*SPOILERS*Official Indiana Jones And The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull Thread*SPOILERS*

[TGC]

A midnight showing is tonight, so I suspect people on EWB will be going to see it hence this SPOILERIFIC topic.

Personally I am going at 5pm on Friday afternoon.

[Universal]

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I am not sure what to say about this. I was disappointed. Mostly with the characters. They never seem to be in any sort of danger. Mostly because a lot of it seemed to be shot on green screen and the actors barely reacted to stuff happening around them. A temple would be collapsing and all Indy could do was look around for 90 seconds before he decides they should leave. A whole valley would be imploding with rocks and stone and all the characters did was stand 10 feet from the edge and watch along with the audience.

Ford is disappointing, but i think the problem is in the screenplay and directing. He barely ever screws up like the old Indy. What i loved about the old trilogy is Indy would make a dumb decision for whatever reason (greed, laziness, or just plain stupidity) and would have to get himself out of it. I didn't get the sense of that here. It just seems the characters go down a linear path of enemies, CGI and green screen landscapes for 2 hours.

There are some good moment here. Shia is good and is the only character i am almost completely satisfied with. The bad guy (girl) is weak and isn't able to flesh out her character at all. There is a few moments which i wish they would give up on the action for a couple more minutes to flesh out the characters rather than building the confusing and odd story.

6 out of 10, it has its moments and it might feel better on repeat viewings after my initial disappointment. There was alot of creativity put into this, but the heart and charm is mostly lost. I hope if they do another one, that they learn from thier mistakes.

Edited May 22, 2008 by Universal

[zero]

Loved it. Just a flat-out fun movie.

The best part is the time jump to the 1950s, so we're fighting the dirty Reds instead of those dirty Nazis. This is a different Indy, perhaps even a matured Indy. He fought in the war, that'll often bring out a different side of a person along with age. Liked the characters too, particularly Cate Blanchett, she continues to impress me every time I see her in a movie.

The plot is fun, I really liked the idea of exploring the mythology behind the idea that aliens came to earth centuries ago and taught primitive man. It's a really cool idea for an Indy movie too since it gives them a reason to explore ancient Mayan temples. The action scenes were extremely well done, with one exception: Shia LeBeouf going all Tarzan with monkeys... HORRIBLE! It reminded me of that South Park episode where Lucas & Spielberg do the special edition of Raiders of the Lost Ark with Ewoks.

Other than that one painful moment, I really enjoyed the film and it fits right in with the rest of the Indy movies - it's not going to win any Oscars, but it's just good old fashioned fun. If I had to find one more minor gripe, it's that the violence is somewhat toned down, which just makes me laugh at the MPAA because what garnered a PG rating in 1981 would now probably get an R rating... but that's just the way it is today.

[Ace]

I just went and watched it, and I have to say I enjoyed it. It wasn't anything exceptionally great, but as far as Movies go it was definetly a good watch.

Mud being Henry Jones III was a fairly predictable twist, but it leaves it open for more Indy in the future, so no real gripe there.Just how stupid can Indy be though for trusting Mac again? Some people just ask for it.

I liked how they had Shia doing the little things that Indy done, and then at the end when he pciked up the hat I didn't know whether to groan or laugh, but overall a VERY enjoyable movie.

[BleedMe]

I enjoyed it. It's an amazing film as long as you don't take it seriously while your watching it, and being an Indiana Jones film.........you really, really shouldn't.

It's shocking they managed to make something more far fetched than finding the Holy Grail and eternal life etc.

[Fanku Kaibutsu]

I thought it was great. I also hated the tarzan scene. I don't get why so many people are griping about the aliens. I mean, on other message boards, people are seething with rage over it. "FUCK GEORGE LUCAS! MY CHILDHOOD HAS BEEN RAPED! FUCKING ALIENS? WHAT THE FUCK?! FLYING SAUCERS HAVE NO PLACE IN A 50'S PULP ADVENTURE! RAWR" And it's like, Indiana Jones movies are based off of 30s and 40s pulp adventures, Nazis, lost magical artifacts, mysterious cannibal cults, all that shit. So with the jump to the 50s, it makes perfect sense that the story would revolve around pinkos and flying saucers.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I thought it was great. I also hated the tarzan scene. I don't get why so many people are griping about the aliens. I mean, on other message boards, people are seething with rage over it. "FUCK GEORGE LUCAS! MY CHILDHOOD HAS BEEN RAPED! FUCKING ALIENS? WHAT THE FUCK?! FLYING SAUCERS HAVE NO PLACE IN A 50'S PULP ADVENTURE! RAWR" And it's like, Indiana Jones movies are based off of 30s and 40s pulp adventures, Nazis, lost magical artifacts, mysterious cannibal cults, all that shit. So with the jump to the 50s, it makes perfect sense that the story would revolve around pinkos and flying saucers.

