Post by Argonaut on May 25, 2008 10:27:08 GMT -8
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882/
When I was 13 years old I saw my first Indy flick. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Soon after I saw the other two. I become obsessed with the Indiana Jones trilogy and mythos. I dressed up as Indy and made my own fan films. I wanted to become an archaeologist when I grew up. I was highly influenced by many movies when I was a kid, but I think Indiana Jones was the most influential set of movies I've ever seen. Even to this day, I think I could call the Indiana Jones trilogy my favorite trilogy of all time.
But I always hoped that the adventure was not over. I wanted an Indy 4. It's been about 7 years since I first became an Indy fan. And now I finally got my wish.
On May 21 I donned whatever Indiana Jones gear I could manage and set out for the theater to watch the midnight showing of Indy 4 with some friends. I was already worried Indy 4 would suck, knowing all that I knew about it, but I tried to stay optimistic. It seemed impossible that it could suck. I thought about who was involved. I thought about how many times Steven Spielberg promised that CG wouldn't be overused. That this movie was shot mostly like the old ones, only with cg used instead of matte paintings for the backgrounds. And this was Steven Spielberg, after all. The man is legend. Jaws. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Jurassic Park. The original three Indiana Jones movies. How could it possibly go wrong?
I was the only dressed in full costume, so they gave me free popcorn. I could feel the excitement growing. This was the most anticipated movie of my lifetime, and since my life tends to revolve around movies, it may have been the most awaited moment of my life. It's been 19 years for those who saw Last Crusade in theaters. I haven't been waiting as long, but it sure felt like a long time.
So the movie began. The Paramount logo faded into...
A gopher mound. A cg gopher(prairie dog?) popped up out of the mound.
WTF?
And that wasn't the last we'd see of the cg prairie dogs. They set the tone for what was to come. A near farcical destruction of the Indiana Jones franchise.
But the cg prairie dogs weren't even the worst of what ruined the film. Indy would go on to survive a nuclear explosion in a fridge that gets tossed about a mile. Indy crawls out completely unharmed. I was faced with a veritable onslaught of cg as Indy survived one ridiculous menace after another. All sense of reality in the previous films was tossed out the window. Indy was now an indestructible superman. No sense of danger. Just ridiculous cheesy fun.
In one scene, Mutt Williams sees some cg monkeys swinging from vines, so he goes Tarzan and does the same thing. Upon getting back to the jungle chase scene at hand, the monkeys attack the Russians for some unknown reason.
All of this is pretty bad and has no place in the Indy franchise, but it's not what ruined the film. The characters are what ruined it. The script gives them awful dialog and no character development. The character of Indiana Jones himself has descended from gritty grave robber to some wacky professor. The rest of the characters are either difficult to watch or just plain under-used.
The movie has no heart. It is lost in the madness of the cg spectacle of it all. It's all spectacle and no heart. I expected more, even from an Indy film.
The one thing I had total faith in was John Williams' score, but even this was weak and uninspired. It's still a John Williams score of course, so it's automatically superior to most film scores today, but it's a pale shadow compared to the scores for the other three films. I can't blame him for it, though. The movie itself wasn't that inspiring in the first place, so I can understand why Johnny would have a hard time composing a great score for it.
The character of Indiana Jones is a bit diluted and pretty lame at times, but it's still the best thing about this movie. Harrison Ford put his all into this movie. It's not his fault the script sucked.
And that's another thing. They waited 19 years for the perfect script, and we ended up with this? That's exactly what they said. Whenever they were asked about Indy 4, Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford would answer that they are waiting for the perfect script. They hired scriptwriter after scriptwriter until the final product was a complete mess. It's a dozen different scripts just sort of thrown together. Subplots pop up, and then disappear forever. The story idea isn't all that bad. It's just the delivery that is so convoluted. There's no structure. The ending makes no sense. They try to have a climactic final scene, and it sure looks climactic, but emotionally it is empty.
That's my biggest disappointment with this film. The character stuff is just ruined. The movie has no heart or meaning. All the other films were big and silly at times, but they had heart and substance. Last Crusade especially. The father/son story and the quest for the grail made it the most meaningful of all the movies.
There's still stuff to like about this movie. About half of the movie is pure Indiana Jones, and the other half is either awful or just weak.
I give it a 5/10 as an Indiana Jones film. If I wasn't as big a fan, I'd probably give it a 7/10. It's still a big fun spectacle. It just doesn't cut it as an Indy film.
This is really the biggest disappointment of my entire life. Star Wars was ruined with the prequels. Die Hard was ruined by Live Free or Die Hard. The Alien and Predator franchises were ruined by the AVP movies. Indy 4 isn't the worst sequel ever, but it was the one I most wanted to be good. I am still not over it, and never will be. Thankyou Spielberg and Lucas for f*cking up a perfect trilogy by making a weak 4th film.
George Lucas plans on making Shia LeBeouf the star of the 5th one while Ford takes a backseat. Now, I didn't hate Shia as much as I thought I would in Indy 4, but God help us if this happens. The franchise is already going down the tubes. Why add insult to injury? That said, if Indy 5 is as disappointing as Indy 4, then maybe Ford should stay far away from it. I don't want the character being ruined any more. Shia LeBouf was, surprisingly, one of the better things about Indy 4. Maybe he should stay away from Indy 5 too, for his sake.
I know they will never be able to take Indy 4 back, and that's what most bothers me. I wish they could make a fantastic Indy 5 to make up for the 4th film, but no matter how good it is, Indy 4 will always be the movie that should have been good. And now I'm not even sure I have enough faith in Spielberg/Lucas to make a good 5th one. It seems like they have forgotten how to make good movies.
