Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Guybrush · Post by **Guybrush** » Sat May 24, 2008 9:21 am

I went to see this last night and thought I'd post a mini review. There won't be any spoilers so don't worry! A bit of backstory: I'm a massive Indy fan, I love the first 3 movies, Raiders being my favourite, I expected this film to be good but after reading the very mixed reviews I didn't go in with my hopes too high...

It was terrible. Not just a bad Indy movie, it was a bad movie full stop. The story was convoluted and the script was very poor. Harrison Ford's delivery was totally off and there were no memorable quotes. The whole thing reeked of The Da Vinci Code - go here, solve this code, decipher this language. Indy was only there to provide exposition...LAZY LAZY LAZY! Where was the suspense, where was the sense of danger?

Character development was terrible, certain characters such as Indy's love interest (I won't spoil it) were totally unnecessary and added absolutely nothing to the plot. Others such as Ray Winstone were just annoying ..."Oy oy Jonesy!"...bloody hell this movie made me actually dislike Ray Winstone, who'd have thought it possible?

The cinematography was also totally inappropriate for an Indy film as well. The images on screen had nothing in common with the first 3 films. It was far too bright and 'big budget Hollywood' for my liking, everything had a weird shine to it and the final scene looked like it was shot in heaven, the mise en scene was so sickly sweet. I really miss Douglass Slocombe and his DOP skills.

Another annoying thing...monkeys and tarzan. What the hell? (You'll undertstand what I mean when you see it) We're nearly into Jar Jar Binks territory with this guys.

I am angry. I keep telling myself it's just a film but, in all honesty, I can't believe Spielberg and Lucas managed to mess it up as much as this. They had 19 years to come up with a decent script and do some serious pre-production. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is boring, clumsy and embarassing. It wasn't Indy 4, more like a low rent National Treasure 3.

3/10

McBoosh · Post by **McBoosh** » Sat May 24, 2008 3:14 pm

Ahhh, the critical eye of McBoosh triumphs again. I said on a previous thread that this film looked rum, and now the prophesies are coming true.
Sits back, enjoys a long gin and tonic, and looks well and truley smug.
Not heard one good thing about this turkey.

felgekarp · Post by **felgekarp** » Sat May 24, 2008 4:01 pm

It can't be any worse than Temple Of Doom can it?

JackPainter · Post by **JackPainter** » Sat May 24, 2008 5:00 pm

I blame George Lucas.

paranoid marvin · Post by **paranoid marvin** » Sat May 24, 2008 5:54 pm

felgekarp wrote:It can't be any worse than Temple Of Doom can it?

TOD had one of the best intros to a film ever - sadly it went rapidly downhill after the first 10 mins

C=Style · Post by **C=Style** » Sat May 24, 2008 6:07 pm

It almost sounds like you went in with intentions of scrutinizing it to the last detail, which I'm sure you didn't do with the other films when you were a kid. I think maybe if you took it for what it is, a fun action packed movie then you may have enjoyed it a little more?

I'm only guessing, but it just seems like a little too much critique for what has always been a lighthearted series of films.

felgekarp · Post by **felgekarp** » Sat May 24, 2008 6:41 pm

paranoid marvin wrote:
felgekarp wrote:It can't be any worse than Temple Of Doom can it?
TOD had one of the best intros to a film ever - sadly it went rapidly downhill after the first 10 mins

Yes you're right the intro's great but it doesn't make up for the rest of the film.

Guybrush · Post by **Guybrush** » Sun May 25, 2008 5:20 am

C=Style wrote:It almost sounds like you went in with intentions of scrutinizing it to the last detail, which I'm sure you didn't do with the other films when you were a kid. I think maybe if you took it for what it is, a fun action packed movie then you may have enjoyed it a little more?

It's neither fun nor little. It's a big, boring, overblown mess of a Hollywood blockbuster. Action packed I'll give you, albeit amazingly for Spielberg, the action is very boring and badly done. I'm 100% aware of what it was trying to be but it failed. And it's a poor film because of it.

I don't think that just because a film is lighthearted you can give it a free pass. I can certainly look beyond the massive suspension of disbelief needed in some scenes and the ludicrous plot - that's what Indy is all about! However, the film is just a mess plain and simple.

I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at exactly; how can someone explain why they disliked a film without critiquing it? Surely the point of a review is to look at a film from a critical standpoint? I understand we're not talking about Citizen Kane here, but ultimately if a film that is supposed to be enjoyable throwaway entertainment fails to be both enjoyable and entertaining, it's important to examine why this is so.

