Indiana Jones and the KotCS: Impressions

Reginald

Reginald

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Yeah, we have a trailer thread about 10 threads down from here, but this is Indy-****ing-ana-****ing-Jones bitches!

Saw the Odeon staff premi?re very early this morning (yawnlingly so) so I'm one of the first in the country to see it! Claims to fame over, this film is awesome! It's fun, funny and funtastic all rolled into one. The plot is a little hodge-podge with all the explanation scenes wedged between huge set-pieces where-by you're so out of breath that you forget they're explaining things, but I got the general gist.

The whole sci-fi element seems a little out-of-place at first until you remember that in previous IJ films, people's faces melted. Still, the last 20 minutes seemed a little over the top but I can't really say any more without spoiling it for y'all so you'll see what I mean.

Overall, probably the best of the four proper Indiana Jones films and no doubt best of the 26 in the entire saga. I would give this film 9/10. :dork:

Now I've actually got to go to work tomorrow and serve all you bastards tickets to the damn thing.
 
Great film, had me grinning like a prat the whole time, especially when the music kicked in when we first see him.

Typically Indy comedy in it, and its stayed true to its roots. Classic Indy stuff, hell even the punch sound effects have been carried over. All the little things you associate with Indy have been carried over as well, so it FEELS like an Indy film, instead of a new take on a classic saga.

The last 20-30mins, as said by Reginald, are too over the top. And the effects in some place are, francly, abismal compared to what we know is capable in films these days, unless it was deliberate to make it feel like another Indy film. I dunno, if thats the case its perfect, if not then theyve done a fairly crap job on the CG elements. The blue-screening looks weird and jerky in some places.

However, you just dont care 2 minutes later when something awesome or funny happens.

Fantastic film, so worth the wait. He's back baby!
 
I'll repost my review from the reviews thread here for my sentiments. As you can see, I didn't quite get that glowing feeling from it. It may look like nit-picking, but with almost 20 years between films, I just feel they really had the time to put into creating a truly amazing Indiana Jones movie and they didn't.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - I really wanted to love it, but only ended up liking it/10

It must be said: Goddamn you, George Lucas.

I don't know what movie the people posting earlier, saw, but it was not the same film I saw. Perhaps I'm a bit jaded. Maybe the hype and hope got to me too much. Whatever it may be, this is the worst of the Indiana Jones films. It is not a horrible movie; in fact, it's pretty good with lots of fun and action. Before going any further, I will say that I definitely reccommend seeing the movie in theaters, as it was meant to be seen. It is an experience, just not quite the experience I was hoping for.

The very first shot irks me and sets up the main problem I have with the movie, which is some very poor CG amidst very good CG and practical effects. I still don't understand why many of these things couldn't have been done practically and then given a slight sheen of CG if necessary. There are several very important sequences ruined because of the use of CG that either should have been worked on more or scrapped for more traditional effects work.

The script was adequate at best. There are certainly some good lines and some great exchanges, but it felt more like it was trying to be an Indiana Jones film rather than actually being one. Marion and Indy's exchanges were fairly worth it, though.

The acting was spotty. Harrison Ford did a good job gettin back into the character, albeit a bit changed by time. Shia was actually very good for a lot of the film, minus one part that just felt completely out of character and awkward. Ray Winstone was given barely anything to work with, so it's hard to fault him. John Hurt's performance was unfortunate and annoying. They tried to play it for drama and laughs and neither worked for me. Karen Allen was just fine as Marion, keeping a bit of the spunk she used to have. Cate Blanchett was good up until the end, though that's no fault of hers considering how the ending was done.

