Indiana Jones 4 - The Movie SPOILER THREAD

[BillCable]

Actually, the crystal skull myth is part of human history.  The whole movie was based on actual South American mythology, not made up from scratch.  But the conclusion with the 13 skulls in a UFO was a pretty broad extrapolation.

[Reid]

Just came back from this, it about met my expectations. Although it was pretty good, it probably was my least favorite of the four films. More thoughts below...

What I Liked

Indy: It was great to see the man in the hat back in action. I'm so glad they didn't fill the film with "Hey, I'm old" jokes, which made him much more believable. Still has those rock solid fists. 

Mutt: I actually though Shia did a pretty good job. I agree with JJ, his scenes with Indy were the best, the back and forth banter between them was great.

Dovchenko: Great replacement for Pat Roach, kind of a cross between Vogel and the German Mechanic, and his death scene was easily the best of the movie. Covered in ants, ants crawl into mouth, then ants drag him into anthill? Nice.

Chase Sequences: For the most part, very well done, with the Marshall college chase being a standout. Despite the overuse of CGI and Mutt's ridiculous swinging from the vines, I thought the jungle chase was very cool. I would've liked to see more of the Jungle Cutter though.

The "Alien" Factor: If you look at the film as partly a homage to 50's sci-fi films, I think the alien stuff is a lot more tolerable. The way they tied it in with the City Of Gold was neat.

What I Didn't Like

Marion: Seemed kind of shoehorned in, and really, didn't do a whole lot. Her banter with Indy was priceless, and the Soviet getting annoyed was great.

Irina: I actually thought this was a great performance by Cate Blanchett, but the whole "psychic" aspect of her character was really stupid, as we never got to see it in action, other than hooking Indy up to the time machine from Napoleon Dynamite.

Nuclear Bomb: Can someone tell me how a 58 year old man can survive a nuclear explosion by climbing inside a refrigerator, getting thrown into the air, crashing, and climbing out, relatively unscathed?

Overall, I'd give it a solid 8/10. Good chase sequences, cool new characters, and a decent story. I'll probably see it again in the theater, just cause it's Indy.

[Angry Ewok]

I'm bothered that alien skeletons come back to life to form a single, living alien.

'cause aliens don't really do that, right?

That's kind of a jackassed response.

[Angry Ewok]

So why did the Russians need to break into Area 51 for an alien if they had already dissected a few of them?

I need to see this again and I can't answer this question right now.

Right before they made Indy "look" at the Skull, I believe Spalko mentioned that the previous aliens/samples they examined did NOT have crystal skeletons and that's why they wanted the Roswell one - to check it for a crystal skull/skeleteon.

I thought she pulled back the alien's flesh to reveal a crystal ribcage or forearm or something?

[BillCable]

The Russians were studying the other aliens.  And yeah, she removed the skin off the one and showed off a similar crystal skull.  They were trying to unlock their psychic abilities or something.

[Darth Kenobi]

Saw Indy last night with my family and enjoyed it.  The only thing that I didn't like was the Vine swinging of Mutt and the tree rebounding on the Russians when Indy and gang drove off the cliff onto the tree.  One of the best parts was with the "rope" and the sand. 

[Morgbug]

Dovchenko: Great replacement for Pat Roach, kind of a cross between Vogel and the German Mechanic, and his death scene was easily the best of the movie. Covered in ants, ants crawl into mouth, then ants drag him into anthill? Nice.  I'll be spending the next five years telling people that doesn't happen and none of them will believe me because they've seen it.

Nope, not nice.  Not realistic to the point of being silly.  Farsical in point of fact.  No ants do that, anywhere.  Yeah, ants are aggressive and can sting to the point of killing someone but beyond that, nope.  Sorry, professional problem with Hollywood doing stupid things. 

I enjoyed the movie, but Rob's buddy commenting about being Ep I'd is probably somewhat problematic.  Some stuff was a bit too fantastical, but not really much more so than the mine scene in ToD.  I did think the overly-CGI aspects of the jungle chase scene were too far fetched though - a duel on the back of moving vehicles?  Yeah....no. 