Oh and to the other guys: Temple of Doom is far far far superior to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

mikeb · Post by **mikeb** » Sun May 25, 2008 7:03 am

Ok.. I've seen the film. I enjoyed it, but I'll admit it was not without its flaws. There were moments I loved, but also ones that irked immensely. But it is still Indy... although it seems like 'fish out of water' Indy transplanted to a 50's Atomic Age and where his 1930's-40's style action hero values are starting to feel a bit tired and out of place. Like Harrison himself seemed at several points in the film. He appeared to be so dazed and surprised to be back in an Indy film that he seemed to forget to deliver his lines with the traditional Jones flair or hit his comedic cues without letiing them fall a bit flat. Which wasn't good...

I could point quite a few other less than satisfying elements (suspense in the old films - the pilotless plane over the Himalaya's, the snakes/statue in the Well of Souls, the Rope Bridge - there's no sequence in this new film during which you feel that sort of sense of peril or even given time to pause and contemplate it, the CGI is intrusive (did someone say 'monkeys'?) and the laws of physics have completely gone out the window) but at the end of the day, as Lucas points out, it's not the second coming, it's just an amped up, brainless, saturday morning matinee and it did deliver the goods, and I loved watching it, but I didn't quite buy it. I mean...(spoiler) a l i e n s ??!! (/spoiler)

Maybe I'll change my mind on second viewing...

To Guybrush - Have you actually seen Temple of Doom recently? I love it but it is a real mess of a film, as is Crystall Skull. I'd say they are quite close to each other thematically, as are Raiders and Last Crusade. May have been a deliberate decision.. Anyway, I'd say Crystall Skull rates alondside Temple of Doom for me, but is certainly outranked by the other two films.

The Master · Post by **The Master** » Sun May 25, 2008 7:16 am

Booooooo, crystal skulls:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7414637.stm

Guybrush · Post by **Guybrush** » Sun May 25, 2008 12:38 pm

mikeb wrote: To Guybrush - Have you actually seen Temple of Doom recently? I love it but it is a real mess of a film, as is Crystall Skull. I'd say they are quite close to each other thematically, as are Raiders and Last Crusade. May have been a deliberate decision.. Anyway, I'd say Crystall Skull rates alondside Temple of Doom for me, but is certainly outranked by the other two films.

Yeah I watched it a couple of weeks ago. I understand there's a lot of people who don't like it, personally I think it's brilliant, equal to Last Crusade and only slightly off Raiders.

I'm not sure I agree that it's a mess, certainly not in the same way as Crystal Skull. For example, the character of Willie is annoying, but that's how she was written, Marion in Crystal Skull is a non-entity, not even written at all. The creepy crawlies in the scene with the decending roof in Temple of Doom were real, the ants in Crystal Skull were CGI, so I guess it's partly the little things. However, Temple of Doom had amazing set pieces; the rope bridge, the mine cart etc. Crystal Skull had a horrendous climax with no tension and a ten minute long chase scene that was shot in front of a green screen.

If you enjoyed Crystal Skull that's great, I really envy you. It's all subjective at the end of the day, personally I disliked the majority of it. Every film has flaws, Crystal Skull just had far too many to forgive it my opinion. I hope everyone else who sees it disagrees with me!

paranoid marvin · Post by **paranoid marvin** » Sun May 25, 2008 4:02 pm

Tbh for me , Crystal Skull was more like The Mummy Returns than an Indy film

It's not bad , but I agree that the plot is all over the place , and not a patch on Last Crusade or Raiders - and the end scene is absolutely pointless , I'm sure it'll be removed from a director's cut

paranoid marvin · Post by **paranoid marvin** » Sun May 25, 2008 4:13 pm

Also it seems to me that there are quite a few bits nicked from Fate Of Atlantis , the PC SCUMM game. Anyone else think this?

mohicankid · Post by **mohicankid** » Sun May 25, 2008 7:07 pm

i tried watching it but found that the scenes feel rushed and had trouble getting involved with the story!
plus i was knackerd from work so i just took the oppertunity to grab some sleep

i always wonderd why they never made any movies from the young indiana jones series! i liked them

mikeb · Post by **mikeb** » Sun May 25, 2008 7:40 pm

paranoid marvin wrote:Also it seems to me that there are quite a few bits nicked from Fate Of Atlantis , the PC SCUMM game. Anyone else think this?

Only the finale, [Reveal-o-me-do]when they are legging it from the rapidly disintigrating Lost City, prior of course to the blimmin great UFO flying out of it...Didn't notice anything else, was there more?

I'd agree a spunky female sidekick with a psychic necklace would have gone down well though

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

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