Indiana Jones 4 discussion (Spoilers!)

How would you rate Indiana Jones?

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    26
Lynx

Lynx

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So. . .I just got back from seeing this. And all I have to say is that I was disappointed. Disappointed and confused.

KOTCS just didn't feel like Indiana Jones. But, here's a break down.

-The villains. The Russians just weren't menacing enough. Spalko, specifically, didn't seem all that bad. She talks about world domination, but you just don't believe her.

-The sci-fi. Sci-fi in Indiana Jones just. . .doesn't work. At all. The alien at the end, the psychic phenomena they deal with. . .oh, and the GIANT FLYING SAUCER AT THE END. Blah.

-Little character development. They reintroduce Marion, and barely give her any lines. Some of the lines are REALLY good, though. Mac was a completely unnecessary character and swapped sides way too often. And Ox was just a plot device. Who was crazy.

-Harrison Ford. He seemed. . .tired. Like he wasn't completely into it. And I don't think it's because he didn't want to do Indy again (He did), I just think Ford's acting isn't the same as it used to be.

-The Pacing. They lump TONS of exposition on you. . .and then tons of action on you, and then wrap it up with just general weirdness. It's very uneven.

-The CGI. The CGI in this movie is FAR overused. Specifically, the animals. Random CG gophers and monkeys show up, and the scorpions and ants just are unrealistic. A lot of the jungle chase scene is also very obviously against a blue screen and ruins an otherwise fantastic sequence.

What did I like?

-Harrison Ford. I know he's on the dislikes, but he has an equal amount of brilliant moments with an equal amount of stale ones. He's better in this then all the other movies he's put out in 15 years. He's not the Indy of yesteryear, though.

-Shia LaBeouf. A HUGE suprise, LaBeouf is actually the most interesting character outside of Indy. Definitely a worthy addition to the franchise.

-The time period. The 50s moments in this movie are so well handled. And Indy feels like a relic against the shiny place that is 50s America.

-The beginning. The beginning sequence is absolutely absurd. . .but it works really well. The refrigerator scene in particular is hilarious.

-The chase sequences. The bike sequence, in particular, is fantastic from the fight that spawns it up until it's end in the college library. The jungle chase is also mostly very well done, except for the aforementioned very obvious blue screen.

-The ending. And by the ending, I mean after the ridiculous Flying Saucer scene. It's a really warm scene and a HUGE tease.

Overall, it was okay. Not terrible, but not great either. The ending (Not the very final scene, but the ending sequence) leaves you feeling very confused. Like "What did I just watch?" It's definitely a deviation from the original three.
 
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This movie was awesome and i must say Shia was pretty Bad@ss.

I loved it man.

Felt bad for Mac though.
 
This movie was terrible.

Harrison Ford's acting sounded tired and forced, and Karen Allen sucked just as bad.

The CGI was ridiculous. Was it really necessary for the CGI gophers?

Nothing in the movie was believable. I know, it's an Indiana Jones movie, but literally NOTHING in the movie was believable. It's amazing how they keep 10 layers of clothing on in the scorching hot South American weather, and how Indy and Marion's shirts remain tucked in, even after they've been chased through the rainforest my Soviets and flesh-eating ants, not to mention fallen from three waterfalls.

And don't even get me started on the Spalko-Mutt swordfighting scene between the two cars. By the time Indy and the gang reached the final waterfall, I just about walked out of the theater. Un-****ing-believable. They survive all three waterfalls, unscathed.

And the UFO? At that point in the movie, I actually found myself saying aloud, "You have got to be ****ting me." That whole sequence felt rushed. It ended way too quickly, and when the UFO just went up in the skies, the whole movie felt pointless.

"Crazy John Hurt" got real annoying real fast. When he said, "No, [the aliens] went up in the skies between the skies," or whatever, I couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably at the ridiculousness of the scene. I don't know how you could make this movie with a straight face.

Easily the worst film in the series. It feels like a slap in the face from Spielberg.

The only redeeming factors are the performances of Cate Blanchet, Shia LeBeouf, and Ray Winstone.

