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Official Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Rottenwatch/Reviews

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aparisi2274 said:
early estimates put it at a $25million dollar opening day....

Not a great start. Tracking had it at like 170m for the first 5 days.

Surprisingly, Iron Man has a shot to make more than Indiana Jones.
 

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
I saw it, here it goes

First off, The alien thing...Whats the big deal? Seems more like people were looking for something to whine about then anything else with that. It was always about finding a forbidden power or forgotten secret. This was no different, I enjoyed it

CGI...Okay, I kind of agree here with it a bit. It seems like instead of making the sets or going to places in the first one. It was just a green screen. It looked good, but at the same time was a bit dissapointing with a few things. Mainly the big car scene where Shia and Kate fight it out...and then the monkeys...Yea...It was a bit ridiculous there. It felt like they decided to use too much of it then where it would have made the film better in from the original 3 where they didn't have it.

Characters, personally...I loved the cast. Great villian, Ford still had it, Shia was good, I really enjoyed it.

My main problem with it though was...it felt disjointed. It just jumped from A to B To C To D, more like they had 4hours of material they wanted to shoot but only could fit 2hours.

Outside of that...I loved it, Definitely enjoyed it. Maybe even see it again. May has been a fantastic kickass month for movies with me, Ironman and Speed Racer both surprised me with awesomeness and IJ was awesome
 

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
just saw it. not the best in the series but certainly wasn't a bad film. my buddy and i were kinda hoping it would suck, just to laugh at george lucas for being so greedy that he'd ruin the two greatest things he ever created (Star Wars and Indiana Jones). :lol alas it wasn't to be.
 

Blueblur1

Member
I just came back from the theater and their were no fans of this movie among myself and 7 other friends. It looked ridiculously fake, the plot was pretty thin, there were SO many B.S. moments that the movie jumped the shark several times.

And aliens? Are you fucking kidding me? The movie is glorified fan fiction material. Man, and I thought the new Star Wars trilogy was bad. This is absolutely abysmal by comparison.
 

Alucard

Banned
Here's a quick review I typed up for my Facebook. :p

"I have no nostalgic ties to this franchise, and enjoyed this movie for its sense of fun and adventure. While it does get a little hokey and ridiculous in parts, the action is well-directed, there is plenty of eye candy (the cinematography is gorgeous), and the interplay between Ford, Allen, and LaBeouf is fantastic. As long as you are prepared to throw logic out the window and approach the movie expecting a quick and dirty action/adventure piece, you should come away satisfied. The movie's brisk pace makes for an enjoyable ride, despite the leaps in logic and slightly mashed-up storyline."
 

Blueblur1

Member
I read the posts a few pages back. Suspension of disbelief is a necessity when watching an Indy movie but this movie took it too fucking far. I might even be able to accept the alien stuff but then they have "living" fake ass crystal skeletons that morph into a single living alien for no reason and a flying saucer.

"No, they're going to the spaces between places." Yeah, that's enough bullshit Mr. Spielberg.
 
BobFromPikeCreek said:
I know right. Indiana Jones is supposed to be about its believability, dammit!

adj86v.gif

My problem with this movie wasn't about the believability - it had to do with the complete ridiculousness of the film.

Swinging from a bunch of vines certainly is unbelievable. That isn't the problem. The problem is is that it is fucking stupid. Same with *almost* every other action scene in the movie.


I didn't have a problem with the alien thing, either. I knew the film was going to be centered around aliens.
 
Am I the only one that thought that the crystal heads coming together and morphing into a live alien was what Spalko was being forced to see by looking into the eyes of the skull, rather than it actually happening?
 

Flynn

Member
Blueblur1 said:
I"No, They're going to the spaces between places." Yeah, that's enough bullshit Mr. Spielberg.

Personally I love the idea of inter-dimensional beings. Alan Moore writes about that kind of stuff all the time. The concept of the Shrike in Dan Simmons' Hyperion is in the same realm. It's ideal ground the late fifties, leading up to the sixties and the invention of LSD and the resurgence of mind-expanding drugs.

Here's why everybody's arguing about atom bombs, UFOs and tin-lined refrigerators.

Lucas and Spielberg didn't sell them.

They're not up to the task any longer of presenting their silliness.

Before they were able to sugar coat their goofy stuff with enough style, charm and cinematic fireworks that we'd swallow ever bit and beg them for more.