The story felt rushed, but halting. There was barely any rhyme or reason for anything and a lot of the actions of various characters were extremely suspect, including Indiana himself. He helped out very willingly with a lot of things I don't feel he would have. Maybe I read his actions wrong, but it still came off as weird and out of place. Like the other Indiana Jones movie, the central story is rather fantastical and you'll either go along with it or you'll be groaning at it. Especially at the end. The end was pretty much what I expected as I saw things going along, but it still didn't make it that good and it's very obvious they could have done a lot more with the material they had. It felt lazy. A lot of the film felt like that.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a good movie I feel could have been great if more time, effort, and thought had been put into it. There are some absolutely awesome sequences, which I won't ruin, showing that there were some good ideas that just needed to be developed more. I think with some editing tis film could be a lot better. It almost feels like George Lucas was sitting around on set crying to get his way on certain things and then sitting there in the editing room bawling if Steven Spielberg even thought about cutting his ideas. It's not The Phantom Menace of the Indiana Jones series, but it still leaves some of that same sour taste in your mouth, ruining the sweet goodness of the rest.
 
I agree with pretty much everything that has been said so far. Saw the midnight premiere last night and liked it and the more time I have been thinking about it the more I have come to love it. It is probably the closest I will ever get to Fate of Atlantis in movie form. Can't wait for this on Blu-ray. It feels like a true Indiana Jones movie, probably most like the Last Crusade for me. Lots of action, comedy, relationship stuff. Oh and THANK GOD Indy...
took the hat away from Shia at the last second!! :bounce:
 
I didn't like it. The old Jones' were cheesy but in a charming way. It felt like they weren't even trying with dialogue and plot this time.

Shia swinging on vines = WTF
Overly preposterous stunts = wtf...
Dialoge = wtf...
Aliens = WTF
Plot in general = wtf...

The movie had its moments, but overall it felt like a waste of $7.
 
Have to agree, some moments were just 'wtf', but at the same time it HAS to be a bit OTT to be an Indy film. They just went a bit too far, too much 'what do the audiences overall want to see in TODAY's industry' thought.

If they kept to the old Indy films a bit more itd be that bit better. Its a great film, but it couldve been more.
 
My only gripe is that it seemed like Harrison really wasn't fully into his role of Indy.
He didn't show any real inflection in his voice at all, but then again... he is pretty old now, so he probably had to have his character fit his age too.
Although, some of his stunts looked incredibly fake too.(notably in the beginning when he landed on the rocket car. it looked like straight CGI... he sort of slowed down mid fall.)
 
I disagree with most of you and agree fully with the OP. Please refrain from any spoiler tags because chances are, you will spoil yourself because you can't help pushing the spoil button. :D There were many amazing scenes and I guess Ennui doesn't have to
If Shia ****s this up I will personally shit in his mouth.
Click to expand...
thankfully. :D I have never wanted to see a film exactly right after I have seen it. I just hope that a bootleg pops-up soon so I can watch it again. My main complaint if there is any is the CGI. The first scene is a prairie dog popping out of his hole but it's CGI. Lucas Arts cannot apply CGI to animals because when they do, it shows and it shows in the worst ways. Anybody who watched the film remembers how Shia legs looked like in that one scene. When they apply it to a large object, such as the world itself or a landscape, it's amazing. Some of the best scenes are of Harrison Ford just watching an event in the distance. Another complaint is the lack of booby traps. There was one scene in which everybody was like "oh that's a booby trap!".......but.....it wasn't. In fact there wasn't a single booby trap in the film. :sleep: My dad didn't like it because he said that Harrison Ford sounded like he was talking slow or something. Also he says that Spielberg has to push his religion or conspiracy theories onto people. In fact, the main theme of the movie is why my dad didn't like it. I mean other than that the movie is just nothing short of amazing. The sounds are all top notch just go out there and don't listen to the critics. So please everybody, just try to sound vague, don't hint at things, and don't use those spoiler tags. *Oh and the Soviets sound like Soviets. Add another +1
 
I loved it. It changed my opinion of Shia completely.

Full impressions when I'm not sleepy. 8.5/10.

Also, just to be sure... DO NOT POST SPOILERS OUTSIDE OF SPOILER TAGS since I imagine there are some people reading the thread who haven't had the chance to see it yet.
 
Spielberg said it was the last and they did it for the fans. At the end it felt like completion as well. It wasn't Indiana Jones dead it was just "they lived happily ever after as a family". Like Indiana Jones took his last adventure and ironically became what he taught at school. Creating a 5th film would be like the new Mummy film.
 
