Saw it last night.
Awesome. Some things some people will whine about - but I would guess they don't really understand what Indiana Jones is really about.
The kid did a pretty good job. Had some good nods to the originals..
The theatre guy (who could've done a MUCH better job with this... AND was dressed in Indy attire and his name tag said "Young Indy") walked in... and ended up walking down the front row to a guy... looks like a few words were exchanged - he grabbed the guy and threw him out of the exit door.. walked back and said "What?" points... "No ticket!"
Funny - saw it coming - he could've done better.
Anyway.. great movie.
I'm looking forward to it, can you give us some strong and weak points of the film without spoiling the plot?
Well, my opinion was that the first few scenes, it seemed like Ford was still getting into character. The relic was kind of a far-fetched kind of thing - but that's indy for ya.
I was let down by some characters, some that weren't in it that I wanted to see, and the kid had some cheesy parts I didn't care for. Although they were few and far between.
The ending was amazing. It doesn't let down.
The visuals are pretty cool. Awesome, 'real' threats.
Amount of traps let me down.
I don't know.. it's hard to put it into spoil free thoughts.
It's good.
I'm going to see it again.
nope. sorry. whine.
Creative Director
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Paizo took half the day off today to go see Indy. My reaction? 80% of it is good old Indiana Jones fun. 20% is gratuitous CGI or corny or unbelievable. That 20% is concentrated in a couple of areas, but mostly spread throughout, so it kinda makes the whole movie a LITTLE disappointing to me. BUT: It was still fun!
And...
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Paizo took half the day off today to go see Indy. My reaction? 80% of it is good old Indiana Jones fun. 20% is gratuitous CGI or corny or unbelievable. That 20% is concentrated in a couple of areas, but mostly spread throughout, so it kinda makes the whole movie a LITTLE disappointing to me. BUT: It was still fun.
Saw it monday night with some of the NY press core and i have to second James opinion. Whilst some of the press seemed a little put off by the movie i loved the Indy nostalgia. There were more than a few inside jokes and easter eggs for fans strung around.
Some scenes, like the fonze wannabe tarzan were a wee bit hard to swallow but if we Paizonians can't suspend disbelief for 2 hrs who can ??
I thought it was alright -worth watching if you have a couple of hours to kill. Bit cheesy but fun. Still like number three the best I think. Some things were a bit too OTT for me. And the CGI was ropey.
Now why can't my office do that?
Get a better office. :P
I might see it at some point, just to check out how much of New Haven, CT got into the film. I'm pretty sure Chapel Street and Yale at least got in there.
Bit of a disappointment to me: ranks above number 2 but nowhere close to 1 and 3. To much cluing up like the did in Return of the Jedi. What's the odds of the Russians knowing Indiana had a fling with Marion Ravenwood? Off to a very slow start, 2 real action sequences, cornball ending. Not even on the same par as Iron Man. 6.5/10
Bit of a disappointment to me: ranks above number 2 but nowhere close to 1 and 3. To much cluing up like the did in Return of the Jedi. What's the odds of the Russians knowing Indiana had a fling with Marion Ravenwood? Off to a very slow start, 2 real action sequences, cornball ending. Not even on the same par as Iron Man. 6.5/10
heh..good value for money, not as good as 1, on par with 3 and better than 2.
But will not see it again..wheras could go see Ironman 2 or 3 more times just to see Gwennie in high heels..
Bit of a disappointment to me: ranks above number 2 but nowhere close to 1 and 3. To much cluing up like the did in Return of the Jedi. What's the odds of the Russians knowing Indiana had a fling with Marion Ravenwood? Off to a very slow start, 2 real action sequences, cornball ending. Not even on the same par as Iron Man. 6.5/10heh..good value for money, not as good as 1, on par with 3 and better than 2.
But will not see it again..wheras could go see Ironman 2 or 3 more times just to see Gwennie in high heels...
I can agree with that!
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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A friend of mine said recently: "People think I'm an Indiana Jones fan. I'm not. I'm a Raiders of the Lost Ark fan." That sums up my feelings, too.