Fact is that they've lost their deft touches (one may never have had one). They've lost their toughness and they've lost any kind of love or willingness to bleed a little to make their popcorn movies.

What's worse is that Spielberg puts in the hours with most of his other pictures, like them or not. But with this one? It's phoned in by comparison, the execution just isn't as sharp.

And if you watch those new introductions to the Indy pictures Spielberg makes a point to remind us that he's a director for hire on these. It's like he's backing away saying -- I can only do so much here.
 
MaverickX9 said:
My problem with this movie wasn't about the believability - it had to do with the complete ridiculousness of the film.

Swinging from a bunch of vines certainly is unbelievable. That isn't the problem. The problem is is that it is fucking stupid. Same with *almost* every other action scene in the movie.


I didn't have a problem with the alien thing, either. I knew the film was going to be centered around aliens.

What about parachuting out of an airplane in an inflatable raft onto what seemed to be the Himalayan mountains, riding down a slope of snow in said raft, falling off an enormous cliff into a river that brings you to a tropical indigenous village deep in the jungle?

Indiana Jones has always been ridiculous. That doesn't mean it is "fucking stupid". It just means it is over the top. Take it for what it is worth and try to enjoy the movie.
 
AtticusFinch said:
What about parachuting out of an airplane in an inflatable raft onto what seemed to be the Himalayan mountains, riding down a slope of snow in said raft, falling off an enormous cliff into a river that brings you to a tropical indigenous village deep in the jungle?

Indiana Jones has always been ridiculous. That doesn't mean it is "fucking stupid". It just means it is over the top. Take it for what it is worth and try to enjoy the movie.

Sure, that is unbelievable. It doesn't come anywhere close to surviving an atomic blast in a refrigerator which goes flying across a desert landscape or swinging on vines while simultaneously becoming buddies with a pack of monkeys who help you thwart an enemy's attack on your father or with falling off of three water falls without an struggle or driving off a cliff on to a tree which safely lowers you in to a river.

Swinging on vines is fucking stupid.
 
Scarecrow said:
I gotta agree with this. It seems more like a coincidence to me.
I'm with you on this one; it's just something of the times. The Howdy Doody theme reminded me of its use in Back to the Future Part III, but I didn't think that was its purpose.
 
To be honest, I felt like the movie was really Live Free or Die Hard Indiana Jones. It wasn'
t bad by any standards, but I thought of Live Free or Die Hard many times through the movie, not what I really was expecting to watch but...
 

Bogus

Member
Scullibundo said:
Am I the only one that thought that the crystal heads coming together and morphing into a live alien was what Spalko was being forced to see by looking into the eyes of the skull, rather than it actually happening?

I saw it in the same light. With all the skulls reunited, the hive mind could fully exert its collective consciousness again, and that's why Spalko saw the 13 alien skeletons form a living organism. The aliens certainly weren't "alive" in the common sense of the word; rather, their psychic power was still very much active and projected the image of a living alien amongst all the other knowledge with which Spalko was overloaded. It's a fairly common way for collective consciousness/mind-control to be portrayed in sci-fi/fantasy stuff, so that's where my thoughts went first.

Regardless, I find it interesting that it's a major point of criticism for some people. Is it that quick regeneration is less plausible than quick degeneration, the latter of which is featured prominently in the past Indy flicks (face melting from the ark, growing old and dying from the wrong chalice, etc.)? Oh well. Indy 4 had its share of over-the-top action sequences, but so did Indy 1-3. As far as I'm concerned, it's neither better nor worse that the newest installment in the Indy series had more CG... just a sign of the times.

At any rate, the movie gets a thumbs up from me!
 
I've seen all the Indiana Jones movies, but I've no huge love or nostalgia for them. So anyway...

Doom > Raiders = Crystal > Crusade.

There was some over use of CGI and the
lead-lined fridge
bit was implausible for even an Indy movie. But I really enjoyed it overall.
 
Mr. Pointy said:
I've seen all the Indiana Jones movies, but I've no huge love or nostalgia for them. So anyway...

Doom > Raiders = Crystal > Crusade.

There was some over use of CGI and the
lead-lined fridge
bit was implausible for even an Indy movie. But I really enjoyed it overall.

Whoa, lots of hate coming your way.
 
^
Crusade is a watered down Indy movie. It's a good movie, but it's worst of the lot.