I think it would've been better had it been released maybe say, 15 years ago when Harrison was a bit younger.
It was still fantastic and very fun, but I just don't feel that he put 100% into his performance.

It was probably the most fun I've had at the movies all year.
 
hool10 said:
Spielberg said it was the last and they did it for the fans. At the end it felt like completion as well. It wasn't Indiana Jones dead it was just "they lived happily ever after as a family". Like Indiana Jones took his last adventure and ironically became what he taught at school. Creating a 5th film would be like the new Mummy film.
Click to expand...

He said if the fans like this, he will do another.
 
so someone tell me what happens in the last 20-30 min that is so over the top?
 
VictimOfScience said:
Man, if you know something I don't about this I am probably going to be quite perturbed. :(
Click to expand...

There have been murmurings that if this film gets good reviews and good box office return (which it looks likely to), they will do a fifth film with Mutt taking a more starring role and Indy playing a role similar to Sean Connery's in TLC.

xlucidx said:
I think it would've been better had it been released maybe say, 15 years ago when Harrison was a bit younger.
It was still fantastic and very fun, but I just don't feel that he put 100% into his performance.

It was probably the most fun I've had at the movies all year.
Click to expand...

The film was originally planned to be made shortly after Last Crusade but Lucas, Spielberg and Ford all couldn't decide on the plot and whether the Crystal Skull was a good idea. It took so long that, with no animosity, all three went their separate ways to do other things. Then they came back together post Revenge of the Sith and started again.
 
zombieturtle01 said:
so someone tell me what happens in the last 20-30 min that is so over the top?
Click to expand...
Go watch the movie to find out. If we put it in spoiler tag, you would spoil a hefty part of the movie. We should just start using spoiler tags on like Tuesday. ;)
 
Reginald said:
There have been murmurings that if this film gets good reviews and good box office return (which it looks likely to), they will do a fifth film with Mutt taking a more starring role and Indy playing a role similar to Sean Connery's in TLC.
Click to expand...
Man, I REALLY hope they do not do this. I imagine fans would NOT like it very much at all. Even if you like Shia as an actor (which I DON'T), trying to continue the franchise with another actor is just plain pathetic. It is not like James Bond where you can successfully have different Bonds with great results. Harrison Ford IS Indiana Jones and no one else will ever be able to fill his shoes. Same goes for Conan without Ahnold. Sad attempts to cash-in if they let things continue with others.
 
I liked it...It was an Indiana Jones movie....Hokie as hell in spots, but since I liked the others, this was no exception. Some little quirks here and there, but it was entertaining....I'm thinking about going to see it again....
 
I'm definitely seeing it again, probably in the next few days.
 
zombieturtle01 said:
so someone tell me what happens in the last 20-30 min that is so over the top?
Click to expand...

I thought it was quite excellent, until the space saucer rose from underneath the ancient aztec city of El Dorado to return the thirteen aliens to their dimension.
 
Most cheesy part of the whole movie, took off at least .5 from the score I gave it was

Shia swinging through the trees with the damn monkeys, what the ****
 
I thought that it stayed true to its origins and felt it was better than Temple of Doom and definately on par with Raiders of the Lost Ark, but no where near the awsomness of the Last Crusade. I felt action was exellent to experiance and the humour was great but

I thought the whole alien concepts of the objective REALLY did not fit Indy's role at all

I will give this a 9/10, one of the best films of the year.
 
Agreed with Ennui. Wtf was that.

Overall though, immense. Well...

Spoilers ahoy.

It dragged somewhat for the first 30/40 minutes, where everything, to me, just didn't have the WHOA AWESOME edge no matter how much it tried. It was fun stuff but the trademark music was used way too early - I was kind of hoping it'd be saved for something really awesome but hey ho, still cool.

As soon as they really set out to the cemetary and the jungle is when things started to get awesome. Everything there until the last 10 minutes was proper Indy stuff, just real good gritty action and comedy. The last 10 minutes... well, it was interesting to say the least. Christ though, anyone reminded of The Mummy with that Mac character, as in the cowardly backstabber who goes for the treasure at every opputunity and was obviously going to ****ing die instead of getting out whilst he could? The room of priceless artifacts even looked the same!

