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

[Trevolver]

Not seeing the movie for a week and then checking it out again really makes me appreciate it even more. It's like listening to a new song by a band you like and not really getting into it right away because...it doesn't sound like the last one you really liked. They added some different instruments to the new one and it just sounds "off"...but before you know it, you can't get the new tune out of your head and you can't believe it didn't blow you away the first time you heard it...

Yep, I have to agree with that completely! That's the analogy I've been using now. It really is a great deal of fun!

oh, and that Making Of book is great!! Everyone should at least flip through it to enjoy the rare behind the scenes pics!
Trev

 

[KrisSolo]

Yep, KOTCS is the Kid A of Indy films (sorry, just got back from seeing Radiohead in Dublin... :chew)

 

[sladesuperagent]

Just saw it last night...ew, pure dreck. Garbage. More proof that Lucas could eff up a bowl of cereal.

 

[BadMoon]

Just saw it last night...ew, pure dreck. Garbage. More proof that Lucas could eff up a bowl of cereal.

So how do you really feel?

 

[sladesuperagent]

I feel like everyone involved should be embarrassed that they made it--especially Kate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, and Harrison Ford. And for everyone who's gonna come at me--I understand that it was based one old, campy serials and that Lucas referenced B-movies for it--but IT sucked pretty hard guys. Mutt Williams swinging through trees like Tarzan? C'mon! I mean, there's a reason it was 4 at the box office this weekend--if it was better it may have had longer legs.

 

[BadMoon]

I feel like everyone involved should be embarrassed that they made it--especially Kate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, and Harrison Ford. And for everyone who's gonna come at me--I understand that it was based one old, campy serials and that Lucas referenced B-movies for it--but IT sucked pretty hard guys. Mutt Williams swinging through trees like Tarzan? C'mon!

Que Irish in 5-4-3-2-1.........

 

[Khev]

"Kingdom..." is like that to me...a little different than the rest of them, yet with enough of the familiar to make it work. I love this film...

Well said.

 

[Blackhole]

Well said.

Seconded...

 

[Khev]

Just watched the first half of Last Crusade again last yet. I like the fridge scene in KOTCS even more now. Its very reminiscent of Indy hiding in the "magic" trunk that allows him to escape the circus train at the beginning of the movie.

Skull is definitely the better and more enjoyable flick. The chemistry between Indy and Elsa is the most awkward of all four films. His opening lines to her and him grabbing a flower and offering it to her like a puppy dog has a level of desperation to it that I'm not accustomed to him exhibiting around leading his leading ladies. Crusade also seems even lazier now for not only reusing Nazi's but for going two steps further and giving us "Indy on horseback fighting Nazi caravan in the desert." Again.

The Connery/Ford relationship is still gold but I don't see how anyone can rate the movie above Crystal Skull.

 

[KrisSolo]

I like LC, but agree KOTCS is better.

 

[barbelith]

I feel like everyone involved should be embarrassed that they made it--especially Kate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, and Harrison Ford.

Winstone was just passing time but Ford put in his best performance in literally more than a decade. Blanchett was hilarious.

Mutt Williams swinging through trees like Tarzan?

Can you remind me again how Indy makes it to the seaplane in Raiders?

I mean, there's a reason it was 4 at the box office this weekend--if it was better it may have had longer legs.

Do you understand how the modern box office works? The film has had a pretty remarkable drop pattern for the past few weeks, which indicates incredible word of mouth (in other words normal people are enjoying it much more than a few loudmouths on the Internet). It's certain to pass $300 million and the only other film this year on track to do that so far is Iron Man.

I will never understand the "Mutt swung on a vine so the entire movie raped my childhood" thing.

 

[The Josh]

I'm actually playing the soundtrack right now for my summer school classes. They're talking my leg off about the new movie. They love it and I can't blame them. Its good fun, good Indy, and I'm dang happy they made it.

 

[Batty]

I saw it for the 3rd time yesterday. Even though I liked it a lot the first time I saw it, I like it even more now.

And Indy standing in front of the mushroom cloud has definitely become one of my favorite images from any movie.

 

[FQRizzo]

C'mon! I mean, there's a reason it was 4 at the box office this weekend--if it was better it may have had longer legs.