Temple of Doom is awesome because it's dark yet campy, has a brilliant villain and it's just hyped up on pixie sticks.

Short Round is your god.
 
Mr. Pointy said:
I've seen all the Indiana Jones movies, but I've no huge love or nostalgia for them. So anyway...

Doom > Raiders = Crystal > Crusade.

There was some over use of CGI and the
lead-lined fridge
bit was implausible for even an Indy movie. But I really enjoyed it overall.

Wow, Crystal on par with Raiders?
 
Scullibundo said:
Am I the only one that thought that the crystal heads coming together and morphing into a live alien was what Spalko was being forced to see by looking into the eyes of the skull, rather than it actually happening?
This is what i think happened as well. They left alot of the ending open which i kinda like.
 
I really liked that scene where they run away from the Russians, fall into a sandpit and are recaptured two minutes later. That's definitely as good as anything in Raiders.
 

Staccat0

Fail out bailed
Saw this today. Story was sickening. I know the old ones were corny, but they took place in "our world." Like a Lovecraft story the odd stuff in the old ones were special because the rest of the world was a super fun version of ours. This was just a bullshit storyline that was more distracting than fun.
Again, this one didnt feel pulpy anf fun but more ugly and half baked
Too much CGI. I actually liked the
Sword
fight, but hated he other shit. the
lead-lined fridge
was the worst.
ants and monkeys prarie dogs
were lame, and I'm obsessed with ants!

The actors were all great. the filming felt right. The score was suprisingly restrained.

I give it 3.5/5.
= to Iron Man but with dissapointment instead of suprise.
Looks like Dark Night willl have it easy.:D
 

Phoenix

Member
MaverickX9 said:
Sure, that is unbelievable. It doesn't come anywhere close to surviving an atomic blast in a refrigerator which goes flying across a desert landscape or swinging on vines while simultaneously becoming buddies with a pack of monkeys who help you thwart an enemy's attack on your father or with falling off of three water falls without an struggle or driving off a cliff on to a tree which safely lowers you in to a river.

Swinging on vines is fucking stupid.


I'd personally say that its not so much the swinging on vines or the monkies or ants or anything, it is how arbitrary they have just thrown all this stuff together. They don't build it, they don't develop it - it just happens and its done so poorly and awkward that it becomes stupid as opposed to a scene of comical heroism.

The screenplay is just soooo bad for this movie. I just still can't believe they put that to film because its just sooooo poorly done.

Rename to Indiana Jones and the Geriatric Search for Xenu...
 

Future

Member
Just saw it. Mixed feelings. On one hand they really kept that Indiana Jones feel. Ford still works as Indy, and he had a good surrounding cast in this one. Lots of action, and felt like it will fit in the Indiana Jones BluRay box set just fine

But Jones was a little to invincible. Sure over the top shit happens in all the Jones movies, but this movie might as well have been made when Ford was still young cuz it pretty much pretends he is. I was hoping to see a Jones that while old and a bit frail could still pull some tricks out of his old hat to get the upper hand. Rely on his wits a bit more so the audience can see his weaknesses and then applaud when he manages to succeed. Instead I saw an old Indiana Jones still beating everyone's ass in seconds like the second coming of Batman.

Certain scenes of the movie were also a little TOO comical...even for a Jones movie. Like that vine swinging shit that I see people already bringing up. I still dont understand how that made any sense, and the scene itself wasn't even cool enough to ignore that fact. That scene screamed Lucas influence to me, as I remember having similar feelings during certain scenes in the new Star Wars movies
 
I enjoyed it, for the most part.
Could've done without the "live" alien and the UFO, though. And the nuke-proof fridge was absolutely stupid.
It's not as good as Crusade, but it's still leagues better than Temple. The best part of it all was Blanchett; I can honestly see why Spielberg says she's his favorite Indy villain.
 

Jswanko

Member
Prince of Space said:
I enjoyed it, for the most part.
Could've done without the "live" alien and the UFO, though. And the nuke-proof fridge was absolutely stupid.
It's not as good as Crusade, but it's still leagues better than Temple. The best part of it all was Blanchett; I can honestly see why Spielberg says she's his favorite Indy villain.
i loved her too till the end
when her mind gets blown by the knowledge of the universe
 

Mifune

Mehmber
I actually thought the first half was pretty strong. Okay maybe only the first act. I kind of loved the opening...Indiana Jones in the Atomic Age. How cool is that?