I didn't get that either. My girlfriend's friends were complaining about how "outlandish and ridiculous" the plot is, but really - is it any more ridiculous than OH MY GOD THE NAZIS HAVE KIDNAPPED MY FATHER AND ARE SEARCHING FOR ________ or THE NAZIS ARE AFTER ME LUCKY CHAR -- er, AFTER THE HOLY GRAIL blah blah blah. Seriously, it's not that far-fetched.

Not to mention for fuck sake it's Indiana Jones. The series was BUILT on ridiculous and outlandish.

[The Sultan of Swank]

It was meh. I didn't have a problem with the aliens, I had a problem with the shitty acting.... 6/10

[Iain76er]

It was alright, I guess.

Shia was the best thing in it. Harrison Ford looks haggard. It got a bit wierd near the end, which sorta made the film a bit shit. The Tarzan malarkey. I wasn't a great fan of the aliens thing. That's probably due to my like of history being usurped for sci-fi though.

I would say it was around the same level of the last Rambo film in a way that it was a long-awaited sequel, that was probably a below average film but pulled along by the previous films.

2/5ish.

[Pepsi]

I thought the action set pieces were great. The car chase in the jungle with everyone jumping from car to car was fantastic, except for the freakin' monkey's. WTF was that? How'd that get by all those creative people as being anything but very very dumb.

That being said I thought the acting was horrible. If you watch the original trilogy the acting made all that was going on believable. I'm not sure if it was ecause all of the green screen used or what but everyone just felt like they were going through the motions. Speaking of green screen, I thought there was way too much of it and really took you out of the movie when it happened. I was shocked how bad the CG looked too. The scene where Shia is standing between the two cars and we see his face (not the back angle which looked like it was done for real with a stunt person), the green screen was horrible in that scene!

And I know Sci-Fi is as much a part of serials Indiana Jones is paying homage too as anything else but I just didn't like it. If maybe the other three movies had put in some kind of sci-fi subplot it would have fit in more but it just felt so completely un-Indiana Jones like.

So I was a bit disappointed, I felt they sort of took me out of the movie with all the green screen and the bad acting. But it was still nice to see one more Indiana Jones movie.

[zero]

The green screen didn't bother me, it just reminded me of in the old films when someone would fall off a cliff and it just looked ridiculous. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but it seemed as such to keep with the B-movie feel.

And again, I don't see the problem with the aliens. There are many people that believe aliens had a role in helping the Mayans and other cultures build ancient cities - is that any less believable than the Cup of Christ or the Ark of the Covenant making everyone's face melt unless you close your eyes... or all of Temple of Doom?

[Pepsi]

It's not that it was any less believable then faces melting off or hearts being ripped out. Just seemed like a plot from a different movie series thats all. Perhaps like I said it was just that the acting was so bad it didn't see me on the whole thing. Maybe I had too high expectations, but then again this movie has been in development for so long why would I have high expectations that they were holding off until everything was perfect.

Edited May 23, 2008 by Snow White and the 7Ups

[zero]

Oh I get what you're saying, my whole point was more directed at the craze all over the internet about the aliens. If you didn't like it, that's one thing, but some people are taking it way overboard. I didn't have a problem with the acting though.

[djmasterscooter]

I think everyone needs to cut the film a little slack. Continuing a franchise almost 20 years after its last movie is not exactly the easiest thing to do. It is somewhat foolish to expect a movie on par with the other Indy movies.

That being said, I had fun in the theater with this movie. The last movie I remember having fun at was POTC: At World's End.