Raiders was an amazing film. Not merely well-acted, but brilliantly directed, staged, and filmed. (Go back and watch all the shadow-light references. When Indy meets Marion, all we see is his shadow, and then she comes up to meet him as an equal. When the Nazis come for her, again we see their shadow, but it overwhelms her.)
Belloc does not say "I am your mirror image." He says "I am your shadow, Dr. Jones."
Temple of Doom decided that the first movie was a hit because of action sequences, gross-out yuck scenes, and hokey mysticism. And forgot to give us fun characters and, well, someone for Indy to really care about. (To all you younger people, it was my generation's Phantom Menace.)
Last Crusade understood what it was trying to do, but did it in an old and tired way. It was a patiche to Raiders. But it understood Jones right in one essential: he'll bicker with his dad until the old man gets shot, and then do everything in his power to save him.
I like Crystal Skull a great deal. It can't be as good as Raiders, that would be a hopelessly high bar. But it gets a lot right. The aliens, the psychic Russian, the whole nine yards works.
People have complained that Indy's reaction to seeing Marion is flat. Well, yes, but dammit, that works! These are two people who haven't seen each other in over 17 years, and as soon asthey do, they're just comfortable with each other. Or at least as comfortable as you can be, surrounded by, well, you know.
One little nit:
I was disappointed in the reveal of which character was dropping the homing beacons. When the one inside the painted caves gets dropped, I am almost certain that the "guilty" party couldn't have dropped it. I was pretty sure that someone else had fallen victim to the villainess' post-hypnotic domination and was leaving them subconsciously.
And his kid is named after the dog, too.
So, I'm pretty happy.
I agree with James - the theme was awesome.
CGI - especially after the monkeys bit.. bugged me.
All in all... I like the movie a lot.
The snake pissed me off more than anything else. Haha Indi is afraid of snake...yeah yeah really did they need to put that in there?
The random prairie dogs seem unnecessary.
Also
Again
I think it took Ford a few scenes to get into character, but once the ball got rolling he did a great job. As for Shia LaBeouf I felt he added to the corniness of the movie. I hated his greaser thing and that stupid comb.
All in all I really liked it, loved the story and the feel, but I wish they could have scrapped off some of the cheese.
Fizz
God that snake scene pissed me off! Who would do that!
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Me and the Wife saw the Movie tonight..
First off We saw it in a Crappy theater...That sucked.. missed some lines because of the terrible Sound System.. Can't wait until it comes out on Blu-Ray to see it again..
I just did not like the beginning up till the nuclear explosion *Though loved the scene as he looks at the mushroom cloud, make me think Indy's world was coming to an end*, I don't know if it was because I was not in the Indy frame of mind, or Harrison wasn't
Rest of the Movie I Loved! well except for the Tarzan scene, would have been better if they didn't CGI that scene.
The End... was amazing... Fit the feel of a 50's movie... I knew they where going to do a alien thing, also knew the whole alien theme was one of the things that slowed the movie up for so many years. Lucas wanted a more Fantastic Alien theme, Harrison and Speilberg wanted a more subdued alien theme, Looks like they came up with a compromise.
All and all that was my second favorite Indy movie.
Saw it again today. I swear there is an Ace Frehley facepaint just over Indy's shoulder when Mutt says "...this way?" at the bottom of the retractable stairs.
Watch for it...
Of all four (now) films, I'd put Crystal Skull at:
1. Last Crusade
2. Ark of the Covenant
3. Crystal Skull
4. Temple of Doom
Several parts in Crystal Skull felt like the creators were really trying to take Indy away from the religious feel of Crusade and Ark, and get heavy into the pulp action. That's why we get Shia Labeouf swinging from a vine, giant insects, those kind of moments.
Taking Indy into the Atomic Age was a nice touch; the passage of time parallels how long it's been since we last heard from him. Of course, there will be outcry on teh internetz for a long time because of the "refrigerator scene"...
...but then again, it's Indy, it's pulp, and it's a movie. I'm willing to shake my head and forget about it.
Marian Ravenwood is my favorite Indy girl from all the films, so tying her into the film they way it's done is certainly fine by me. She has some very funny exchanges between Mutt and Indy that I enjoyed, and I wish I'd seen her a bit more active than just driving a Russian duck.