The less said about the rest of the movie the better.
 

SantaC

Member
Scullibundo said:
GAF never fails to impress me with the amount of hate it can generate.

yeah sure, because just because it is a NEW movie it must be loved and AAA no matter how bad it is. I hate logic of gaf sometimes.
 

Flynn

Member
SantaC said:
yeah sure, because just because it is a NEW movie it must be loved and AAA no matter how bad it is. I hate logic of gaf sometimes.

People can't possibly dislike the movie because it's, you know, bad. There must be some other mysterious source for the hatred. Like moneyhats or something.
 

Thriller

Member
I saw it yesterday night and it was just as i expected, an entertaining, fun, wink to the old indy movies.
All the small hints to marcus brody and sean connery and certain objects beinb revealed at
area51
was just awesome.
sure some things were over the top,
fridge (which i liked)
swordfights on the car
but there was just one thing i actually thought why did you do this spielberg and that can be summed in one word
tarzan
.
the
aliens
at the end were awesome, but at the close up the cgi was pretty clear.
with the
UFO
departing the cgi was very nice i thought.
Just go and see this movie with an open mind, if there was a krystal skull with the power that is has, indy would go after it.
It isnt more unrealistic than the devine power of god melting nazi faces.
Go see and anjoy the ride, my mom dad and I sure did
 

Mifune

Mehmber
Maybe it's just the way my defenses have crumbled after three wretched Star Wars prequels, but I just can't bring myself to hate this movie. Was it bad? Yeah it was. But Harrison Ford WAS Indy. And that is reason enough not to hate. Hell, he was hands down the best thing about the movie, and that is nothing short of a miracle.

The problem with the movie is that it was generic. Aside from the first 30 minutes, the movie had no discernible personality or heart. As much as people hate the fridge, that was a truly striking and memorable sequence. That interminable truck chase was actually boring. BORING. In an Indiana Jones movie. I guess that happens when you have an hour of people mindlessly chasing each other around. And around again. And oh look another chase scene. Even the score amounted to little more than a copy-and-paste of the others.

Easily the worst of all the Joneses. But I'll just shrug my shoulders and move on to the next train wreck.
 
I just saw it tonight, I have never been a hardcore fan of the series or anything, but I do really like the others, and I liked this one too. I went in almost completely spoiler free, (which is a rarity these days). And while the
Aliens
were a surprise to me, I thought it was cool. The movie was fun, I thought the fridge bit was hilarious, unrealistic sure, but for me it fit with the series. I didn't love the vine swinging bit though, it was kinda funny, but felt really out of place. I loved the references to the past movies, but really wish they had managed to get Connery back. Also wasn't there a rumor a while back about Jet Li or someone playing a grown up version of Short Round? Would have been funny.

All in all, I liked it, Harrison Ford's the man.
 
I just finished watching The Last Crusade for the first time in 10 or so years. Last night, I re-watched Temple of Doom for probably the first time in 12 years. I must say, I was completely surprised at how my opinion of those films have changed.

As a kid, Crusade was probably my favourite Jones movie and Doom was my least favourite -- heck, counting last night, I've only seen Doom twice. But now, Crusade is definitely at the bottom of the list as far as the original trilogy is concerned, and a few of my complains for Crystal Skull carry over to Crusade as well. I can't believe I actually was a bit bored during parts of The Last Crusade!

The first two Indiana Jones films just seemed much more rich. They had a greater sense of adventure, settings that oozed personality, and a lot of laughs ("Nice try, Lao Che!":lol).

My rankings:

Raiders >>> Doom >> Crusade >>>>>> . . . >>>> Crystal skull
I actually thought the first half was pretty strong. Okay maybe only the first act. I kind of loved the opening...Indiana Jones in the Atomic Age. How cool is that?

The less said about the rest of the movie the better.
I think a lot of people enjoyed or were neutral towards the first act. I know I was. It had some flaws, but I was willing to turn a blind eye to them. The refrigerator thing didn't bother me too much... I think perhaps showing it bounce through the desert was an error in judgement on the part of Spielberg, but it wasn't a dealbreaker by any means.
 
