Indiana Jones IV: Tomatometer 79%

[Sunbaneglasses]

Despite 2 scenes that stretched my ability to suspend disbelief past the breaking point, I have to say that Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull was the most fun that I have had at a movie in a long time. If you can get past nitpicking at it's minor flaws, this is one great escapist, nostalgic, fun movie. I will most likely watch it again.

[Zarathustra]

Sunbaneglasses, those moments which break the suspension of disbelief completely ruined the movie for me. They cast the entire thing in a campy, ridiculous light. And the first one hits you pretty soon in the movie (refrigerator), and lets you know early on that the filmmakers aren't taking this seriously at all. I know that there has always been a supernatural vibe to these movies, but breaking the laws of physics and anatomy--without the help of any magic--is just retarded.

And the ridiculousness kept coming:

Spoiler

surviving not one, but three waterfalls? Driving a car off a cliff, into a tree, into a river . . . that's coyote and road runner stuff, pure cartoon. Guys popping out of the walls of a temple . . . were they just waiting in the stonework for centuries? Mutt all of a sudden becoming Tarzan. Monkeys attacking. Dumbass Mutt asking at the end, "So, are we talking spacemen?" You think so Mutt!?! Was the first clue the fact that you've been carrying around an alien skull this whole time? No wonder he didn't finish school. The kid's a flippin' idiot. But considering the fact that his father let a man who betrayed him once come along for the ride, I guess like father, like son. How did those little beacons work, by the way? Were the bad guys carrying beacon detection equipment that I missed? Why was Indy's ex-friend carrying a bunch of little beacon devices to begin with?

I hated the ending. What's up with the wind blowing the hat in?

This is easily the worst Indy movie ever. I can't believe they resurrected this franchise only to give us this crap.

[Edit: and another thing . . .

Spoiler

if the good guys and the bad guys wanted the same thing, why were they fighting over the skull?!? The evil Russian chick apparently wanted to return it just like Jones did! All their fighting and conflict was completely pointless. Someone should have said, "Hey, you know what? If we stopped all these car chases and sword fights, we could just take the skull together, since we both want the same thing."

And yet another . . .

Spoiler

Indy had nothing to do in the last 30 minutes. He just stands around while the crazy guy solves all the puzzles. And what was up with: "their treasure was knowledge"?? No, their treasure looked like a bunch of treasure, to me. Oh, and a giant spaceship. Why did the alien kill the Russian chick? She gave back the skull! Stupid, stupid, stupid.

]

[Sunbaneglasses]

Yeah, it was pretty far out in spots, but my inner child did not give a shit.

[Zarathustra]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. It wasn't horrible, and there were fun moments in it. Ford was fantastic. I effortlessly believed Jones was back. I just wish someone would tell Lucas that he really can't write a script. Did the Star Wars prequels teach him nothing? Stay away from the script, George!

[Fist and Faith]

Hm, I really hated Temple of Doom, for the kinds of things Malik didn't like about this one. I'll have to reserve judgement until I see it, but it may turn out that the odd numbered ones are awesome, and the evens suck.

[kevinswatch]

Arg! Ack! Horrible!

I completely agree with you, Malik.

That was horrible. I mean, really, really, really disappointing. It was almost like a parody of itself.

The characters were bad. The story was bad.

Cate Blanchett should never, ever, ever play a Russian ever again.

And really, that was the worst, lamest, cheesiest ending I have ever seen.

Spoiler

Aliens + Wedding = Dear Sweet Lord, Make It Stop. Please Make It Stop. Please Kill Me Now.

I just wish someone would tell Lucas that he really can't write a script. Did the Star Wars prequels teach him nothing? Stay away from the script, George!

I second that...

Bah. Very disappointing after all of the wait.-jay

[Cail]

I'm torn.

I enjoyed myself while I was watching it. Sure there are some utterly ridiculous things about it (like the fridge, the swordfight, and the plot), but I had fun in the moment.

But as soon as I walked out of the theater, I started nit-picking it. Lucas and Speilberg have sold yet another movie on nothing more than their names. There is absolutely nothing memorable about this movie, other than the bad things.

Look, Ford is old, and they had him doing the same schtick he did in the first 3 movies. I didn't buy it for a second, and that more than anything pulled me out of the experience.