Mutt as a character is interesting, his action scenes are entertaining, and he provides some interesting perspective...
The relic story and enemies were both entertaining and disappointing. The Russians were the perfect villain for the period, but Blanchett's psychic doctor was too much of a softie. Both her, and the movie, seemed far too simplistic; I would have liked to see more mind tricks from her, something besides just waving her hands in front of Indy at the beginning of the film, something that would have cemented some ill will against her.
The origins of the Crystal Skull, its purpose, and the consequences of messing with it play out in such a way that you can see it coming from a continent away; the trappings are interesting and quite gorgeous, but in the end the item's significance comes away as less important than Indy's continued family problems. While character development is all fine and dandy, it feels like it's just background music on an elevator ride, while you listen to the couple in the car with you hash out their problems; simplistic, distracting, forgettable.
Pay to watch it on the big screen; it's worth the extra few bucks.
One of the few? Last Crusade rules over all!
One of the few? Last Crusade rules over all!
Same here!
Fizz
~laughter~ Well, this was funny!
You must be one of the few people that puts Last Crusade above Raiders of the Lost Ark ;-pOf all four (now) films, I'd put Crystal Skull at:
1. Last Crusade
2. Ark of the Covenant
3. Crystal Skull
4. Temple of Doom
1. Temple of Doom
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark3. Last Crusade
Yes, I'm one of the few people who liked Temple of Doom better than either of the others (people say I'm weird). I haven't seen Crystal Skull yet, but I plan to soon.
I'm going either tonight or next Wed. or Thurs.
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It was OK. Some great scenes, and good action sequences. I felt the story had a few problems.
The nuke explosion scene was too far-fetched for me.
The quick-sand scene with the snake was just a bit to hokie.
I'd rate them this way:
1. Last Crusade - Just as good as the first, but with Sean Connery.
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark - the story that started it all. Simply classic.
3. Temple of Doom - The Thuggee villains and magic rocks!! The worst part of this movie was Kate Capshaw.
4. Crystal Skull - maybe if I see it again it'll grow on me some more.
I love Indy. In fact I love Indy more than Star Wars. After what happened to Star Wars, you can understand why I was really nervous about this film.
I didn't like it. :o( Worse thing is, it starts off really good.
Then you get to the
On CGI
I never thought I'd ever say this but
I have to say that that bit would have worked if it had been Captain Jack from the PotC movies. But it wasn't.
On the finale
The kid wasn't as bad as some people made him out to be though.
A bad film made worse by the fact it starts off well and only gets worse due to laziness. :o(
Thanks for the chance to vent!
tfad (cries himself to sleep)
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Commies, nukes and aliens? It was great. I was really way too excited about this and thankfully I read some reviews beforehand which sobered me up a little and lowered my expectations which helped accept some of the hokey things and just to enjoy the ride and have fun.
My indy rankings are:
1) Last Crusade
2) A tie between Raiders and Crystal Skull
3) Temple of Doom
I posted this on Elaine Cunningham's blog when she posted her feelings about the movie:
I agree that much of my own misgivings about this movie stemmed not from the alien angle per se, nor from the lack of Judeo-Christian iconography, but from the fact that the movie seemed to guide us by the nose from point to point, and indeed, it did seem to try way to hard to explain itself through the whole movie.
The fact that the aliens actually show up in person, that the flying saucer appears and destroys all evidence in front of Indy and the crew, and that Oxley is suddenly "fixed" and explains the whole situation seems to fly in the face of the previous movies. This is tantamount to Jesus showing up in Last Crusade and saying "Nice work Indy my son, let me smite these Nazis for you."
In other words, Indy may not have been as deep or as conspiratorial, but the resolution to the movies was always kind of X-Files esque in the manner that it was obvious that something supernatural had happened, but the exact details weren't really specified.
While I liked the "lets show that Indy is older" moments, I feel that they rushed from scene to scene to make up for lost time that they spent on things like the nuclear test, the soda shop, and the opening annoying car scene.