If there's one thing this movie has taught me, it's that, in the event of a nuclear fallout, I can hide in a ****ing refrigerator and survive unharmed as I pass a 60 mph-exploding-car in my seemingly indestructable makeshift torpedo fridge.

Also, that the Mayans worshipped the Coneheads.

4/10 (I'm being very generous)
 
Ice said:
Yeah! Shame on them! I mean, how hard is it to get a trained real gopher?!?!
Click to expand...

Was it really necessary to put gophers in the movie at all?

Even more important, was it even necessary to make this movie, at all?
 
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Langsta said:
This movie was terrible.

Harrison Ford's acting sounded tired and forced, and Karen Allen sucked just as bad.

The CGI was ridiculous. Was it really necessary for the CGI gophers?

Nothing in the movie was believable. I know, it's an Indiana Jones movie, but literally NOTHING in the movie was believable. It's amazing how they keep 10 layers of clothing on in the scorching hot South American weather, and how Indy and Marion's shirts remain tucked in, even after they've been chased through the rainforest my Soviets and flesh-eating ants, not to mention fallen from three waterfalls.

And don't even get me started on the Spalko-Mutt swordfighting scene between the two cars. By the time Indy and the gang reached the final waterfall, I just about walked out of the theater. Un-****ing-believable. They survive all three waterfalls, unscathed.

And the UFO? At that point in the movie, I actually found myself saying aloud, "You have got to be ****ting me." That whole sequence felt rushed. It ended way too quickly, and when the UFO just went up in the skies, the whole movie felt pointless.

"Crazy John Hurt" got real annoying real fast. When he said, "No, [the aliens] went up in the skies between the skies," or whatever, I couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably at the ridiculousness of the scene. I don't know how you could make this movie with a straight face.

Easily the worst film in the series. It feels like a slap in the face from Spielberg.

The only redeeming factors are the performances of Cate Blanchet, Shia LeBeouf, and Ray Winstone.

If there's one thing this movie has taught me, it's that, in the event of a nuclear fallout, I can hide in a ****ing refrigerator and survive unharmed as I pass a 60 mph-exploding-car in my seemingly indestructable makeshift torpedo fridge.

Also, that the Mayans worshipped the Coneheads.

4/10 (I'm being very generous)
Click to expand...

I have to agree with everything you said, except the gophers. They were the best part of the entire movie for me. Other than that, this movie was not worth my time.

3.5/10 (I think that might also be generous.)
 
just got back myself.

I enjoyed it, overall... it could have been BETTER (i blame lucas, as will everyone), but yeah it was enjoyable.

I was entirely giddy for the first half- that is, up until Indy and Mutt got captured by the Russians in the amazon (after finding the crystal skull). That half was amazing- fun, exciting... and then all that died off. there wasn't much creepiness or intrigue after that point- and no darn good booby traps! that was disappointing. Indy seeing Marion was a great moment... and Indy's reaction to finding out Mutt was his son was perfect, although Marion was too matter-of-fact about it- just not how I was expecting it to come out. And the snake thing could have been done better... something just felt off about this section of the movie.

Then it picked up again with the car chase- though as mentioned above, the CGI distracted a bit from it. But the action between characters was fun as all get out. I enjoyed it until they got to the bottom of the waterfalls.

Then they got into the Mayan/Aztec/Incan/whatever area, and the natives started coming after them- and it didnt seem as urgent as Raiders, or Temple of Doom... it was basically "oh, we'll get through this"- and there's a problem: in the old movies, you KNOW indy will make it through, yet you're still excited... here, save for the first half and the jungle car chase scene, the action wasn't as exciting- there was no sense of imminent, "We are going to DIE" type danger.

Inside El Dorado (shame on Lucas and everyone for using El Dorado- National Treasure used it, and even if you came up with the idea first, there are SO many ways to go with Indiana Jones), with the whole alien thing, AGAIN, no awesome, "we are going to DIE" booby traps that serve for imminent danger. And then, the climax- in the past, Indy's humility has saved him (Raiders), his knowledge has saved him (Temple), a combination has saved him (Crusade)- here, it's just "we should probably get out of here now." there was no conflict, like in Crusade- "I can almost reach it"- or Raiders- "don't you want to see the secrets of the ark, Dr. Jones?"- it was just "ok, let's get out of here."

the denouement was pretty good though...


as far as characters go- Harrison Ford was good ol' indy... and also, good old indy. you could tell he's aged, but overall he was still Indy.