Flynn said:
People can't possibly dislike the movie because it's, you know, bad. There must be some other mysterious source for the hatred.
You're all double agents!
Black Deatha said:
Also wasn't there a rumor a while back about Jet Li or someone playing a grown up version of Short Round? Would have been funny.
Ha, I didn't hear that one. Short Round doesn't quiet seem to be linked to many movies lately, but he has done a little acting, gone to film school, and worked as a stunt choreographer, so I'd hope in the odd case they'd want to return to the character he'd be back.
 
my chart: Raiders-Crusade-Doom-CS

AniHawk said:
Man, I'd love to take GAF into 1984 so we could see the reaction to Temple of Doom.


you'd have a clone thread

I always liked TOD, but if I were at my current age in 1984 I'd point at one or two big flaws just like I'm doing now with this one...but overall, TOD is definitely a funnier movie
 
Flynn said:
In a fourth season episode "Roswell that Ends Well" they do the same stuck in an A-bomb test joke with Fry wandering his way into one of the fake towns.

He makes his escape in a jeep. Instead of doing the star shot with Indy and the mushroom cloud (an obvious throw to pulp magazine covers) they do a Spielberg gag. Fry looks at the mushroom crowd in the rear view mirror, which says "objects in mirror are closer then they appear."

Both scenes have the same, dark effect, though.
Wow, funny...

This Futurama episode was on Comedy Central last night.
 
Watched it yesterday.

Dissapointed, probably because I expected a lot more, is a decent movie, but no way near to the first three.

The general script lacks of something that makes the other movies so awesome, Indy appears diluted, he lost part of his awesome charm.

Shia character was less annoying that I have it would be, and is a pretty funny character, Harrison Ford is awesome as (almost) always and Cate Blanchett is a pretty good villain.

While some action scenes looks pretty good, others looks awful, I mean
Shia, developing suddenly Tarzan skills and crossing an entire jungle that way, was some Eragon, Highlander level of writing
and the
all that alien shit is gets even worst at the end
.

And, wtf with the CG and post production digital effects, sometimes they look like from a 3rd class production movie, specially the jungle scene looks awful.
 
Although it feels like I should hate it a lot, I don't and, in fact, really enjoyed it. I'd put it at about the same level as Temple of Doom and sharing a lot in common with Last Crusade. Also seemed a lot more 50s B-movie-like than I expected. Still, it's an Indy movie, warts 'n all.

My complaints:

Too many active characters in overly long stretches. Just felt too much like a road trip with some family that you know and some you don't. Makes for a sense of comfort that's not actually so comfortable. Nevermind not having enough time to flesh out newer characters or dig deeper into old ones.

John Hurt seemed underutilized, as far as his acting talents are concerned,
and his character superfluous.

Keeping the
quicksand scene was about as well-advised as keeping the boat chase scene in Crusade.
The important, though already well-telegraphed bit of info there was just weird timing and felt off-key.

What's with that
Tarzan bit where Mutt was able to somehow start at a disadvantage, both speed and time-wise, and actually catch up to vehicles speeding at 50+ MPH down a seemingly endless jungle corridor by swinging on vines? And the insta-greaser-Ewok-like monkey army following on with his moving jeep landing?

Too self-referential. Especially disappointing was the reuse of all those classic themes and seeming lack of new and really engaging musical material. I liked the creepy-ish Skull theme, though.

Mac's re-betrayal was too easy to spot...and the lack of a real hate-sponge for a villain was kinda annoying.
Spalko is certainly cool as hell, but just not dark enough.

The sense of plausibility, even for an Indy movie post-Raiders, in most action scenes was far too light. Because it seemed to happen with such frequency, there was an almost tiring and unwelcome sense of near-invulnerability and almost perfect convenience by the time it came to the end. Of course, we know Indy isn't gonna die, but we shouldn't necessarily feel like that on a very conscious level during action scenes.

Even though I never expected it to match Raiders, I was hoping to like it more than I did. Better or as good as Doom is good enough, I suppose. I really enjoyed it despite my disappointment.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Just got back.

I had fun, it was enjoyable. In the end though, I would place this film on the same level I place National Treasure. I liked National Treasure, but I kind of expected more from Indiana Jones.

Biggest surprise for me was Mutt, I really expected to hate the character. Not including that stupid
Tarzan vine swinging crap
, I thought he was a good addition.
His sword fight on the trucks was great.
Kate Blanchett was a great villain too, though I have to confess I couldn't even tell it was her that entire film.

Biggest disappointment.
The aliens
, I really wish they hadn't gone there.
 
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