Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull [spoilers]

[Mistwell]

Well, he is the ______________kid.

Guys...seriously. This is one of the bigger spoilers for the movie. The female lead is intentionally not shown in the previews for the movie. The female lead does not appear until a reveal in the movie. Who the younger lead is the child of is also saved for a reveal. These are spoilers. Either hide the spoilers in the tag, or wait until more people have seen the movie. Be polite. Just because you know this information, or recognize the significance of an actor name in credits or something, doesn't mean most people do.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Without getting into the minutia, I'll just say that I found it thoroughly enjoyable. I went in knowing a little more than I wish I would have, thanks to some spoilers that leaked in through the seams of pop culture over the last 24 hours, so I was expecting

Spoiler

aliens, and Marion's reappearance. I was not expecting the nuke testing. As implausible as it was, I thought it was absolutely brilliant to include it. And for the record, I was digging on the aliens. I mean after Molla Ram extracting someone's beating heart with his bare hand in Temple of Doom, no scifi/fantasy trope is too out of this world for the Indieverse.

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is Raiders and 1 is AVP Requiem, I give it a solid 8. I can't wait to own it so I can watch it over and over.

 

[Hammerhead]

Is AVP: Requiem that bad? Because I liked the first one.

The ants were cool, but seemed to draw a lot of inspiration from the scarab swarms in the Mummy (who were way more badass).

 

[delericho]

Is AVP: Requiem that bad?

No. There are a whole load of films that are much, much worse. Even sticking to the 'geek films' genre (that is fantasy/sci-fi, but also includes such things as Indiana Jones and James Bond), there are the suck-fests that are "Species III", "Highlander II", "Star Trek V" and either of the "Dungeons & Dragons" movies.

I would argue that the scale would be better calibrated with "Species III" and "Highlander II" at 1, and with "Raiders of the Lost Arc" and "The Empire Strikes Back" at 10.

I would then place "AVP:Requiem" at 5, and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" at 4. The only other film I've seen in the cinema this year was "Cloverfield", which I would give a 2 (I really didn't like it as a film, and I suffered motion sickness as a result. And it was still better than "Species III").

Because I liked the first one.

For what it's worth, I enjoyed "AVP: Requeim" rather more than "AVP". (One of the friends I went with liked the first one more, and the second said he thought they were about equal.)However, the film I want to see is Aliens versus the Predator, versus those marines from "Aliens"... and it really isn't that film.

 

[coyote6]

My ONLY disagreement on that end is...[sblock]I like the alien angle. Yeah, I know...I'm that one guy. But I enjoy that kind of stuff. The whole climax felt like it was made just for someone like me that loves that kind of thing. [/sblock]

I agree; I thought it was very pulpy (though with a modern twist).

[sblock]The modern twist is, of course, the extradimensional rather than extraterrestrial bit. Pulps were full of stories with aliens, and the 1950s was the golden age of science fiction, no? Consider how many '50s movies used aliens as a stand-in for Communists in various ways; I thought it was entirely appropriate that an Indiana Jones story set in the '50s involve Communists and classic gray aliens.

I liked it, except for the refrigerator bit -- that was overdone. OTOH, recent action movies pretty much all do that sort of thing (Live Free, Die Hard, for instance). It's the zeitgeist, I guess. As I told my buddy, "It's been 18-19 years -- he gained a lot of levels, and a lot of hit points." [/sblock]

I was kind of hoping they'd refer back to the FBI agents at the end, and call one of 'em "Agent Mulder".

 

[Mouseferatu]

(though with a modern twist).

[sblock]The modern twist is, of course, the extradimensional rather than extraterrestrial bit.[/sblock]

Actually... Apparently not so modern.

[sblock]Some of my friends who are far more into pulp than I am have assured me that the notion of "extradimensional" visitors has its roots in pulp as well. While it wasn't that common in the 50s--most of the aliens of the time were interplanetary--it was pretty common in earlier years of pulp sci-fi.[/sblock]

 

[horacethegrey]

Here's my thoughts after watching this here flick.

I liked it. It was a rock 'em and sock 'em pulp action extravaganza that I've come to expect from the man in the hat.

But... it did not wow me or move me in the way Raiders or Last Crusade did (can't say much for Temple of Doom, since it's been ages since I've last seen it). This movie doesn't inspire any passion nor any sense of wonder from me, which is a shame.

It's nothing to do with the cast, whom I thought by and large were okay. Ford was good, and has a great time portraying an elder Indy. I thought Shia LeBouf was fine as well, and it's great to see Karen Allen once again. John Hurt was a hoot, but Ray Winstone was largely underused. The best of the bunch for me though, was Cate Blanchett. Is it strange that I find her hot even when portraying a crazed soviet bitch? But, this movie goes to show how much I missed the presence of Denholm Elliot (RIP) and John Rhys Davies.

My biggest problem would have to be some of the digital sets they used. Really took away from the reality of it for me. Another problem were the stunts, which looked over the top rather than inspired. [sblock]As for the big reveal of interdimensional aliens? Lame. I always preferred the mystic angle when Doctor Jones is involved. Was Spielberg channeling Close Encounters when he thought of this? [/sblock]

So there you have it, while I thought this movie was by and large okay, I'll not rush to watch it again.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Man, I really had no problem with the CGI. I didn't feel that it was overly used or overly obvious. I also think that when you compare it with the effects that were done the old fashioned way in the original movies, these looked better.

To each their own, I guess.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Back to the subject at hand...

I just saw IJ&KCS. It was fun. Raider's is still best, but this was good. One of the best scenes in the movie was the bit with Jones and Mutt in the dinner. I missed Sallah, though. I wonder if this means the Jones movies and Close Encounters are all in the same world? And I wonder what else is in that warehouse? And who knew the janitor from SCRUBS was really a hard-case FBI agent.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I forget ... were the aliens in Close Encounters Greys?