Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull [use spoiler tags, please]

[Chernabog]

Jeepers! This thread is way too long for me to consume it all right now and extrapolate.

However --

I just got out of the movie and I will from this point on, point blank refuse to watch any other visual medium (film, video game, television show, anything) that has the name "George Lucas" attached to it.

This was, by far, the worst of the Indy movies.

I mean, I wasn't outright BORED by the picture (except at the beginning.... too much freaking exposition). But it was truly cringe-worthy (I'm pretty much in complete agreement with NA's assessment of what was totally awful in the movie so I won't reiterate). At the end, all I could think was, that's IT? Where was the plot? How could Indy figure out this ridiculous BS so quickly in a manner that makes the old Batman shows look intelligent in comparison? And why did they purposefully make every single set look like a stage play of Indiana Jones? I've never seen a movie before and thought "oh, there's the wall at the end of the soundstage that the backdrop is painted onto". What awful special effects. What awful lighting and camera work on Harrison Ford, who they keep showing in this bizarre soft focus like he was Lucille Ball in Auntie Mame.

Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but at least in the other films you felt that at least one or more of the characters was in danger (even if Indy would make it through alright). In Temple of Doom (which I did enjoy greatly) there was that implausible raft sequence, sure. But not EVERY SINGLE STUNT IN THE ENTIRE FILM was like -- oh if that happened, they'd all die. Crystal Skull crossed a line there in every single action sequence to a point where every single good character was completely and totally indestructible. "Oh give me a freaking break!" can be a reaction to a few stunts, of course, but not every one, before the movie goes into complete suckage.

Even the trailers before the movie -- that new CGI Star Wars thing looks awful. People (including me) booed and groaned audibly in the theatre. So I refuse. I cannot give Lucas the Hutt any more of my money, not ever again. He's made me feel horrible about one of my all-time favorite series. He makes movies that actually diminish the quality of far superior films in the same series. For the second time.

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by Chernabog

He makes movies that actually diminish the quality of far superior films in the same series. For the second time.

See, I just don't get how that's possible. Bad Indy films simply point out what's great about great Indy films (of which there is one). I don't see how making a lousy film does anything but highlight the missing quality that was once (and only once) there.



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By way, the purpose of the Mac character was that a constantly double-crossing traitor pal can have Indy's reversals of fortune turn on a dime, without any story effort whatsoever. It's lazy, but it has a purpose.


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Oh, I've neglected to mention my favorite bit. Believe it or not, it's a sound effect. At the start of the Peruvian grave-robbing scene, they reprise the distinctive "Yaquoia" bird sound from the Peru beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Not only is it a wonderfully distinctive sound that is a great Easter Egg .... it was a very significant sound for Steven Spielberg. Though he trusted Ben Burtt to do the sound work on Raiders due to his Star Wars brilliance, Spielberg was only convinced his film was in fantastic sonic hands once he heard the bird sound that transformed his Hawaii footage to an evocative South American jungle.