[Angry Ewok]

The Nuke was pretty, though.

 

[Darth_Ice]

they could have MADE a great movie around the "ARK" being stolen or someting. Kind of a bridge between Raiders and a new trilogoly with mutt as the lead. I thought in the preiview it shows Indy hiding from the spirts in the ark? Did they cut that out? Why couldnt the Russians been after the Ark it would have been such a great story...or that Indy if trying to return the ARK to its orginal burrial site and the Russians steal it and he has to find it..or they blackmail him into finding another religious artifact or something..but Aliens? I just hope wo ever put that Ark back into crate dosent get to nosy and lift the lid off... I did think the "snake" part was the best part of the movie..I also thought what made the orginal Raiders great and even the crusade..was all the different places around the world they had to go to find the treasure...more mystery...no more aliens..and if you do make aliens can we some that we have not seen in other moview..enough with the big heads and skinny bodies..ENOUGH! FYI did anyone see that we are going to get a Jurrassic Park 4? LOL!!!! Ok with all that said I would give the movie a B...wasnt that bad but could have been much better..for god sake it only took them 19 years to make a new movie..

[Scott]

I finally got to see it and...I liked it.  I think I liked it a lot (was I supposed to hate it ) 

[Angry Ewok]

I don't hate the movie... just the first and last 20 minutes. Some things that really stick out would be the tarzan scene (I thought it was funny in Return of the Jedi, when I was about four, but not in Revenge of the Sith, and definitely not in Indiana Jones), the caddyshack scene that repeated over and over and over, and I still don't like the aliens.

National Treasure meets X-Files. Meh.

[Angry Ewok]

I freakin' loved the nuke blast and the iron-lined fridge, though. I don't care how ridiculous that was.

[JediMoses]

Wow, I guess I am in the minority.  i enjoyed the film a lot, but I liked the prequels too.  Sure the plot was over the top, but it was fun getting to the end. 

The only scene where I groaned was with the freakin' monkeys in the trees.  Too much like the ewoks for me.

[Scott]

I really don't see what the problem with the whole Alien Mythos is though, the time period is a perfect setting and the whole Aliens were the Gods of Ancient Egypt and South America very much is a relevent supernatural subject.  I agree the Tarzan scene stunk but I didn't have a problem with the prairie dogs or the ants.  I thought the Atom Bomb sequence was great (the door on the fridge said it was lead lined which is why he survived the blast).  The revelation that the ark (which was a great cameo BTW) was in Area 51 was great.  The plot was not too convoluted and you have to take many leaps of faith in these movies (SW too), the Russians make a wonderful enemy and I really can't wait to see who they roll out for Indy 5.  Marion and Indy arguing was great, the riddles were great (reminded me a lot of Last Crusade in that respect), I loved the end machine/room/interdimensional dealio and the 13 crystal aliens.  

RE: Mutt...I could see one more Indy/Mutt adventure but I think after that I would be OK with a Mutt Jones movie (especially since he'll obviously go to school and be trained as an archeologist.

[Mikey D]

I agree with pretty much everything Scott said.  I saw it with my wife, brother and brother-in-law Sunday morning.  The wife and I enjoyed it immensely and the other two liked it,  but didn't love it - mainly due to the whole aliens things.  They felt it was just too unbelieveable.  I wanted to say it was just about as unbelieveable as angels coming out of a box and melting people, a cult that rips the hearts out of people and yet they still live and drinking water out of a cup to gain immortality.  Both my brother and B-i-L are religious people so I can see how they think the Ark and Holy Grail are believable and aliens aren't.  That's their beliefs and I can certainly respect them, even if I don't necessarily agree with them.

I'd probably rank it third behind Raiders and Crusade and before Doom, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it.  I just wanted to be entertained for a couple of hours and Crystal Skull did just that, so I'm happy.