No trademark gorey death, though? You know the ones I mean, where Indy tackles the right hand man with satisfying consequences? I mean, there was the Russian officer grunt who was taken away by the red ants but no Lost Ark fist fight in front of a airplane propellor, or Temple of Doom fight on the steamroller, Last Crusade unfortunate German soldier squished by a tank? As soon as I saw that great forest cutting machine I had my hopes up for a fight but eh, no such luck. Ah well.

I quite liked Shia, too. I dunno, he just seemed to suit it quite well. Maybe it was the costume. Greasers are ****ing cool.

Overall though, it was great. 8.8/10.
 
I was wrong in my assumption in the other thread - the visual effects were atrocious. The 3D was technically top notch (actually still kind of shitty), but holy hell the compositing was disgusting. ILM screwed up big time with this.
 
0.0036 / 10

So first he manages to dodge 30 men with machine guns for 10 minutes and it's quite obvious the actors are just not shooting their weapons when they could, which makes it so unrealistic. Then he survives an atomic bomb blast with a refrigerator? Aside from the fact that there's an astronomical amount of heat and force associated with that explosion, he fell from the sky and rolled to a stop and wasn't even bruised. Plus the door didn't even open?

There was too many characters surrounding indie, they changed locations too often, why was the guard carrying his whip at the beginning? Why is gunpowder magnetic? Why did the gunpowder 'float' around? Why is the magnetism selective and random? Why did 'shy le-buff' swing from the ropes in the jungle? HOW did he swing from the ropes? When you get to the end of the swing....you aren't moving, so when you grab the next vine...which is hanging vertically, then you don't go anywhere...

I mean there's like a million things that were so inexcusably wrong with this movie I can't even pretend to forgive it. This is by the far the single worst movie I have seen in a very long time. I laughed more and had a better time making fun of this movie with friends after I saw it than I did watching it.

I really think this movie could have been done a hundred times better, by just reworking a lot of the action scenes. There's so many details that could have been fixed with better writing. Why again, did they have a vehicle clearing trees in the jungle, when they were able to drive for 15 minutes fast and straight without it?
 
xcellerate said:
0.0036 / 10

So first he manages to dodge 30 men with machine guns for 10 minutes and it's quite obvious the actors are just not shooting their weapons when they could, which makes it so unrealistic. Then he survives an atomic bomb blast with a refrigerator? Aside from the fact that there's an astronomical amount of heat and force associated with that explosion, he fell from the sky and rolled to a stop and wasn't even bruised. Plus the door didn't even open?

There was too many characters surrounding indie, they changed locations too often, why was the guard carrying his whip at the beginning? Why is gunpowder magnetic? Why did the gunpowder 'float' around? Why is the magnetism selective and random? Why did 'shy le-buff' swing from the ropes in the jungle? HOW did he swing from the ropes? When you get to the end of the swing....you aren't moving, so when you grab the next vine...which is hanging vertically, then you don't go anywhere...

I mean there's like a million things that were so inexcusably wrong with this movie I can't even pretend to forgive it. This is by the far the single worst movie I have seen in a very long time. I laughed more and had a better time making fun of this movie with friends after I saw it than I did watching it.

I really think this movie could have been done a hundred times better, by just reworking a lot of the action scenes. There's so many details that could have been fixed with better writing. Why again, did they have a vehicle clearing trees in the jungle, when they were able to drive for 15 minutes fast and straight without it?
Click to expand...

Jesus Christ it's frickin' Indiana Jones. Of course it'll be completely unrealistic just to show how awesome Indy is and include completely unrealistic and illogical but entertaining adventure scenes. Have you even seen the previous movies? Sure it's not as good as Raiders or the Last Crusade, but still it's a very fun movie.
 
xcellerate said:
0.0036 / 10

So first he manages to dodge 30 men with machine guns for 10 minutes and it's quite obvious the actors are just not shooting their weapons when they could, which makes it so unrealistic. Then he survives an atomic bomb blast with a refrigerator? Aside from the fact that there's an astronomical amount of heat and force associated with that explosion, he fell from the sky and rolled to a stop and wasn't even bruised. Plus the door didn't even open?

