[Movie] Indiana Jones 4 - May 22, 2008

Just came back from seeing it, I was always of the opinion that a new Indiana Jones film was unnecessary and that's how I came out of the film. Alot of it felt forced, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I'll get talking about specific bits when everyone else sees it.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by NovaX

Just came back from seeing it, I was always of the opinion that a new Indiana Jones film was unnecessary and that's how I came out of the film. Alot of it felt forced, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I'll get talking about specific bits when everyone else sees it.

Would you say it's worth the wait? I am so excited to check it out!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by RainMan

Would you say it's worth the wait? I am so excited to check it out!

It depends on how much you have amped it up in your head in what to expect. I definitely enjoyed it, but I couldn't have said I would have been disappointed if it hadn't seen the light of day, although I am happy at how they handled it.

Additional Spam:
Also I might add that Shia LeBeouf didn't suck. Probably the first time I have enjoyed a role he has played.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I have to say I didn't notice one instance of CG the entire movie.

...

Who'm I kiddin' =[

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Just came back from watching it. It was decent of a film. The ending is what really pissed me off. Loved how they portrait the old films cameos in this one. Was a little slow but still good. "B-/C+" Average film. All Indiana Jones Fans should go see it but don't expect another Raider of the Last Ark.

FELIPE NO

First Indiana Jones movie I have ever seen, and it was alright. The ending pretty much makes you think they're not gonna do a 5th one. I'd recommend it to the Indy fans but if you're like me and before today have never seen an Indiana Jones movie, you might want to think about it a little.

Honestly, I was expecting a lot of people to dress up but I only saw one Indy, one person wearing an Indy hat, and one person dressed up like some soldier.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

What? That's tragic. I do know that there are people who haven't seen the Indiana Jones trilogy and I know of one that I'm going to do a marathon with soon before going to see number four. You really ought to see the first three before seeing this movie.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

So, I've just seen it, and I must admit I was thoroughly entertained throughout the movie. Well, except for a few scenes.
I mean

Spoiler:

how the hell do you manage to spoil the AWESOME jungle scene, with swordfighting, with

Spoiler:

Shia doing his best Tarzan imitation and FUCKING SWINGING LIKE A MONKEY!?

And I lolled at the snake scene. Y'all know what I talk about

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Spoiler:

At least they had the decency to kill off James Bond's wife at the very end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

All in all a decent solid good movie. Some things were over the top like

Spoiler:

the scene with the fridge and the scene with the tree and the vehicle that Marion used to get them to the river

but every Indiana Jones has had some over the top scenes. I enjoyed it and I'm gonna see it again

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Amphibious vehicles are real-life things, so that's not exactly over-the-top.

Saw it Thursday afternoon. Honestly? What it was missing was Sallah punching some fucking Soviets through a newspaper. Goddamn you, Spielberg.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Spoiler:

I think he may be referring to the process of going over, easing down on the tree branch, and plopping softly in the water. It would be one thing if they did it without the precursor dialog, but they made it seem like she planned it to work EXACTLY like that.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Spoiler:

Oh, I see, it's a joined thought. The previous "and the" led into a different thought entirely, so I thought he was making the tree and car things separate points.

Still, no Sallah.

Most amazing jew boots

Well as a fan of the old films, i think it was a decent movie. Definitely watch it if you are a fan. The CG didn't bother me at all. Even though I would consider it my least favorite Indy movie, I definitely enjoyed it.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Just got back from it. I thought it was pretty good, though still doesn't beat my favorite: Last Crusade. Some rantings:

Spoiler:

I like how they opened with the classic Paramount logo. Heh, Roswell as warehouse's location for the Ark (nice nod by showing the ark itself too), I knew it was the same place ever since it was shown in the first teaser trailer. Haha, even though Denholm Elliott couldn't be in movie in person (RIP), he did make many appearances as different things (monument, portrait, etc). I don't really like how they just wrote off Henry Jones Sr. just like that. I know Connery didn't want to come out of retirement to film, but his unexplained death kinda contradicts the events of the Last Crusade where he and Indy drank from the Holy Grail. I thought that granted them eternal youth (life).

The take on crystal skull's being from the martians was pretty neat. Heh, I guess you can't really do a movie with Roswell (well part of it anyway) and set in the 1950's without something on aliens. Though at the same time, showing that saucer kinda came off a little corny to me.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Saw the film this evening. UGH. Fucking GOOD by any other standards. For an Indiana Jones film? FUCKING AWFUL. More on this later.

