, I still think IJ & THE KOTCS was more entertaining than TOD, even though TEMPLE actually has a better story. I will have see the film again in order to solidify my feelings regarding KOTCS. However, I will have to wait until it comes out on DVD as I do not believe the film is good enough to warrant another theatrical viewing.

 

[Jari K]

Well said. This is one of those films, where you don´t want to "over-analyze" etc. This is *pure* entertainment, action and adventure, nothing more and nothing less. Not masterpiece by any means, but great and fun ride. Perhaps too much "action" and too little "adventure" for my taste, though..

Edwin, IMO "The Lost Word" is probably the worst film by Spielberg (first is very good and 3rd is also quite decent). I always also liked "War of the Worlds (2005)" (like with new Indy, it´s debatable how "good" the ending is, though).

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Ugh.. caught Indy this past weekend. The entire film seemed like it was written on a cocktail napkin to me... like Lucas and Spielberg just made it up as they went.

I realize Harrison Ford is old... but this movie was mainly riding on nostalgia with very little action. Also, too many studio scenes as opposed to location shots... it really gave the film a low budget feel for me. Lame. C'mon Speilberg.. this is freakin' Indiana Jones!! Drop some coin! Sheesh.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Well it did cost $185 million. And contrary to what others have said, about 70 or 80% of the jungle chase was done in Hawaii with the other 20 or so percent being done as blue screen of some kind. Not unlike the ratio of the mine car sequence in Temple of Doom.

I'm wondering if thats why so many people have problems with this sequence? I wonder if the effects shots stand out so much for some people because they are cut so directly with live action footage shot on location? The Mine Car sequence it's fairly easy to hide because its dark and everything is on a set, but the jungle chase is right out in the day light. Not as easy to hide the flaws.

Doug

 

[Kevin Grey]

To me the vast majority of the jungle chase looks artificial. I don't know if they played around with the color timing on the "real" shots to better match the effects shots but the result is that it feels like very little looks like it was done on location.

 

[Jari K]

Perhaps this was partly "intentional"?

In any case, the "jungle chase" was too over-the-top and indeed visually "artificial" to be 100% satisfying for my taste. And the ending was disappointing. For my taste.

But, if this really was their best script in 14 years (or so), I have to be slightly amazed.. It was that damn Lucas again.

Still, let´s face it; "Indy 4" was like 5 times better than "Star Wars: Episode 1", when it comes to films with HUGE expectations and all that. It´s pretty much *impossible* to satisfy all the fans with the films like these two, but to me Indy "delivered enough". "Star Wars: Episode 1" didn´t. "Hobbit"-films probably have the similar fate as "Indy4". They can´t live up to those impossible expectations.

I honestly feel, that they should do the 5th one. Now that Indy4 is "under way", it´s probably easier to do "one more". Less pressure and characters again introduced for the audience.. So, one more boys!

 

[Jari K]

No spoilers tags? I mean you tell the whole ending of the film... And this is "Indy4"-thread after all (people come to read the thread after seeing the film, but they might not have seen WotW..)

 

[cafink]

Surely the statute of limitations on unmarked spoilers has passed by now-- War of the Worlds is 110 years old!

 

[Jari K]

Well, "spoilers" usually apply to (almost) every film, it´s just basic thing to do in the forums ("Better be safe than sorry"). Adding those tags will take 20 seconds, at least in this forum. I guess this is one reason why I don´t read these "new movies" threads before actually seeing the film myself. And probably all the other films by the same director, it seems..

But carry on. Not the end of the world...

Back to Indy4.

 

[Sam Davatchi]

Deleted because of unreliable source.

 

[Edwin-S]

I never experienced audio dropouts when I saw the film. Where did the information come from that Paramount chose to use audio dropouts as a anti-piracy measure?

I think the idea is absurd. Even if it did identify the theatre where an illegal recording was made, so what? How can the theatre be held liable? It's not like theatres condon illegal recording by handycam. How do they stop someone who is determined to sneak a video camera into a theatre? Search everyone? I'll stop going to the theatre if they ever institute that practice.

 

[Lars Larsen]

Just got home from a free viewing of this (my bank invited all of their customers). Nice bank

SPOILERS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS BELOW!