Shia, for me, was the best thing about the film. If they want to continue the series, I hope Shia is the "new Indy"- he made a huge jump for me from Shia Labeouf to Indiana Jones, Jr.- an action star, clever and curious, strong, and fun as hell to watch. Mac was pretty pointless to me- just a plot device to get the Russians to die at the end. Marion was still old Marion... though initially, she felt a bit wooden. Spalko was alright... not great, but not horrible. Oxley was pretty good... I kept joking with my sister when he was acting all crazy that he was a lot like Caligula- "Did you like it?"- in I, Claudius.

Overall, pretty good. Half of it was everything I was hoping for, the other half was unfulfilling... the Area 51 thing was pretty cool... but it just went in a weak direction- it climaxed poorly.



...That's what she said.

I think the IGN review sums things up pretty darn well: http://movies.ign.com/articles/874/874919p2.html

and while I will agree Mutt WAS a bit neurotic in his insistence on being tough, it added to the character rather than detracted from it- He wanted to prove he was tough (which of course has been done before), but he delivered on it quite well, and I believe he could become a new Indiana Jones with Harrison tagging along much like Connery did in Crusade (for a movie, or 1.5 movies), until Shia is ready to take on the role on his own.

Just my two cents. I know some of you didn't like it though, and that's OK.
 
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Langsta said:
This movie was terrible.

Harrison Ford's acting sounded tired and forced, and Karen Allen sucked just as bad.

The CGI was ridiculous. Was it really necessary for the CGI gophers?

Nothing in the movie was believable. I know, it's an Indiana Jones movie, but literally NOTHING in the movie was believable. It's amazing how they keep 10 layers of clothing on in the scorching hot South American weather, and how Indy and Marion's shirts remain tucked in, even after they've been chased through the rainforest my Soviets and flesh-eating ants, not to mention fallen from three waterfalls.

And don't even get me started on the Spalko-Mutt swordfighting scene between the two cars. By the time Indy and the gang reached the final waterfall, I just about walked out of the theater. Un-****ing-believable. They survive all three waterfalls, unscathed.

And the UFO? At that point in the movie, I actually found myself saying aloud, "You have got to be ****ting me." That whole sequence felt rushed. It ended way too quickly, and when the UFO just went up in the skies, the whole movie felt pointless.

"Crazy John Hurt" got real annoying real fast. When he said, "No, [the aliens] went up in the skies between the skies," or whatever, I couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably at the ridiculousness of the scene. I don't know how you could make this movie with a straight face.

Easily the worst film in the series. It feels like a slap in the face from Spielberg.

The only redeeming factors are the performances of Cate Blanchet, Shia LeBeouf, and Ray Winstone.

If there's one thing this movie has taught me, it's that, in the event of a nuclear fallout, I can hide in a ****ing refrigerator and survive unharmed as I pass a 60 mph-exploding-car in my seemingly indestructable makeshift torpedo fridge.

Also, that the Mayans worshipped the Coneheads.

4/10 (I'm being very generous)
Click to expand...

The big two things I don't agree with are the refridgerator and watefall scene. If you remember from Temple of Doom, Indy survives a jump from an airplane in a raft. And then they go over a giant cliff. It's basically the same thing.

Everything else is pretty spot on. I still don't think it was that bad, but it definitely was off.

Also. . .never in my life have I seen a movie with such varied opinions. I've talked to people who've loved it, who liked it, who thought it was ok, who thought it was meh, and to people who outright hated it. It's just weird. . .
 
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Lynx said:
The big two things I don't agree with are the refridgerator and watefall scene. If you remember from Temple of Doom, Indy survives a jump from an airplane in a raft. And then they go over a giant cliff. It's basically the same thing.

Everything else is pretty spot on. I still don't think it was that bad, but it definitely was off.