Good but not great...

There's nowhere I can't reach.

That's it. I've ignored this thread long enough.

Yes, this review will contain some spoilers, and I'm not going to be arsed to go through and find them all. So read at your own risk.





Great, great flick (Note: Flick, not film. This is popcorn movie all the way). WAY better than Audi Man. Let's get that shit out of the way right off the top.

I've heard a lot of people bitch about how this wasn't up to the Indiana Jones standard. You're right, this wasn't Raiders II. Nor should it have been. It's over. Get a new show.

The look of the show was a deliberate attempt to make it look like overexposed stock, and it worked. It wasn't distracting, it wasn't horrible, it just wasn't necessary. I'd rather they made it look more dirty, but whatever. This is clearly how Lucas wants his movies to look now. Shiny. Not my cup of tea, but not really something I can rip into the guy over. It's like getting pissed at Sin City for looking like it was green screened.

The CG was heftier than I would have liked, but again, it didn't detract from the characters or the chemistry they had. Which was great. I'm also going to quote Sprout's review here for a second: "It's a cruel irony that a movie about an archeologist is marred by its CG indulgences."

Sprout, buddy, I love you... but shut the fuck up. A cruel irony? So... it's a movie about an archaeologist is it? Because this is what real archaeologists do? So... should the whole thing have been drawn on papyrus and flipped in front of a camera really fast? Would that have been more apt?

He is right about his next point, though. There isn't a ton of suspense in this picture, but I'm sorry... did you think the giant boulder was going to run him over in Raiders? Because I sure the fuck didn't. Of course Indy survives all of it. He's Indiana Fucking Jones. He is a super hero. That's the bloody point. It's a 30's serial picture. Indiana Jones isn't an archaeologist or a professor, that's his alter-ego. He's a fucking Super Man. You're completely forgetting the series if you think for a second we're going to see weakness in Indy beyond getting punched and knocked down a few times. This isn't the Bucket List, it's INDIANA JONES. He could be 90, he'd still fuck a guy up. That's the point. That's the basis they work from. It's not based on realism, it's based on comic pulp.

The final thing a lot of people have an issue with is the denouement. I'm sorry. Was it more believable when it was the Ark of the Covenant? Or Shiva's Temple? Because that was pretty random/crazy paranormal bullshit. The only part of the end that didn't feel EXACTLY like an Indiana Jones movie was the very/very end. It felt more like a bookend than a part of the flick. Other than that, we hit the main point of why this movie was great for what it was:

It got it. It felt like an Indiana Jones movie. He was a super hero, he put on the hat, he went to an exotic location on a plane while a red line showed us on the map what exotic location he was going to. He used the whip, he punched the enemies of America, he was charming. It felt like it had way more place in the series than Temple of Doom.

A lot of people have been getting all uppity because it didn't go into serious character development. But none of the movies did. I'll say it one more time: 30's FUCKING SERIALS. There was only one point in this movie where it really fell apart, and that was Shia playing Tarzan. Completely stupid, unnecessary, and all I could think of was King Kong while it was happening. It was the only time the CG was really distracting.

It had everything you want in an Indiana Jones movie. Indy kicking ass, a strong female heroine, some russkies/nazis to beat up on, a bunch of throw backs to the original movie... it was all in there. The music was great, the locations were wonderful... it had all the great Indy tropes of cheesy sci-fi pulp. Nazca lines, crazy tribal warriors, nazi/russian obsession with the occult, Crystal Skull myths, references to Milton... this movie did it exactly right in terms of setting the mood for an Indiana Jones movie.

It's a terrible screen play, but it was supposed to be a terrible screen play. It's Indiana Jones. They weren't going to give us the joy that is Raiders of the Lost Ark again.

Was it as good as Raiders? No. Was it a damned good flick that has every right to be included in the canon? Fucking rights it does. Anyone who says this doesn't feel like an Indiana Jones movie has never seen an Indiana Jones movie. Best super hero flick of the Summer.

And I add something written by some friend of LeHah's.

Originally Posted by Some friend of LeHah's

Self respect demands that you defriend these people. Never speak to
them again. They are a cancer. What they spread is the kind of crap
that eats away at the soul and makes a point of preventing you from
ever enjoying anything again. I am absolutely serious.