[kevinswatch]

Lucas and Speilberg have sold yet another movie on nothing more than their names. There is absolutely nothing memorable about this movie, other than the bad things.

Yeah, that sort of bothers me as well. It was almost as if they didn't even try. They figured they could just stick a camera in front of Harrison Ford, give him a hat, and call it Indiana Jones. The whole thing was rather bland, and could have been written and put together by any Joe Shmoe.-jay

[Cail]

It reminds me of Lethal Weapon IV. "Hey, we really are too old for this shit, but let's do it one more time because we all like working together and people will pay to see us having fun."

Bah....At least Karen Allen was in it.

[Worm of Despite]

Meh... The film was too much of a crowd-pleaser. It was an onslaught of action, the plot getting put on the back-burner. Indie survived way too much, and yeah, there's moments in all the films where he defies death but in this one it NEVER STOPPED.

I guess, if you run out of ideas, tack on a 30 minute chase scene which magically transports you to the climax. It looks like Lucas and Spielberg are in love with their technology, and now they don't have to be creative, since the 70s and 80s forced them to. Now, if they see something neat from a comic, they slap it on film, even if it doesn't translate well.

Spoiler

It was also weird seeing the omniscient view of Blanchett's character dying, since 99% of the film was from Indie's perspective. Spielberg's struck out with his past ten films, and this one is no different.

[Cail]

Here's my thing....

The other three films weren't great. They're aping the old Republic serials after all. But they were enjoyable (to varying degrees) and stood up well to repeated viewings. This one won't.

[ItisWritten]

I think I'm with Cail on this. I laughed and had fun, but much of it is just preposterous. So preposterous that it's near impossible to defend it against nitpicking. However, I can define what happened to the Russian chick in reasonable, 'fantasy' terms.

Spoiler

When a genie grants you a wish and you ask for the moon, expect to be crushed. It isn't the wish that offends, but the arrogance that one can contain it. There were 13 of them.

But, I know where Malik is coming from. It's hard to cut them a break after so many others.

[Sunbaneglasses]

Well now I feel like an idiot for liking it. It really came across to me as a kids movie, my two sons absolutely LOVED it and were spellbound from when the action started to the very end and still have not stopped talking about it. I have been told many times that I am just a big kid, this has both good and bad aspects, one of the good ones is my ability to enjoy some things that some of the more grown up among us scoff at. In other words, I got exactly what I paid my $8 for, a couple of hours of fun.

[Cail]

You shouldn't feel like an idiot. It was decent escapism.

[Fist and Faith]

Sbg, you're the winner if you can find enjoyment in something others can't.

That being said, I'm pretty darned sure I won't be able to find enjoyment in this, so I probably won't be seeing it. Guess I'll just go watch Iron Man again.

[DukkhaWaynhim]

Watched it today. I enjoyed it. And most of your criticisms are also accurate.
This movie was not as good as the nostalgia in my head generated by thinking about the first movie. That's for sure.
However, I remember the days and days I spent playing the Atari 2600 Raiders of the Lost Ark game. Thinking back about that game, at the time I spent playing - that one and the Empire Strikes Back game on the same system - I wonder what the hell it was that captured my attention for so long. The games weren't that good. But... I'm not the one who will be spending hours and hours playing the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull game, will I?

I think that as I get older, my willingness to suspend my disbelief sometimes get hijacked by "refined tastes."
In other words - and despite the fact that Ford was creaking about the set - while we weren't looking, we aged out of their target demographic.

dw

[Zarathustra]

Sbg, you're the winner if you can find enjoyment in something others can't.

Wise words, indeed!

. . . while we weren't looking, we aged out of their target demographic.

Wow, that's sad. But I think you're right. When I watched Raiders again a few weeks ago, it just wasn't as good as I remembered.

SBG, my son loved it, too. We had to keep our negative comments out of earshot, so we wouldn't spoil his fun. He recently bought the Indian Jones Mr Potato Head ("Idaho Spuds!"), and plays with it all the time. Lucas gave him exactly what he wanted, and did it with a 65 yr-old action hero. That's saying something.

[Zarathustra]

Caution, spoilers. Both in the link and this post.

mysterymanonfilm.blogspot.com/2008/05/5 ... dy-iv.html

This article has an in-depth analysis of why the movie failed in the most important terms possible: the story.