Also, the sets themselves seemed a bit darker and more cramped than the sets of other Indy movies. The graveyard was a major lynchpin of the story, but it was hard to see everything, and it didn't have the emphasis that the secret passages in the palace in India, the crypts in Venice, or the Well of Souls had.
Also, it felt way too much like they were trying to change all references to Nazi to Soviet in this movie. The attempt to tie the quest for the crystal skulls to Stalin's psychic research was a lot more of a reach than the Nazi fascination with the occult. I think they might have been better served with a unique villain like Molaram rather than trying to use the Soviets as a direct analog to the Nazis of earlier movies.
All in all, this one comes in fourth, and Temple of Doom really does feel like more of an Indy movie than this one did, at least for me.
Seeing this movie in T minus three hours! Woot! Then off to see Prince Caspian this afternoon! ... Gotta love holidays!
Is it the best movie I ever seen?
No. In fact, none of the other Indiana Jones were either. (I'm still an total fan though.)
Is it worth to spend ten bucks to go see it at the theatre?
Absolutely. If you've seen and liked the rest of the Indy movies, then you'll absolutely enjoy this one.
Bottom line is, it's an Indiana Jones movie... It has Harrison Ford in it... It has adventure, excitement, bugs, chases, humor, all the good stuff we'd excpect from an Indy film. Sure, there are parts that are out of this world or out right unrealistic; But hey, it's a movie.
Enjoy the ride!
Ultradan
(wishing they would make another one...)
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Ultradan
(wishing they would make another one...)
I think you're in luck. I've heard the rumor going around that they'd like to do a fifth film. It'd be even more like Last Crusade as far as the father/son dynamic - with Mutt taking more of the load.
In fact, my wife and I were just taking about a potential plot last night, and I said I'd love to see something with pirates. It'd give yet another reason to show off the Mutt's sword fighting skills, and there would be a lot og potential shooting locations.
Or, maybe they could do something with ninjas....
...Or, maybe they could do something with ninjas....
I was thinking the exact same thing... Something oriental. There are tons of chinese/japonese legends and myths to go around. Get some ninjas/samurai in there, and it could become pretty interesting pretty quick.
It would be GREAT to have a scene (say, at the begining of the movie) where Indy escapes the clutches of some bad guys and gets into a getaway car driven by the now grown up Short-Round (they could actually show us that his feet now reach the pedals...lol).
Ultradan
And all the kids are hopped up on the anime/manga explosion...George/Steve better get on this before it becomes "un-sweet" (or whatever that phrase would be).
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I was thinking the exact same thing... Something oriental. There are tons of chinese/japonese legends and myths to go around. Get some ninjas/samurai in there, and it could become pretty interesting pretty quick.
Believe it or not, I remember reading an article about Raiders where they discussed cut scenes. One scene involved Indy looking to find Marion (or Abner Ravenwood I think) and needing a map or something. He had to get the map from a Shanghai mobster who happened to have samurai guarding the map/item. The whole scenario was cut except ToD later recycled a scene with the machine gun hitting the giant gong rolling on the floor with Indy jumping out a window.
I quite enjoyed Crystal Skull. I'd rank about the third best of the films after Raiders and Temple of Doom and ahead of Last Crusade. I think it was a very safe film from a marketing prespective: it stuck to the formula and didn't rock the boat too much.But y'know what? Even a formulaic Indiana Jones film is a hell of a lot of fun. Granted, some of the effects were utterly ridiculous (the affore mentioned "Big Boom"), and Soviets just aren't as iconicly evil as Nazis to me, but in general I walked out of that movie very happy.
Oh, and I haven't been able to stop humming the theme since Friday.
Paizo took half the day off today to go see Indy. My reaction? 80% of it is good old Indiana Jones fun. 20% is gratuitous CGI or corny or unbelievable. That 20% is concentrated in a couple of areas, but mostly spread throughout, so it kinda makes the whole movie a LITTLE disappointing to me. BUT: It was still fun!
And... ** spoiler omitted **
In some ways this was the best film. My mate is an archaeologist (yes she has a fedora-but no, no bullwhip :) and Indy was much more respectful of todays current climate against pot-hunting/collecting. And it was a FUN MOVIE. I think that 20% would be Lucas/Speilberg falling into formula.