If they released Last Crusade today, that part of the internet would
be furious about how it wasn't as serious and dark as Temple of Doom
and how awful it was that it used characters from the original movie
instead of a new supporting cast. And here's the thing: the internet
would be *right* on every single critical point except the one that
actually matters - that Last Crusade was a great movie and a heck of a
lot of fun to go see.

Here's what the stupids on the internet don't get: academic
criticism is a *game*, not a science. Here is how the game works: in
any single situation ever it is possible to use your tiny human brain
to break apart any piece of art. Anyone can come up with pretty words
to explain why every movie or book or painting in the universe has
some terrible flaw. And it will sound especially convincing to idiots.

It's something English majors and people who glue dinosaurs back
together do to pass the time without taking even slightly seriously
that somehow got picked up by worst scum imaginable. That crap is what
happens when your little brother finds your Magic cards - he thinks
it's so cool that his vast intellectual superior has fun with this and
so he makes up his own rules, tears up the cards in frustration and
drools all over the place. In this case, I'm absolutely sure that I'm
not speaking figuratively.

Here's the bottom line: Crystal Skull was a good time. It makes all
the mistakes we imagined it would... it manages to make some of them
work in ways we never expected and falls flat on others. It also does
a lot of other *entertaining* (oh my!) things that I hadn't counted
on. I left the theater happy and I am much, much smarter than anyone
on your friends list.

CONCEPTUAL SPOILERS FOLLOW:

The amazing thing about Crystal Skull is that it's just another
Indiana Jones movie. It's abjectly not the brooding twilight farewell
movie we all assumed it would be. Spielberg/Lucas/whoever made this
movie (hurrr - nobody actually cares) managed to make a movie that
pretends we've been watching Indiana Jones movies for the past 19
years and that this is another one of them. The movie actually
directly apologizes for the fact that this didn't really happen at one
point. It's very cool.

It goes through hoop after hoop after hoop to create this illusion.
When Spielberg says it's just another movie, he's not trying to
deflect criticism -- he's directly stating the point of the film. I
could go on and on about what it does well and what it screws up (it
does many things well and screws up many others)... but whats the
point. Go have a good time at the movies

Allow me to be succinct for all you putzes who are going to be tl;dr, and I WILL spoiler this bit.

Spoiler:

Aliens are no more fucking ridiculous than the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Fucking Grail. Crazy ghost angels that melt faces are just as fucking strange as inter-dimensional beings. The only mistake they make is in making Ox EXPLAIN exactly what they are.

The swinging in the trees with monkeys is fucking stupid, yes.

Of COURSE fucking Indiana Jones acts like a super hero. He IS a goddamn super hero. Do people need to wear tights for you prats to understand that movie genre when you see it?

This movie felt EXACTLY like an Indy flick. It did it's job. It felt like it could have been Indiana Jones 12. It was great for that. And you want to know why we can know that? Because film historians and critics who reviewed the original trilogy agree on it. You know who doesn't? Kids on the internet.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Hantei

Spoiler:

...his unexplained death kinda contradicts the events of the Last Crusade where he and Indy drank from the Holy Grail. I thought that granted them eternal youth (life).

I believe you had to keep drinking from it for eternal life.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Hantei

Spoiler:

his unexplained death kinda contradicts the events of the Last Crusade where he and Indy drank from the Holy Grail. I thought that granted them eternal youth (life).

I think all of that was "voided" after Elsa crossed the seal with the Grail. Also, I think Indy would've had to take the old Knight's place in order to truly remain immortal. That's how I've always understood it, at least...

Saw this a few days ago... I wish they hadn't included as much CGI - especially for so many of the backdrops - but overall I'd say this was the third best Indy film, after Raiders and Last Crusade. Definitely better than Temple of Doom. Then again, it doesn't take much to be better than ToD... heh.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Spoiler:

It would have been better had they not acknowledged his father at all. Not to disrespect the character, but Marion's only nodded at a single time in passion after Raiders, Short Round disappears as a whole, etc. This is the type of movie where you don't have to acknowledge the fate of a character, because it's styled in a way that the adventures are independent.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by SpaceOddity

I think all of that was "voided" after Elsa crossed the seal with the Grail. Also, I think Indy would've had to take the old Knight's place in order to truly remain immortal. That's how I've always understood it, at least...

Actually now that I recall what the old knight said "But beware the Grail cannot pass beyond the Great Seal, for that is the boundry, and the price, of immortality." Heh, so that actually does explain it.

FELIPE NO

Immortality means you don't die from age, it doesn't mean you're ageless, per se.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?