No mere nit-picking (though there is some). The most important reason this failed was because the motivation of the hero was unclear and ambiguous. Coupled with a weak villain, there's no way you can make a compelling story out of that core failure. In all the previous Indy films, he really wanted the "McGuffin." And that personal motivation translates into audience interest. But here, Indy repeatedly states that he doesn't believe in the stories, and doesn't care about the skull. His motivation for going on this adventure is that some guy and girl have gone missing--characters we don't care about, and Jones doesn't seem to care much about them either. In fact, one of the characters could have given him very powerful motivation to go find her, but they purposely keep her identity hidden for a cheap surprise reveal (which isn't a surprise because we all knew going into this that she was in the movie). But the filmmakers skip over this chance for increasing the stakes via giving Jones a powerful personal motivation, in favor of the cheap surprise reveal that's not a surprise.

There were so many lost chances for suspense and tension. But the biggest is one I've already noted: Indy was willingly doing what the bad guys wanted him to do. It didn't matter if he returned the skull, or if they did. Nothing catastrophic happened after the villains got their way. When there is no difference between success and failure, how can it possibly matter?

[kevinswatch]

Caution, spoilers. Both in the link and this post.

mysterymanonfilm.blogspot.com/2008/05/5 ... dy-iv.html

Wow, now that's a list. It's sad that he was able to make a list of 50 things wrong with IJ4, I agree with all of them, and that I can think of a few more on my own.

God, the more I think about it, the worse it was. It's really depressing that Lucas and Spielberg are going to make an ass load of money from this thing.-jay

[Skyweir]

Sunbaneglasses, those moments which break the suspension of disbelief completely ruined the movie for me. They cast the entire thing in a campy, ridiculous light. And the first one hits you pretty soon in the movie (refrigerator), and lets you know early on that the filmmakers aren't taking this seriously at all. I know that there has always been a supernatural vibe to these movies, but breaking the laws of physics and anatomy--without the help of any magic--is just retarded.

And the ridiculousness kept coming:

Spoiler

surviving not one, but three waterfalls? Driving a car off a cliff, into a tree, into a river . . . that's coyote and road runner stuff, pure cartoon. Guys popping out of the walls of a temple . . . were they just waiting in the stonework for centuries? Mutt all of a sudden becoming Tarzan. Monkeys attacking. Dumbass Mutt asking at the end, "So, are we talking spacemen?" You think so Mutt!?! Was the first clue the fact that you've been carrying around an alien skull this whole time? No wonder he didn't finish school. The kid's a flippin' idiot. But considering the fact that his father let a man who betrayed him once come along for the ride, I guess like father, like son. How did those little beacons work, by the way? Were the bad guys carrying beacon detection equipment that I missed? Why was Indy's ex-friend carrying a bunch of little beacon devices to begin with?

I hated the ending. What's up with the wind blowing the hat in?

This is easily the worst Indy movie ever. I can't believe they resurrected this franchise only to give us this crap.

[Edit: and another thing . . .

Spoiler

if the good guys and the bad guys wanted the same thing, why were they fighting over the skull?!? The evil Russian chick apparently wanted to return it just like Jones did! All their fighting and conflict was completely pointless. Someone should have said, "Hey, you know what? If we stopped all these car chases and sword fights, we could just take the skull together, since we both want the same thing."

And yet another . . .

Spoiler

Indy had nothing to do in the last 30 minutes. He just stands around while the crazy guy solves all the puzzles. And what was up with: "their treasure was knowledge"?? No, their treasure looked like a bunch of treasure, to me. Oh, and a giant spaceship. Why did the alien kill the Russian chick? She gave back the skull! Stupid, stupid, stupid.

]

totally with you on this Malik .. i was very disappointed .. it was at best 'ho hum' at worst unbelievable ..

*shudders*

the russian chick .. or Cate Blanchett was what made it palatable imho .. everyone else sucked .. and I never liked the chick from the Ark of the Covenant one .. geez louise .. and yeah .. what a suprise .. obviously it was going to turn out to be his son ..

oh barffanothingness ..

I was pumped prior to seeing it .. cos oooh cool .. a mayanish twist .. but not so twisty

I didnt even mind the alien thing if it was the thing .. that would have washed well with me if the story supported it .. but alas it didnt ..

2.5hrs of my life i'll never get back lol

look i went - i saw - i survived ..

it wasnt the worst movie i ever saw ..