Actually, according to https://www.rottentomatoes.com/ it was third this weekend with $22.8M. I don't think that is too shabby.

 

[RoboDad]

I feel like everyone involved should be embarrassed that they made it--especially Kate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, and Harrison Ford. And for everyone who's gonna come at me--I understand that it was based one old, campy serials and that Lucas referenced B-movies for it--but IT sucked pretty hard guys. Mutt Williams swinging through trees like Tarzan? C'mon! I mean, there's a reason it was 4 at the box office this weekend--if it was better it may have had longer legs.

I'm sure you're going to find a few rather vocal people who agree with your opinion, but as for the rest of us? Not so much. You sound as if you feel a need to convince us how mistaken we are in liking the movie. But this quote really sums it up better than anything else:

Not seeing the movie for a week and then checking it out again really makes me appreciate it even more. It's like listening to a new song by a band you like and not really getting into it right away because...it doesn't sound like the last one you really liked. They added some different instruments to the new one and it just sounds "off"...but before you know it, you can't get the new tune out of your head and you can't believe it didn't blow you away the first time you heard it...

"Kingdom..." is like that to me...a little different than the rest of them, yet with enough of the familiar to make it work. I love this film...

It's a new film, not a repeat/rehash of the old ones. It seems to me that many who don't like this film cite it's different tone from the older ones as one reason. And yet, ironically, many of those same people like Last Crusade least among the "original trilogy" for the exact opposite reason -- namely that it wasn't different enough from its predecessors.

You just can't please everyone, I guess. But the movie is headed for a final tally of $300M+ domestically, plus another $300M+ overseas. Putting things in perspective, TOD and LC, adjusted for inflation, would have been in the $350M range domestically (where Raiders would have been over $500M), so KOTCS looks to be about as successful as the previous sequels. As for it no having legs, that concept is almost nonexistent today. Many movies are so heavily front-loaded for their release weekend (KOTCS was in over 4200 theaters, and many theaters had it running on multiple screens) that they are pretty much guaranteed to make 25-35% of their total gross during that time.

 

[Khev]

I had so many preconceived notions about how Fellowship of the Ring would be that after I saw I could only mildly say, "That was good." Then I watched it a couple more times and my preconceptions gave way to just the story as it was presented on screen. I liked it more the second time, and then the third time I saw it I had a revelation that it was suddenly my favorite film of all time. The Empire Strikes Back was finally dethroned after 21 years.

Temple of Doom was so divergent from Raiders it seemed that people just wrote it off for years. Last Crusade was seen as almost a "make up" movie that returned Indy to his original form. Now we've come full circle and Crusade looks like a pale copy while Doom was innovative and dared to be different--and succeeded.

In a few years the vocal "I hate anything Lucas-related even though his involvement with this film was little more than 'make sure there are aliens in it'" crowd will give way to the realization that this was a very well done entry in the series.

Already it has some of my favorite scenes in the entire series:

1. Indy and the mushroom cloud (I see many agree with this one)

2. Indy playing chicken in the warehouse

3. Indy kicking ass in the graveyard

4. The scene where the too trucks are parallel and closing in the jungle and Indy jumps into the back of the Russian's truck, knocking aside three soldiers. I *love* that stunt. Its classic Indy and even more badass that he pulled it off as a 65 year old.

 

[RoboDad]

You know another thing I loved? I know it may seem silly, but I loved that they used the exact same "punch" Foley sound effects in the fight sequences that the previous movies used. When you get punched by Indy, you've really been punched.

 

[Khev]

Totally, can't have an Indy movie without a firecracker going off when someone gets punched. I liked the little Star Wars sound effect when the Russians opened the the warehouse doors. I think it was the same noise as when Luke opened the bottom panel of the AT-AT with his lightsaber.

"I have a bad feeling about this" was another great nod to SW. It was so great to actually hear Ford deliver that line since I don't think he ever did as Solo.

 

[Batty]

And don't forget the Wilhelm Scream.

 

[RoboDad]

"I have a bad feeling about this" was another great nod to SW. It was so great to actually hear Ford deliver that line since I don't think he ever did as Solo.

Actually, he did. Twice. Once in ANH (during the garbage smasher scene), and once in ROTJ, when they were tied up by the Ewoks. That's why I liked that nod so well.