-
Website
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/ -
Original page
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/opinions/kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull-10-things-i-hated-5-things-i-liked.php -
Subscribe
All Comments -
Community
-
-
Top Commenters
-
Popular Threads
And come on kheas. Don't bad mouth Lucas. He may have drifted off, as he did with Star Wars Episodes I, II, and, III, but without him you wouldn't have had any of those childhood memories in the first place. He is most definitely not a hack, he just isn't willing to let go.
Check out why Shia LaBeouf should never replace Harrison Ford as INDY:
http://www.derober.com/2008/05/22/7-reasons-why...
Started slowly, good in the middle but fell of the tracks and went all wrong at the end. Its as though they ran out of ideas and Spielberg just said "lets throw in aliens, that can explain away anything".
The acting performances were good, I didnt feel anyone was out of place but John Hurt looked like he was coasting with a role that had him looking dazed and confused most of the time, easy money I suppose.
6/10 - Fun for a while but probably not what you were hoping for.
http://www.maxim.com/Maximcom-and-the-Indiana-J...
The CGI was bad, but it wasn't the main problem I had with the movie.
I was okay with the alien thing...until they went stereotypical alien on me. I had no problem with the plot being about aliens, but do it in a way that isn't so cliche. I don't need to actually see a dead, Roswell alien. I don't need to see a typical, massive sized alien head crystal skull and I certainly don't need to see a live alien fly away in a UFO at the end. They could have put it together much better. Tell the story about the Mayans believing in that kind of stuff, because history tells us they actually did, but do it differently. Don't show us the aliens and don't throw them in our face. Did we see God in the Last Crusade? No, we're just left to believe there is a God because Indy found the Grail.
That's all I have for now.
WTF? He DIED????!?!?!
What happened to him drinking the water from the Holy Grail in the Last Crusade? One could argue "Well, perhaps they realized that it was just a bunk myth and the holy grail was just an archaeological find rather than finding the epitome of eternal life." Ok, maybe that's true. But they SAW the healing/magical power of the grail as they encountered a 500 year old knight, and more personally, saw the holy water wash away Henry Jones Sr's bullet wound.
Can someone PLLLLLLEAASSEE help me out with this???
10. Indiana’s Age - Indy's not quite as old as Harrison is. It's not unbelievable that he would stay in shape. Sure, he'd probably be a bit worse for wear after all that happened to him, but that's where willing suspension of disbelief comes in. This is an homage to "B" movies and serials, after all, where the hero always comes out unscathed.
9. Lack of Tension - It was just you. Seriously, in the "B" movies, you didn't have to worry about the good guys.
8. Karen Allen - I was never a big Marion fan. She was okay in "Raiders" but she was a little on the coarse side, and I never felt that she was the only girl for Indy. I was not impressed with her in "Crystal Skull" either.
7. Unbelievable - Going back to the serials, remember, they used to end the chapter with a guy very clearly falling out of and away from a plane and then in the next chapter, he'd managed to grab hold of some part of the aircraft and haul himself back in. I think those cliffs and waterfalls looked a lot higher than they really were. It's for dramatic effect. I felt the same way about the airplane/raft/cliff/river sequence in "Temple of Doom."
6. The Death of Henry Jones, Sr. - It's not unbelievable that someone in his 70s in 1957 would have passed away. Heck, my dad died last year at age 72. There's no point in keeping him alive, since he isn't interested in appearing in any future films (not that there's likely to be any).
5. Shia LeBeouf’s Haircut - I thought his hair was a little too bouffy. And didn't greasers use, well, grease?
4. Monkey See, Monkey Do - The main problem I had was that the digital swinging looked so awful. It didn't look like he was really hanging onto anything or using his weight to swing. I wish Mutt would've made a connection with one of the monkeys -- given him a cracker out of his pocket or something -- to explain why the monkeys attacked the bad guys and not him.
3. The Wedding - I didn't mind the wedding, and I don't even care that he married Marion. First of all, he's an old school guy and he's going to marry the mother of his child, even if the kid is 20 years old. A lot of people get married to people that they argue with all the time. Indy and Marion obviously had a connection when she was 16 or whatever, and he's always been in love with her.
2. No Connection - I haven't counted the number of times Indy used his whip in the other films vs. the number of times he used it in this one. It didn't bother me. The one snake scene in "Temple of Doom" ("That's why they call it the jungle, sweetheart.") was brief and played to comic effect. Did they have any snakes in "Last Crusade?" I've seen it the fewest amount of times, but I don't remember anything but the rats. Mutt knows about gigantic harmless snakes because he watched Tarzan movies, which also taught him to swing on vines.
1. CGI - The original films had their share of bad effects and obvious matte paintings. ILM's CGI almost always sucks ("Jurassic Park" being the one exception). What really bugs me is that so many people are trashing this movie because of bad CGI, while stuff like "Spider-Man," which is filled with awful CGI shots of our hero, gets praised for being so brilliant. Almost no one does a film without CGI now. It's a shame, because a lot of model-builders and set-builders are out of work now. I would love to see films made the way they were in the 1980s, but someone (the "wizards" at ILM" come to mind) managed to convince people that CGI is cheaper and faster and looks just as good. BTW, in "Temple of Doom" a lot of the bugs, and at least one shot of Willie's head, were very obviously fake. I've heard insects are bigger in South America, and I know that getting stung by enough little tiny fire ants can kill you. Also, larger-than-normal insects are a staple of the 1950s "B" movies that inspired much of "Crystal Skull."
5 Things I Liked
I agree on everything, except on number 1, I have to point out that I did see all the other films in the theatre, and I was really skeptical when they announced plans for a fourth one. I really hoped the idea would die. Now I'm glad that it didn't.
Honorable Mentions
The Crystal Skull - I was okay with the storyline. They brought up the real crystal skulls but never said anything more about them -- the difference in shape, etc. I didn't care for them being interdimensional creatures. If you're doing a '50s "B" movie, really they ought to be from outer space.
The Jungle Chase - The thing with Mutt and the little trees or whatever kind of annoyed me, too. Might've been okay once, but it lost the effect when they kept hitting the trees.
Bottom line -- I'm fine with the film as it is. Sure, it could've been a little better, but it also could have been a lot worse. I think it's a worthy addition to the series that's getting way too much flack from people who think it's chic to hate George Lucas.
I would rate this film as being just as enjoyable as the Tomb Raider films or the Second Charlie's Angels movie. Each of those films left me with a terrible headache. I felt like a witness to a train wreck!
Whatever happened to the script with Indy's brother (supposedly played by Tom Selleck or Kevin Costner)?
As Dr. SMith from Lost In Space always said.... "oohh the pain, the PAIN".
Indiana Jane
Heres how it would go, here monkey have a cracker and in return do me a favor,
help me find that commie babe, and as soon as you see her start atacking.
Even though I see your scene more believable, then again why monkeys and why swinging.
this movie was by far the worst movie i have ever seen, steven spielberg and george lucas effectively raped indiana jones in this movie, thus ending all hope i ever had for the series.