Harrison Ford is showing his age, without a doubt, but I like how it was an integral part of the story. Shia LeBouf continues to surpise me, as his acting was good. Yes, I loved the monkeys. Monkeys don't often get a chance to be portrayed as decent in film (I.E. Night At The Museum, POTC). It was a fun sequence.

Cate Blanchett disappointed me. She's a fantastic actress, but she needs a dialect coach to get the Russian accent down. It sounded like she kept switching on and off between accents. She also needed a bit more development, aside from the whole "I'm a Paranormal Researcher working for the KGB."

The nods to the other movies were subtle (you get a cookie if you notice the Ark of The Covenant), and it was a fun experience.

I believe that this Indiana Jones movie did what it should do, and that is open up Indiana Jones to an entirely new audience, as well give closure to the older fans of the series.

The movie was enjoyable, and it does have its flaws but I don't go to the movies to see great acting. I go to movies to get lost in a world different than my own for two hours or so. Good acting is just a bonus in my alternate reality. While the acting was slightly below par, the adventure was out of this world (you see what I did thar?)

[Jimmy]

It was good, it was enjoyable. But it was...dissapointing. I felt Harrison Ford just lacked in the film, just some parts of his dialouge just sounded so wooden. I really liked Shia and I loved the car chase scene in the forest. I wasn't really around for the other Indy's. Though, I've watched them.

I'd give it a seven/ten for being a fun film.

[Brimstone13]

I loved the movie. The story wasn't any more out there than any of the others, and I wasn't put off by the acting at all. I've heard people complain about how different the character was and that Ford lost touch with him. I completely disagree. The character has aged 20 years, and not only went through WW2 as a spy, but also recently lost his dad and one of his best friends. I think he played the character how he needed to play him. There were areas where he showed some of that boyish charm or whatnot, and there were areas where Indy was just plain weary. I'm not saying he completely nailed the character, but most of the usual stuff I've heard people complain about is silly.

[TGC]

Saw it and really enjoyed it a lot. Is it the best movie of the year? Nope. Will it probably make the most money this year? Thursday's one day total of 28 million says yes. That said, for me Iron Man is so far the summer movie of the year. I suspect Indy will make the most money, and I am seriously looking forward to and excited for Batman and X-Files, amongst others, but Indy I think will top them all in money. It's funny, I went to a twelve plex where Indy was on 6 screens, Iron Man was on 3, Narnia was on 2, and Speed Racer was on 1. It truly is the summer blockbuster season.

One thing I have noted in the last decade is that Harrison Ford started playing all of his characters the same. They all seemed old and tired and he gave very one note performances. Nothing inspiring like he had done so much early in career. Last night in Indy I saw a spark of the old Harrison Ford during a large part of the movie, which was good to see.

This Indy movie was fun. It updated the character, threw in plenty of tidbits to let us know a little of what the character had gone through in the last twenty years since we last saw him, gave us brief glimpses of the past from other movies (the Ark Of The Covenant cameo was awesome), and moved Indy out of the Nazi and war era into the fear and Cold War era. It wasn't a perfect movie, it doesn't come close to my love of Raiders or Last Crusade, but it was a fine addition to the franchise. I will admit there were a few times when I almost expected the Lethal Weapon music to play and for him to look at the camera and deadpan "I'm too old for this shit", but overall it all had that old Indy feel to it.

I like Shia as an actor, and apparently I am in the minority amongst males, and was pleasantly surprised at how good he was in this. To keep with my Lethal Weapon references, I was expecting him to come in like Chris Rock in LW4 and try to steal the show without ever really fitting in. Luckily that didn't happen, as he fell right in and was a great addition to the Indy mythology, as was Mac and Ox. It was also nice to see Marion again.

Now as for the sci-fi elements and the monkeys, the monkeys were silly and rather stupid, as was the Tarzan scene, but it was a total of maybe three minutes in a 121 minute movie. It didn't hurt it at all and once it was over it was followed up by the amazinly cool "Giant damn ants" part which was spectacular. And as for the sci-fi/alien elements, I loved that too. No it wasn't a religious artifact they were looking for it, but it was one of immense power that people worshipped and the evil commies wanted for their glorious leader. It fit well within the confines of the history of the two better films in the franshise, and once again it moved the series out of the previous era and into a new one. Area 51, aliens, conspiracy, the red scare, McCarthyism, it all felt right.

