Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

[DarkArtist81]

Josh, you're a good friend, but I don't want to hear about you and have the word bulging in the same statement

 

[doesitmatter]

I enjoyed it. More importantly, I enjoyed my time watching it.

Was it everything I wanted from another Indy movie? No way. I wanted no cg, I wanted Sean Connery, I wanted John Rhys Davies, I wanted a Frank Darabont script. But I'm not going to attack this movie for not living up to my fantasies.

I still wish they had made one in the late '90's. Ford was still kick-ass, even in bad movies like Air Force One, Speilberg was doing phenomenal work with Saving Private Ryan and Lucas had yet to go back to Star Wars. An Indy in his early 50's would have been fantastic with this one ten years later. All the comments of what Indy did during WWII made me me regret that lost movie more.

I found the sci-fi a little hard to swallow and the characterization in the script flat at times. Also, things looked a little too clean. It didn't have the gritty integrity of other three films.

But I did like this one a lot. It didn't blow me away but I left satisfied. There were TONS of temples and traps, good fistfights and jokes that fit in the tone of the series (love the kid in the library!). Ford felt like Indy, Ray Winstone's character surprised me, Karen Allen's chemiustry with Harrison was right there (and I loved the backstory!) John Hurt was tremendously underrated, and Shia LeBeouf and Cate Blanchett did their usual best. And who would have thought that "Young Indy" counted?

I guess Lucas was right. You were going to hate this. :emperor

 

[IrishJedi]

I hated the reference to "Young Indy" myself.

And we did get Sean Connery... sord of.

 

[nhldevil54]

I fell asleep for the first 30 minutes of the movie. I loved the action scenes but I think the alien thing is kinda lame.

 

[Buttmunch]

I absolutely LOVED this. I think the whole alien thing is going to be a very personal taste. Either you like it or you don't. I personally know a lot about alien and UFO history so I thought the whole thing was awesome and a nice twist on historical events and theories. The crystal skull was beautiful I thought. I sure hope we get a 1:6 KotCS Indy and he comes with it, because I know I would never be able to afford a 1:1 Skull.

I also thought Irina was tough! I mean she gave any of the male villians a run for their money. Kate did a great job!

I'm surprised I didn't hate Shia. I'm not a fan of his, but he did a very decent job in this. Much, much, much less annoying than Short Round. He was actually useful!

John Hurt was great as a crazy guy, although I was expecting an alien to burst out of his chest at any moment

Overall, it was a really fun movie. I felt exhausted just watching it. I can't wait to see it again Saturday.

Was there anything after the credits?

 

[EVILFACE]

Well, I wasn't expecting another ROTLA nor the second coming, but 20 years and this was the best they could do? I figured it would at least be on par with Crusade. I saw Indy and heard Indy, but didn't feel like Indy.

I won't dwell on what sucked, most has been stated (stupid moneys, dead aliens coming to life and merging, fridge that withstands a nulcear blast and Indy just opens it up with no problem to name a few).

I thought Mutt was alright and I liked Indy snatching the hat from him at the end, but this movie just didn't snap with me.

I think the Emperor's Tomb video game from a few years was and would have been far better.

Oh well, at least we are getting some Indy collectibles from it being made.

 

[IrishJedi]

Oh well, at least we are getting some Indy collectibles from it being made.

At the end of the day that's good enough for me.

 

[tomandshell]

Got my tickets to see it tomorrow at 12:45. I will be too late to get in on the discussion and initial flood of responses, but my expectations are suitably tempered after reading some of the comments.

 

[IrishJedi]

Nothing to lose by going in with low expectations.

 

[theropod]

I won't go into all the details. Every Indy movie has holes in in the probability of the plot. Every Indy movie has outlandishly rediculous concepts and action sequences. Every Indy movie is good.

I really enjoyed KOTCS. Even more important is that my son loved it. He hasn't yet reached the age of cynicism, but is entering the age that he can patiently absorb and accept the details of fantastical concepts.