All in all I was pretty pleased with the movie. I really liked the dessert intro sequennce with the nuclear detonation. It was very compelling.

I do however think that many things were too far fetched even for an Indy flick: Surviving a nuclear blast in a refrigerator when houses are obliterated. The cliché of Indy dodging bullets when he was clearly and beyond doubt in their path just to mention a few.
The chase/fight scene in the jungle dragged on forever without carrying the story forward other than physically. Ok they are fighting and chasing, we get it already! It was dissappointing to see the amount of CGI used. It surely looked fake! Especially the vegetation hitting Mutt as he was ballancing on the two cars.

I also think the whole alien thing demanded a lot better explanation. Why did they come down here? What was their motivation? They were just sort of...there. Huh?!
I think the ending sequence was kind of a letdown. The movie spend quite some time setting up expectations for the big money shot of a huge golden city and what do we get - a stinking cave! Bummer.
The scenes I have always liked most about Indy are the ones where he is thinking out loud while piecing puzzles together, and there weren't too many of those. They need to put this franchise to rest and come up with something new now. But is Hollywood even capable of that anymore. There aren't even any superstars anymore. Where's the next Harrison Ford or Arnold? Shia Le...whatever as Indy....mmmkay

 

[Tim Glover]

Greetings Gents.

Crystal Skull...hmmm...disappointed in it. Kind of fun some of the time but you know some things I've stated in the past are used here: There's got to be a solid story that we care about or everything else is viewed with a harsher critical eye. Like alot of us here, we wanted to like it remembering how great the others were and how much they've meant to us over the years.

Nostalgia can only go so far though. I have similar feelings about Narnia-Prince Caspian. Not a terrible film but one that I found myself not really caring about. I need a reason to be concerned...get me sucked in and I'll forgive the flaws etc...

Indy 4 had me pulling for Ford, and found me pleasantly surprised how good Shia is...but the story didn't make a connection with me. When that happened early on, then the "cooler" stuff doesn't resonate like it's meant too.

Timobi

 

[Ray_R]

Edwin, I heard the audio going funky at times. I thought it was just me but I didn't want to mention it with my Mum who was visiting with me. Sucks Paramount has gone to this low.
I agree with the sentiments the films needs to be seen again to fully appreciate it. I mean I did really enjoy KotCS but it was a nostalgia kick AND not getting a full nights rest.
Saw it on Tuesday with the thing in my brain saying, He's fought in World War II, experienced even more shit between LC and this film, it's the late 1950's with the big Red Scare going on, the Atomic Age, more paranoia in the country and other factors. AND the fact the "1930's-set" Trilogy was more based upon the 1930's serials of the time. Comparing to KotCS having elements of the 30's (timeframe)/80's (production) series, I looked at it as the film jumping almost two decades and more being based upon the 50's sci-fi low budget adventure.
I'm glad every film in the series is different. My gripes? Lemme tell you. The previous three films got longer in running time with each succesive one. So KotCS should've been the longest one in length, to go with that statement. Where the hell was Short Round? I was expecting a cameo or mention of Wan Li at least while Indy was talking with the Jim Broadbent character. In The Lost Journal, there's a telegram thing from him that he's tracked down The Peacock's Eye (that diamond Lao Che "gives" to Indy in exchange for the Ashes of Nurhachi) on an island in the Hawaiian Island Chain. Seeing as Shorty looked up to Indy and followed in his footsteps in becoming an archaeologist. Why is it throughout all four films the settings are more in warmer climates? I wanted to see Indy in colder climates i.e. Nepal in RotLA. Y'know, to break "formula" of the previous films.
Something about me being a bit tired and not feeling fully rested the day I saw it I think screwed with my inherent full judgment of the film. So for right now, the series in terms of order of preference are:

Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Nearly tops Raiders for the pure chemistry between Harrison and Sean. First one I saw in cinemas when I was 10 back in 1989 so I think I'm biased. I did see Raiders on a friends Betamax player though. Asked him if there were anymore Adventures of Indy on film. Then we watched Temple of Doom.)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (My biggest complaint is the film should've taken place in 1934 instead of 1935. That way it'd give the series an in two year chronological gap between them. I do of course highly enjoy ToD but it also has to do with it feeling like a natural successor to GUNGA DIN.)
Oh, I felt Mutt was a fairly cool character and didn't come off as annoying. Might be his phobia are scorpions compared to Indiana, his father
, fear of snakes? Should've had Indy mention to Jim Broadbents character, in 1945 and 1946 respectively, of going after the Spear of Destiny with his Father and the Iron Phoenix-related thing. Being as Indiana, in The Iron Phoenix comic and also The Infernal Machine videro game, his adversaries were Russians. Meaning I would've liked a little nod towards the other media in a throwaway during a conversation.

I think I'm also biased towards the first three since they feel like an old glove that's comfortable. I did grin ear-to-ear at times for the Indiana Jones stuff but it felt weird seeing him on the silver screen again. I did see a Midnight showing of RotLA, ToD and LC awhile ago. Even did an Indiana Jones marathon the two days leading up to me going seeing KotCS.
So right now, I'll give it a 4/5 with a more accurate score when I go see it again. Oh, trust me when I'll buy the DVD I'll do marathons with the series.
Now I've had a few days to reflect on it, damn I had a great time and literally can't wait to see it again. I felt like I was 10 again seeing Indy on the big screen for the first time. And of course the prints for those midnight showing had bits of scenes which aren't on the 2003 OAR set I own.
Here's hoping the three get together for an Indy V. Hopefully this time a prequel to KotCS AND more colder climates dammit!

Anyone else get the feeling this ought've been the fifth Indiana Jones film? I mean if Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis were also made into a high quality film, KotCS would've had a slightly tighter script and of course the longest running time in the series.
For the running time thing I mentioned. Here it goes for each one in the series:
Raiders of the Lost Ark - 115
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - 118
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - 126
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 124

So in fact, since the next film in the series has longer running times, KotCS should've clocked in at 130 minutes. Of course to keep in the series theme the next film has a longer running time compared to the previous. IF FoA were made into a film back in 1992, it would've been delegated into the 130m approximate mark. Then KotCS would've been more along the lines of nearing 135m. So FoA could've been 130m and KotCS 134m. Since each succesive film in the series compared to the previous is only longer by a few minutes. Bit overgeeky but oh well. So in those terms, KotCS should've been slightly longer in running time comparing to Last Crusade and not the other way around where in fact KotCS is actually shorter by two minutes.
So in fact it does ring true when I said it should've been slightly longer in running time compared to The Last Crusade.

Indiana Jones 5? Colder climates, prequel with it being a few years before KotCS, probably a mystical Buddhist or Asiatic artifact, Russkies again, Sophia Hapgood (maybe?), Babylonian mebbe? (Infernal Machine with Marduk) and a more cold weather gear Indiana. And film outside of the US again! Well, this could be more suitable for a possible Animated Adventures of Indiana Jones series. The only other adventure we've had with Indiana in the 1950's were the bookends for The Mystery of the Blues. And you honestly wanna know? Indy and other characters mentioning all that different stuff for World War II has me Jonesing, pun VERY intended, to see in media form those missions and stuff. I've always wondered what Indiana Jones did in WWII. Of course there are a few comics and such from the 1990's but I'd love to see Dark Horse tackle a story with Indiana Jones in an adventure in WWII as per mentioned in the film. Hell, I'd love the new 3D Indy game LucasArts is working on to go in that direction.

Oh! And my second viewing will be on this upcoming Monday. I'll get a full nights rest too!

EDIT: Last but not least. If I were to be given the choice for either watching Star Wars or Indiana Jones, I pick Indy every single time. Yes, my preference leans far more toward Indiana Jones in comparison to Star Wars. Too bad there's just a glut of SW recently and it makes me have zero interest to watch that Clone Wars movie in cinemas. I'd rather rent it on Netflix. Yes, I'm much more of a fan of Indiana Jones compared to Lucasfilms other series. But it's a close preference where at the end of the day, I still go for Indiana Jones in terms of my collecting.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

Great to have you back, Tim!

 

[Tim Glover]

Thanks Larry.

 

[Holadem]

Holy shit WTF you been.

--
H

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Ditto, sucker.