G: no chase scenes in 32 minutes?S: but we had a fight scene 13 minutes ago.
G: Ok that buys us at least two minutes of dialogue...
...a FUN MOVIE!
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I am a big fan of the XFiles and Indy, but they got chocolate in my peanut butter and it didn't taste right this time. I've seen ToD many times over without hating it and right now I don't have the feeling that I'd want to buy Crystal Skull much less see it again anytime soon. Maybe years from now. I would rank them:
1. Raiders
2. Last Crusade
3. Temple of Doom
4. Crystal Skull
The lack of continuing characters (Karen Allen was a boon but not enough) may have hurt this film too. Otherwise, it is worth seeing for Harrison Ford alone.
I do get a kick out of that unlike the classic Star Wars trilogy where almost everyone liked Empire best and Jedi the least...The Indiana Jones movies seem to be all over the place when people are asked to put them in their favorite order.
I am shocked by anyone who doesnt like Raiders best but thats just me.
#1 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
#2 - The Last Crusade
#3 - The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
#4 - The Temple of Doom
Thats my order.
I liked this movie. It was good but nowhere near Raiders or Last Crusade. There were plenty of moments where Indy and/or his friends should have been bruised or had a broken bone or 2 and they just dusted themselves off like it was nothing instead...but hey its a movie.
Im surprised no one mentioned how cool it was that there was a moment where Indy mentions events that happened durring the 1st episode of Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. I thought that was a nice touch to tie the show into the movie cannon.
As for Indy 5 being oriental...Good idea but The Mummy 3 will beat them to it this August.
I am shocked by anyone who doesnt like Raiders best but thats just me.
When I sit down and look at the Indy movies, I come at them from a perspective of "desert island" movies; i.e. movies you take with you to a desert island, not because they're the best, but because you can watch them over and over and over again.
I do agree that Raiders of the Lost Ark (Wife: Hah! You remembered the title that time!) can be seen as cinematically and critically a better movie. However, if I had both movies in hand and had to watch one of them first, it would be Last Crusade, for these reasons:
A) Father-Son action. Watching Connery and Ford play off each other is fantastically entertaining; he's not as iconic as Short-Round or as firey as Marion, but he still shines.
B) Ah... Venice. I actually tried looking for the library while I was in Venice; almost fell into a canal.
C) The Boy Scout scenes at the beginning. Excellent way to show how Indy got to be the way he is, and fun for me since I am an Eagle Scout.
D-Z) Did I mention Sean Connery's in it?
It is similar to the original Star Wars discussion (I'm a ROTJ fan, personally... though Empire does have Hoth, which I loved). Each film has its own merits, and they all deserve their places on the top of each individual fan's lists.
Be warned; spoilers peppered throughout this review!! 8)
S
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So, I thought this film was rather underwhelming.
There were some elements I really liked (especially the elements
that harkened back to the earlier films.)
But other stuff just didn't seem to fit within the canon they
established for the universe. (I can deal with the supernatural in my pulp fiction; that's a standard trope, but [IMO] science-fiction doesn't really have a place in the Indy franchise.
They advanced the timeline about 20 years, so it's now 1957, and
Russians are the new Germans. Unfortuatnely, the film was too
scattered and jumbled to capitalize on this element; there's brief
references to the McCarthy hearings and the "Red Scare", which might
have made for an interesting backdrop, if they pursued it at all.
BUT they opted to go with a South American locale and legend for the
main story (the "Crystal Skull"), which doesn't connect well to the
Russian elements of the story. Why not simply use a Russian legend?
You had TWENTY years! Do a little research!
Further, there's little to no explanation or exposition on who the
villains are or why they're doing what they're doing. And some
scenes just felt tacked on.. (Why is the FBI interested in Indy so
much? And why do they suddenly just drop that subplot? What happened
10 years before the film started that is continually referenced but
never explained? Why are they detonating nuclear bombs [in a city
made of wax mannequins, no less!] in the middle of Nevada?)