There was too many characters surrounding indie, they changed locations too often, why was the guard carrying his whip at the beginning? Why is gunpowder magnetic? Why did the gunpowder 'float' around? Why is the magnetism selective and random? Why did 'shy le-buff' swing from the ropes in the jungle? HOW did he swing from the ropes? When you get to the end of the swing....you aren't moving, so when you grab the next vine...which is hanging vertically, then you don't go anywhere...

I mean there's like a million things that were so inexcusably wrong with this movie I can't even pretend to forgive it. This is by the far the single worst movie I have seen in a very long time. I laughed more and had a better time making fun of this movie with friends after I saw it than I did watching it.

I really think this movie could have been done a hundred times better, by just reworking a lot of the action scenes. There's so many details that could have been fixed with better writing. Why again, did they have a vehicle clearing trees in the jungle, when they were able to drive for 15 minutes fast and straight without it?
Click to expand...

All valid concerns, now go watch any of the other Indiana Jones movies and tell me they're more realistic / believable, because they aren't.
 
xcellerate said:
0.0036 / 10

So first he manages to dodge 30 men with machine guns for 10 minutes and it's quite obvious the actors are just not shooting their weapons when they could, which makes it so unrealistic. Then he survives an atomic bomb blast with a refrigerator? Aside from the fact that there's an astronomical amount of heat and force associated with that explosion, he fell from the sky and rolled to a stop and wasn't even bruised. Plus the door didn't even open?

There was too many characters surrounding indie, they changed locations too often, why was the guard carrying his whip at the beginning? Why is gunpowder magnetic? Why did the gunpowder 'float' around? Why is the magnetism selective and random? Why did 'shy le-buff' swing from the ropes in the jungle? HOW did he swing from the ropes? When you get to the end of the swing....you aren't moving, so when you grab the next vine...which is hanging vertically, then you don't go anywhere...

I mean there's like a million things that were so inexcusably wrong with this movie I can't even pretend to forgive it. This is by the far the single worst movie I have seen in a very long time. I laughed more and had a better time making fun of this movie with friends after I saw it than I did watching it.

I really think this movie could have been done a hundred times better, by just reworking a lot of the action scenes. There's so many details that could have been fixed with better writing. Why again, did they have a vehicle clearing trees in the jungle, when they were able to drive for 15 minutes fast and straight without it?
Click to expand...

In Raiders at the start when he grabbed the artifact he ran across the floor and dodged about a million poison darts firing from the walls only before outrunning a stapeeding boulder.

In Temple of Doom there is a guy who can pull someones heart out just by hovering his hand over the victims chest not to mention when they escape via the tramline they somehow manage to jump a huge gap in rail without any sort of ramp and without any sort of speed.

In the Last Crusade he went off a cliff on a tank and somehow managed to grab onto the side only for his hat to somehow fly up from the bottom of the cliff to land in front of him when he got back up again.

They are just a few examples, so you see that its downright idiotic to base the majority of the films flaws on its realism level rofl.
 
Indiana Jones KOTCS 6/10

Enjoyable fun don't get me wrong BUT so many problems that detracted the experience for me even if they are OTT they are so OTT even by indy standards :O spoilers ahead
Cate Blanchett being a psychic russian general who uses her psychic powers once and they don't work.

A magnetised box that is inconsistent in what is magnetised (why don't the soldier's guns get stuck to the box. Admitedly they move abit but if metal from metres away is attracted then the guns should stick to the box not just move).

The fridge scene even for Indy is OTT.

The ***** who are FBI agents (he was kidnapped jeese) (speaking of which)

Again by Indy standards he is kidnapped way too much such as the sandpit scene they escape and 5 mins later are kidnappped again

Aliens? Aliens?! Even for Indy this is way too stupid!