Also. . .never in my life have I seen a movie with such varied opinions. I've talked to people who've loved it, who liked it, who thought it was ok, who thought it was meh, and to people who outright hated it. It's just weird. . .
Click to expand...


I guess it varies from person to person. Personally i felt i got my moneys worth.

That's just me though.
 
Now I'm not a big Indy fan by any sense (I don't think i've actually watched any of the other ones in there entirety, not because i don't like it or anything but because it's rarely on TV and i don't feel the need to pick it up on DVD), I don't even know the name of the one i've seen the most of (the one with the asian kid), so I'm more or less coming in clean, I did get some of the references to the past (Sean Connery, the Ark in area 51), but I had no idea who Marion was.

But generally I enjoyed this, sure the whole alien angle was a bit out there, (with the space angle i half expected Han to jump through a doorway at any moment), but IMO it's not a whole lot more farfetched than the holy grail or those glowing rocks in that other one.

great action, some funny moments, Shia was fantastic, Harrison showed his age but it really made sense

It was a good movie that bit off more than it can chew, but it was still a good movie, if you take it for what it was it was fine (it's more or less Indy's response to the Star Wars prequels)

The CGI could have been alot better, and a tad unnecesary in places (CGI GOPHERS? do you even need real gophers?)

I liked it.
 
I liked the gophers, but the monkeys were a different story. Why would they go attack Spalko out of the blue. I guess monkeys just have a natural hatred for commies. The only part I rolled my eyes at was when Mutt was swinging through the Amazon. Other than that the movie was alright. Not great, but not horrible. It reminded me of the feeling I had after seeing Pirates 3.
 
I loved this movie, and I don't care what you haters say. It's not as good as Raiders, but I'd put it second to the others.

(although Indy and his dad was amazing, Crusade's Grail plot was pretty boring)
 
I think there was too much CGI. I guess Stephen Spielberg thinks that CGI makes the film look more realistic - which is true, as long as it isn't overused. In this case, it makes the film look even worse than the old films where they did special effects the old fashioned way.
 
I barely even notice CGI (besides the obvious gophers and monkeys). I think some people just look for excuses to dislike.
 
I thought the movie was way more "open" than the others, it felt liek you were in some of the scenes, kind of 3-Dy. I don't really know how to explain it.

That said, I think Spielberg needs to take a vacation from Janusz Kaminski for a while.
 
Ice said:
I barely even notice CGI (besides the obvious gophers and monkeys). I think some people just look for excuses to dislike.
Click to expand...

:lol:

I still think Crusade is the best. This might be the worst of the series, but I'd like to see Mutt take up the mantle of Indiana Jones (I like the idea of Harrison Ford taking Sean Connery's place from Crusade, with Mutt as the new Indy). However, I can only see the series going on for probably about two more movies (making the three 21st century Indy films a 'new' trilogy, a la Star Wars).
 
I thought it was fantastic. I haven't enjoyed a movie like that since a long time ago (Iron Man was great, but this was something else). I found myself grinning beyond control at various times during the film.

I think there are two main things I dislike. The gophers and Mutt swinging through the trees. But they didn't detract from my enjoyment.

Harrison Ford looks ****ing old but ****ing great. Shia LaBeouf is excellent. Cate Blanchett was creepy. Ray Winstone was quite funny. And John Hurt was ****ing nuts. I wish John Hurt's character would've been Abner Ravenwood. That would have been insane.

Also, I think I prefer the whole 50's Communist paranormal experiments to the 30's ancient mysticism stuff. It just seemed to work a lot better... Indy is a real guy and I never really liked the magic stuff.

Aliens. ****ing Spielberg. I knew the Crystal Skull was going to be alien in origin, I just didn't know the movie was going to be this alien. Though I guess it worked. I liked it.

I was initially against the idea of a Mutt spin-off film, but now that I've seen the movie... I would definitely see this, especially if it had Indy tagging along.

Either way, love it or hate... this movie was fun. And I wish more movies today would stop focusing on being good or bad or making money or remaking whatever the **** and just start being FUN. This movie certainly isn't the best Indiana Jones movie, but it's probably my favourite.
 
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