Anyways, Indy 4 is still better than nearly all the crap that comes out today, but it's not nearly as good as the other three Indy films. That is all.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882/
When I was 13 years old I saw my first Indy flick. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Soon after I saw the other two. I become obsessed with the Indiana Jones trilogy and mythos. I dressed up as Indy and made my own fan films. I wanted to become an archaeologist when I grew up. I was highly influenced by many movies when I was a kid, but I think Indiana Jones was the most influential set of movies I've ever seen. Even to this day, I think I could call the Indiana Jones trilogy my favorite trilogy of all time.
But I always hoped that the adventure was not over. I wanted an Indy 4. It's been about 7 years since I first became an Indy fan. And now I finally got my wish.
On May 21 I donned whatever Indiana Jones gear I could manage and set out for the theater to watch the midnight showing of Indy 4 with some friends. I was already worried Indy 4 would suck, knowing all that I knew about it, but I tried to stay optimistic. It seemed impossible that it could suck. I thought about who was involved. I thought about how many times Steven Spielberg promised that CG wouldn't be overused. That this movie was shot mostly like the old ones, only with cg used instead of matte paintings for the backgrounds. And this was Steven Spielberg, after all. The man is legend. Jaws. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Jurassic Park. The original three Indiana Jones movies. How could it possibly go wrong?
I was the only dressed in full costume, so they gave me free popcorn. I could feel the excitement growing. This was the most anticipated movie of my lifetime, and since my life tends to revolve around movies, it may have been the most awaited moment of my life. It's been 19 years for those who saw Last Crusade in theaters. I haven't been waiting as long, but it sure felt like a long time.
So the movie began. The Paramount logo faded into...
A gopher mound. A cg gopher(prairie dog?) popped up out of the mound.
WTF?
And that wasn't the last we'd see of the cg prairie dogs. They set the tone for what was to come. A near farcical destruction of the Indiana Jones franchise.
But the cg prairie dogs weren't even the worst of what ruined the film. Indy would go on to survive a nuclear explosion in a fridge that gets tossed about a mile. Indy crawls out completely unharmed. I was faced with a veritable onslaught of cg as Indy survived one ridiculous menace after another. All sense of reality in the previous films was tossed out the window. Indy was now an indestructible superman. No sense of danger. Just ridiculous cheesy fun.
In one scene, Mutt Williams sees some cg monkeys swinging from vines, so he goes Tarzan and does the same thing. Upon getting back to the jungle chase scene at hand, the monkeys attack the Russians for some unknown reason.
All of this is pretty bad and has no place in the Indy franchise, but it's not what ruined the film. The characters are what ruined it. The script gives them awful dialog and no character development. The character of Indiana Jones himself has descended from gritty grave robber to some wacky professor. The rest of the characters are either difficult to watch or just plain under-used.
The movie has no heart. It is lost in the madness of the cg spectacle of it all. It's all spectacle and no heart. I expected more, even from an Indy film.
The one thing I had total faith in was John Williams' score, but even this was weak and uninspired. It's still a John Williams score of course, so it's automatically superior to most film scores today, but it's a pale shadow compared to the scores for the other three films. I can't blame him for it, though. The movie itself wasn't that inspiring in the first place, so I can understand why Johnny would have a hard time composing a great score for it.
The character of Indiana Jones is a bit diluted and pretty lame at times, but it's still the best thing about this movie. Harrison Ford put his all into this movie. It's not his fault the script sucked.
And that's another thing. They waited 19 years for the perfect script, and we ended up with this? That's exactly what they said. Whenever they were asked about Indy 4, Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford would answer that they are waiting for the perfect script. They hired scriptwriter after scriptwriter until the final product was a complete mess. It's a dozen different scripts just sort of thrown together. Subplots pop up, and then disappear forever. The story idea isn't all that bad. It's just the delivery that is so convoluted. There's no structure. The ending makes no sense. They try to have a climactic final scene, and it sure looks climactic, but emotionally it is empty.
That's my biggest disappointment with this film. The character stuff is just ruined. The movie has no heart or meaning. All the other films were big and silly at times, but they had heart and substance. Last Crusade especially. The father/son story and the quest for the grail made it the most meaningful of all the movies.
There's still stuff to like about this movie. About half of the movie is pure Indiana Jones, and the other half is either awful or just weak.
I give it a 5/10 as an Indiana Jones film. If I wasn't as big a fan, I'd probably give it a 7/10. It's still a big fun spectacle. It just doesn't cut it as an Indy film.
This is really the biggest disappointment of my entire life. Star Wars was ruined with the prequels. Die Hard was ruined by Live Free or Die Hard. The Alien and Predator franchises were ruined by the AVP movies. Indy 4 isn't the worst sequel ever, but it was the one I most wanted to be good. I am still not over it, and never will be. Thankyou Spielberg and Lucas for f*cking up a perfect trilogy by making a weak 4th film.
George Lucas plans on making Shia LeBeouf the star of the 5th one while Ford takes a backseat. Now, I didn't hate Shia as much as I thought I would in Indy 4, but God help us if this happens. The franchise is already going down the tubes. Why add insult to injury? That said, if Indy 5 is as disappointing as Indy 4, then maybe Ford should stay far away from it. I don't want the character being ruined any more. Shia LeBouf was, surprisingly, one of the better things about Indy 4. Maybe he should stay away from Indy 5 too, for his sake.
I know they will never be able to take Indy 4 back, and that's what most bothers me. I wish they could make a fantastic Indy 5 to make up for the 4th film, but no matter how good it is, Indy 4 will always be the movie that should have been good. And now I'm not even sure I have enough faith in Spielberg/Lucas to make a good 5th one. It seems like they have forgotten how to make good movies.
Anyways, Indy 4 is still better than nearly all the crap that comes out today, but it's not nearly as good as the other three Indy films. That is all.