Lucas mentioned in an interview a few days ago that he'd love to continue the franchise now with Shia in the lead role and Harrison playing the role, sort of, that Sean Connery played in Crusade. I can see that working based on how this last film worked.

Finally the moment when the hat blew in at Shia's feet and he almost put it on, the symbolic passing of the torch, only for Indy to snatch it away at the last second as if to say I'm not done yet, was perfection and a fantastic way to end the film.

I think the CGI was used in much the same way that some of the other effects were in previous movies, and Zero nailed it. Speilberg once said that they could go back and make the first three Indy movies look a lot better, similar to what Lucas did with the Star Wars Special Editions. He said, however, that it would never happen because the movies were an homage to the serials of the 30's, 40's, and 50's and some of that cheesiness and awkwardness in those scenes was intentional, like the melting faces part. As I watched Crystal Skull and noticed a lot of chessiness in the SFX and CGI I thought the same thing was happening here. I mean, let's face it, it's Speilberg, Lucas, and ILM. If they wanted this to look perfect it would have.

To sum it all up, it was fun, it felt like an Indy movie, it made me feel like a kid again, and it was well done. It's a summer popcorn flick, like all the others have been, and for me at least it worked very well. I will see it again.

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull - 8/10

[Thatz]

Lucas mentioned in an interview a few days ago that he'd love to continue the franchise now with Shia in the lead role and Harrison playing the role, sort of, that Sean Connery played in Crusade. I can see that working based on how this last film worked.

I don't think that would work very well. I did think that Shia did a pretty decent job in the movie, but I think there would be a lot of backlash if he was the main character, with Ford in just a side role. If anything, I think that a fifth Indy film would have to feature both characters in equal roles.

[HeartlineTwist]

The green screen didn't bother me, it just reminded me of in the old films when someone would fall off a cliff and it just looked ridiculous. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but it seemed as such to keep with the B-movie feel.

And again, I don't see the problem with the aliens. There are many people that believe aliens had a role in helping the Mayans and other cultures build ancient cities - is that any less believable than the Cup of Christ or the Ark of the Covenant making everyone's face melt unless you close your eyes... or all of Temple of Doom?

I thought a lot of the green screen looked terrible until I read that there were scenes that they were using old-school rear projection on, which just made me happy. Given what Spielberg has done recently with movies like Minority Report and other mammoth films with lots of special effects that have to come off correctly, I think the movie was going more for a certain "look" than looking flawless.

[EndOfAnEra]

What a potentially good film that turned into a pile of shit, and I'm very surprised so many of you seemed to enjoy it. It had a decent premise, but George Lucas showed once again that zany things that are completely improbable don't work. I mean okay, I can laugh off the gophers, and surviving a fridge being launched from a nuclear blast. But hundreds of monkeys showing Shia Labeouf where the baddies went so that he can CGI himself across vines? He didn't even swing. He like, hoisted himself up, and it was as if the vines did the rest. Or the ants (which were, for the most part, pretty cool) pyramiding themselves onto eachother to get at Cate Blanchett? Or Marian driving a car ONTO A TREE ON THE SIDE OF A CLIFFthat eases them to the water ever so perfectly? And the ending? Okay, fine, they place the crystal skull. But was it REALLY necessary that they show a shit CGI alien giving Cate Blanchett the evil eye before frying her? A mysterious gust of wind blows the hat to Shia's feet? PLEASE.

This movie had a good premise, but was executed horribly. It completely lost the charm of the original three. I wasn't going in expecting much, but I definately wasn't expecting to see some half-assed dumbed down kids version of Indiana Jones. The acting was definately not the problem here, as everyone did a more than acceptable job. The problem was every little touch of "funny" that was attempted to be put in. Aliens didn't ruin it, that's fine. But couldn't they have left more to the imagination then "OMG IT'S A PORTAL TO ANOTHER DIMENSION LOOK IT'S AN ALIEN AND A FLYING SAUCER"? It came across as a Disney-esque version of what I used to watch, and I found myself rolling my eyes one too many times to look past the schlock.

Edited May 24, 2008 by EndOfAnEra