And there's little to no development of characters; I thought Cate
Blanchett was totally wasted in this role. And Shia Lebouef was also
wasted; if they want him to take the mantle of the series, they
really missed the mark; we learn next to nothing about him, other
than what we already saw in the trailers. And Marion? Went from a ballsy, bad-ass broad to a simpering, love-struck old woman in one film!
As an aside, what it with Lucas' fascination with woodland creatures in his films???
Sadly, overall, I feel like the stuff they they hinted at was way more
interesting than the actual film.
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So I saw this movie last weekend, and really enjoyed it. I was surprised to hear a lot of my friends did not like it at all. Most of the reasons I enjoyed it are actually listed above, so I won't go into much detail about that, but almost every person I talked to about it who didn't like it cited one reason, and although it's a matter of personal choice, I don't see it:
After WW2, religion began its downward spiral in importance in North American society. As was said in one of my favourite TV shows, Carnivale, this is the time that man abandoned religion for reason. And really, it made sense in some ways: so much new technology was being created. The atomic bomb was developed along with a whole lot of other stuff coming from atomic theory. People were trying to get to space. We wanted to explore other planets. All this new technology was vying with religion for importance in our minds.
I think that putting a Sci-Fi element in Indy 4 was just a way of acknowledging this change in our society. Having a quasi-scientific explanation for something made sense given the era. Even the Soviets were atheists at this point (something I wish had come across more in the movie).
I also felt this was a fitting end to the series. However, if they make another one, I'll certainly go see it. And probably enjoy it.
But please. No more prairie dogs.
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I saw it and enjoyed it. It probably wasn't the best of the Indy movies but it was OK - par for the course really. I felt they updated it well for the 1950s and the theme was appropriate for the time. My only real complaint was that the opening was a little bit dull and slow but once he climbed out of the fridge, I thought it was great.
I won't rant... Or i'll try not to...
I wanted to like this movie. I wanted to meet again with an old friend. I wanted to have fun.
But i didn't like the movie. Not at all.
The plot is weak and sloppy. The dialogues are wrong and not in tune with the older movies. The acting is lame (including Harrison Ford). The action scenes are boring and non original. The special effects are not even good.
Although Idiana Jones is supposed to be the archetype of action hero, this movie looks pale compared to recent adventures movies, like The Mummmy or even National Treasure (that i loathe).
As much i was a big fan of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg years ago, i became quite the opposite now.
To the point that i wonder if i will go see any future movies from them...
Sorry :(
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RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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Saw it tonight. Thought it sucked. Worst movie of the series.
SPOILERS :
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The CGI was terrible, the plot was poorly strung together, the dialogue was iffy at best, the acting was very hammed up, and the actions scenes were heavily contrived, cheesy, and some of them just made no sense. (Hey! Let's have a rapier duel between speeding jeeps! We don't need to, but it looks cool!) Crystal alien skulls - no thanks. This was the worst possible combination of X-Files meets Indiana Jones, with none of the magic of either.
Also - Indy's kid? Psshhh please. Classic jumping the shark move. The minute that the phrase "Indy's kid" was uttered, Spielberg, Lucas, and Ford should have mutually walked away from the project.
Sean Connery probably took a look at this steaming pile of script and begged to have his character killed off.
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Enjoyed the entire movie. I went in tonight and had predetermined I would suspend my disbelief, and I think that helped. I'll say I think Ford was trying to act 'old' at the beginning, but he quickly became the tried-and-true Indy we all know and love. I had no problem with the CGI; I think I've just come to expect it, and no longer tend to see it as pointless, but rather as background detail. Most of Indy's stunts were more realistic in the old days, and most of these in KotCS were unsurvivable, but if you go into the movie expecting this, it's easier to digest. Overall, it had the feel of one of the old 80s/90s paperback indiana Jones adventures (like Indiana Jones and the Genesis Deluge), so it was missing some of the untouchable/inexplicable je ne sais quoi of the previous films; and in some places it was too, I don't know, shiny--Indy's all about dust and dirt and diesel fumes.
At any rate, I totally enjoyed it, my daughter enjoyed it; 4.5 stars, and I will see it again in a couple days.