Here's the way I see it: this movie was a great party while drinking Vodka and RedBull. However, at the very end someone dripped some acid into your last glass of the night.

Other than the final act being a bit too grandiose. My only qualms with the movie is that I didn't understand what was behind the resoning for the natives to be stalking people at the cemetary. I understand the Unga warriors at the end were there to protect the temple they worshiped, but I have no idea about the Dia De Los Muertos characters at the gravesite.
-theropod

 

[IrishJedi]

By the way, some of you seem to either have forgotten this or ignored it altogether... from the Entertainment Weekly interview with Lucas & Spielberg a couple of months ago:

EW: Well to bring us into Indy 4, what kind of developmental push and pull went on once you decided to set the new film in the 1950s?

LUCAS: The idea was to take the genre of Saturday-matinee serials, which were popular in the '30s and '40s, and say, ''What kind of B movie was popular in the '50s, like those B movie serials were popular in the '40s?'' And use that as the overall uber-genre. We wouldn't do it as a Saturday-matinee serial. We'd do it as a B movie from the '50s.

 

[EVILFACE]

Is that supposed to make the movie better?

 

[IrishJedi]

Is that supposed to make the movie better?

No... it explains that the movie is exactly what it was designed to be, whether we like it or not. I pointed that out earlier in the thread but was scoffed at. So I went and found the documented proof.

There are similar comments from Lucas, Spielberg, and Marshall regarding the originals being designed as B-movie serials from the 30s and 40s. I could dig those up, too, but I'm sure it's all a futile effort.

I think a big part of this is that many folks just don't like the genre that this movie is sending up (50s Cold War Sci-Fi B-Movies).

 

[IrishJedi]

Hmmm... I just flipped through the novelization a bit. Apparently, the monkeys, ants, etc are explained away as being influenced by the energy emanating from Akator. That's certainly not any less fanciful, but it may have helped more folks digest it had it been explained in the movie somehow.

 

[theropod]

I can handle and actually enjoyed the Alien/ESP/Russian concept. I'm sure that Indy has experienced things that were equally as strange throughout his career. But the overture at the end could have been much more subtle and have a stronger effect.

For some reason I was reminded of AI - and not because of the alien thing, it was more the dramatic change of pace scale in the final South American minutes.
-theropod

 

[IrishJedi]

Hopefully you didn't mean to imply that there are aliens in A.I. There are absolutely no aliens in A.I.

5-6 years later and people still miss this.

 

[EVILFACE]

Irish, you're grasping at staws man.

Same tactics and posts styles people used to defend Aayla lol.

 

[metaphorge]

Just saw it. I enjoyed it. Don't know where it will end up in my ultimate hierarchy of Indy movies, but it definitely holds up to the rest of the series in my eyes. I think it's hard to make that sort of comparison (as it was with the Star Wars prequels) since I'm a VASTLY different human being than I was in 1989; a lot more jaded.

The Ark easter egg was a nice touch, and I really liked the whole warehouse set piece. I could've done without the monkeys, but that was the only particularly cringe-inducing part.

I'll see it in the theater again at least once.

 

[IrishJedi]

Irish, you're grasping at staws man.

Same tactics and posts styles people used to defend Aayla lol.

Grasping at what straws exactly?

And you must have missed the part where I said I was disappointed that this movie isn't at least as good as LAST CRUSADE and that it's far from great.

As usual, people jumping to conclusions...

 

[IrishJedi]

The Ark easter egg was a nice touch, and I really liked the whole warehouse set piece. I could've done without the monkeys, but that was the only particularly cringe-inducing part.

I question why we had to revisit the warehouse from the end of RAIDERS simply for what amounts to a 3-second cameo by the Ark.

BTW, there is no way that "Hangar 51" would have existed in 1936. At least 10 years later. So I guess the end of RAIDERS is now a flash-forward. Or, it's not the same warehouse afterall.