Revisiting Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Its been a few years since I'v seen this but my memory is that its very much a film of two halves, the americana/cold war stuff being quite enjoyable whilst the sections in South America are a combination of painful dullness, bad CGI and Karen Allen giving a terrible performance.
 
Everyone knows it was a piece of shit, no need to rub it in, TS.
Still, hope TS didnt have to rewatch it in order to create this thread.
 
I want to see a mashup of Indiana Jones at the Mountains of Madness. Jones meets the Mythos.

or

Indiana Jones and the Shadow Over Innsmouth.

<45>
 
shadow_priest_x said:
You know what's crazy about George Lucas is that he has only directed six feature-length narrative films in his life: four Star Wars films, American Graffiti and THX1138. Only three of those were made after the 1970s. If you look at his producing credits, it's mostly just Star Wars shit with a few other random projects thrown in here and there.

I mean, who the fuck IS George Lucas, man? When you really look at his career he's the Star Wars guy. And he produced the Indy movies. There's not much else.

Beyond Star Wars, what's his legacy? Special effects? Pushing digital cinema into the mainstream?
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To be fair to him though his roles within the Star Wars sequences and all of the Indy films were clearly very significant, he wasn't your typical producer.

In retrospect as well I think he'd have been much better sticking to that kind of role with the prequels, the creative producer/ideas man with someone else directing and writing the script.
 
Ive never seen any Indiana Jones movie I think, have I missed out?
 
The fridge was terrible, but it overshadows other terrible moments. If I recall (and I try to block it out) there was a scene where Shia was swinging on vines with monkeys. And the scene with killer ants. I get that a film is allowed to exaggerate reality, but it was so silly watching the ants instantly turn its victims to bones.
 
Overpressure said:
The first film is totally worth it, a loving homage to the serial films of a bygone era. Lots of great touches.
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Temple of Doom always seems to end up underrated for me, mostly I'd guess because it shifts the formula a bit from the original(unlike Last Crusade) moving more towards larger than life revivalism of classic Hollywood adventure and comedy.
 
NHB7 said:
The fridge was terrible, but it overshadows other terrible moments. If I recall (and I try to block it out) there was a scene where Shia was swinging on vines with monkeys. And the scene with killer ants. I get that a film is allowed to exaggerate reality, but it was so silly watching the ants instantly turn its victims to bones.
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Shia fencing with someone in a moving car, those CGI groundhogs appearing as bookends to the film, the car going over the waterfall like it ain't no thang...
 
moreorless87 said:
Temple of Doom always seems to end up underrated for me, mostly I'd guess because it shifts the formula a bit from the original(unlike Last Crusade) moving more towards larger than life revivalism of classic Hollywood adventure and comedy.
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There was definitely some fun to it.
Hollywood gotta get away from 'splosions and re-up the fun
 
BisexualMMA said:
Shia fencing with someone in a moving car, those CGI groundhogs appearing as bookends to the film, the car going over the waterfall like it ain't no thang...
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TO be fair....Indiana Jones survives falling from a crashing airplane by jumping out of it on an inflatable raft and lands perfectly on a snowy mountain hillside....

I think this movie is a complete embarassment and just shows what complete hacks Spielberg and Lucas had become.

The redlettermedia plinkett review of this movie summarizes it perfectly... Shia Labeouef is arguably the best part of this movie because he has a character and a dynamic, he's just used horribly around a terrible fucking script.


The entire hype of this movie was centered around promotional material of Spielberg and Ford and Lucas saying, "it was just like the old days, old school style of filming! limited cgi! thats really harrison doing his own stunts!" etc. etc.

then you watch it, and the opening shot is a cgi groundhog....

instead of the paramount logo turning into the mountain, it should've transformed into a picture of Spielberg and Lucas giving the audience the middle finger with a caption, "tricked you, you stupid fucks!"
 
iThrillhouse said:
instead of the paramount logo turning into the mountain, it should've transformed into a picture of Spielberg and Lucas giving the audience the middle finger with a caption, "tricked you, you stupid fucks!"
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Would have faded nicely into the South Park version of Spielberg and Lucas doing an Eiffel Tower on Harrison Ford.
 
I think it would've been a half decent movie without shia and the monkeys. It had its moments.

I liked the idea of passing on the torch but Shia was absolutely the worst choice for this. He's an awful actor who happened to get the movie role of a lifetime, and for some reason Hollywood was trying to make him the "it" kid around that time.
 
Lethal_Striker said:
The best way to be able to get long term life out of the Indiana Jones franchise is to transition to a younger Indy. Use Ford in just a bookend capacity where he flashes back to one of his old adventures where you see a younger actor playing Indiana in the 1920's before even Raiders of the Lost Ark with a 20 something Jones.
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Are you aware that that was the exact formula for the Young Indy TV show? (Except that they went as far back as his childhood.)
 
Adamant said:
Did Lucas ever say why he didn't direct Empire or ROTJ?
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Just from what I've read, I don't think he actually likes directing very much. That's why he doesn't do it often.
 
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Kiddo716 said:
they made another one? straight to DVD? because surely they wouldln't compromise arguably the best trilogy ever made.
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Funny you say straight-to-DVD, because that's the feeling I got while I was watching it. It felt like an Indy sequel that was either a surprisingly well-shot piece of fiction, or a sequel that was either made-for-TV or went straight-to-DVD.
 
moreorless87 said:
Its been a few years since I'v seen this but my memory is that its very much a film of two halves, the americana/cold war stuff being quite enjoyable whilst the sections in South America are a combination of painful dullness, bad CGI and Karen Allen giving a terrible performance.
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Karen Allen wasn't so bad.

Other than that, pretty accurate assessment. Once they get to the jungle, that's when the shit REALLY starts to plummet into the abyss.
 
moreorless87 said:
To be fair to him though his roles within the Star Wars sequences and all of the Indy films were clearly very significant, he wasn't your typical producer.

In retrospect as well I think he'd have been much better sticking to that kind of role with the prequels, the creative producer/ideas man with someone else directing and writing the script.
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Yeah, that's true. But even if you put a lot of emphasis on his producing role, he still doesn't have much more than Star Wars and Indy. I mean, yes, those are two very iconic properties but it does not feel like a very full career.

Look at Spielberg, he's a producer too and he's produced a huge range of films.
 
Nesruk said:
Ive never seen any Indiana Jones movie I think, have I missed out?
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I can't even imagine how you've gone all this time without seeing an Indy movie.
 
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