The skull is so much of mcguffin. Why is it able to cause the ants to run away? When anything can't be figured out the answer is always the skull or ask the crazy man.

Every character seems to know everything considering the characters always explore places that haven't been discovered before like cate blanchett talking about the alien hive mind and how they are one being split apart. How the **** would you know?

Lastly because I'm getting bored of ranting i find it kinda disappointing when some of the best parts are references to the other films but why did they feel the need to kill off marcus and his dad?
 
The fridge scene and the bit where LaDouche is swinging through the jungle is really silly, even by Indiana Jones standards.
 
redruM said:
Jesus Christ it's frickin' Indiana Jones. Of course it'll be completely unrealistic just to show how awesome Indy is and include completely unrealistic and illogical but entertaining adventure scenes. Have you even seen the previous movies? Sure it's not as good as Raiders or the Last Crusade, but still it's a very fun movie.
Click to expand...

yea I have and they didn't have the B.S. 'stunts' that this movie had. The only stunt that was remotely indiana ones was at the beginning when he tried to 'whip' himself into the back of that moving truck, then missed, and swung back into another truck.

Shift said:
In Raiders at the start when he grabbed the artifact he ran across the floor and dodged about a million poison darts firing from the walls only before outrunning a stapeeding boulder.
Click to expand...

darts are a lot slower and less accurate than bullets. The boulder isn't so unbelievable.

Shift said:
In Temple of Doom there is a guy who can pull someones heart out just by hovering his hand over the victims chest not to mention when they escape via the tramline they somehow manage to jump a huge gap in rail without any sort of ramp and without any sort of speed.
Click to expand...

He didn't hover his hand over it, he thrust his hand into the guys chest. That one scene on the tramline was a little ridiculous, but again I can overlook it because it was something small and unimportant.

Shift said:
In the Last Crusade he went off a cliff on a tank and somehow managed to grab onto the side only for his hat to somehow fly up from the bottom of the cliff to land in front of him when he got back up again.
Click to expand...

Jumping out of the tank and grabbing onto a wall is believable. The hat thing, who cares...it's a hat.


Nothing the other movies had compares to shy le-buff getting stuck on a vine...which magically rises up, and then he manages to swing through the trees like tarzan with a group of monkeys who have apparently bonded with him along his trip. Then his recently and quickly aquired tarzan abilities allow him to land in a moving truck, and all the monkeys attach the bad guys. But how did they know they were bad? WHY did he have to survive a nuke explosion?! Why couldn't he have just had a little action scene with the guys in the car and stolen their car and driven back to the base????


The Monkey said:
Use spoiler tags, you tit!

Thanks for ruining the movie for me.
Click to expand...

I didn't use spoiler tags because you didn't miss anything. During the movie, nobody laughed or gasped, at the end nobody clapped, and while walking out everybody was talking about all the crap they hated. One guy even said, "if I hadn't ridden with you guys I would have left a long time ago."

I mean, in all honestly if the writer had brought me this script....I would have fired him.
 
There was this fat mexican girl in front of me who I felt represented the target demographic. She would sort of snort and make these loud laughing sounds like "Buh! AH!" And say random words while stuffing her face like 'lollipop'. Once in a while she'd start bubbling spit out of her mouth, making like a wet farting noise. There was clapping at the end.
 
This film was pretty crap. I think anyone who defends it either fits the aforementioned demographic or just is too ashamed to think their classic little series took such a shit turn.
 
Meh I don't care what anybody says but don't put me down because I liked it. The monkey scene was lame but that was for the jokes. I mean it's like Indy is Chuck Norris or something surviving a nuke blast. Also he couldn't take a car out of that nuke zone because the cars didn't have any gas in them. You are not supposed to make the movie serious by any means. Watching it with your family or friends on this fine Memorial Day weekend is what you should do and not picking the movie apart. *Ah I liked the waterfall scene too. I wasn't laughing my head off but it put a big smile on my face. Which the movie should due because movies are supposed to take you away from the real world. **Also the entire car chase scene took place on the Death Highway too FYI.
 
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