Indiana Jones IV Title Revealed...

[torgosPizza]

I  enjoyed the movie despite it being awfully cartoonish - and yes the jungle friends thing was lame. Whoever thought that would be a good idea needs to be fired.

What I think the problem is , is that Spielberg keeps calling upon David "Hit or Miss" Koepp. The only decent things he's done were co-write JP1 with Crichton, and then Stir of Echoes, but even that is pushing it. Spielberg needs to realize that Koepp is not a "closer" - he is a hack. And a bad one. He's the one responsible for Emo Spider-Man and other follies of craptacular writing, and to be sure, they should have stuck with Darabont's script. I have no doubt the movie would've been another classic if they had done that. I haven't read it, but it's Darabont, and even though he only has a few movies out his track record is far better than Koepp's.

[Thrashalla]

(This is pretty much stream of consciousness, so it's going to be a bit jumbled...apologies, but I just don't care enough to organize a "real" review )

This was definitely the least of the group, I feel that to call it the "worst" adds a level of malevolence towards it that is unwarranted.

Aliens are no more ridiculous than the arc of the covenant or the holy grail in my eyes...actually a bit more plausible, not to Scientology levels or anything, but at a surface "maybe" kind of way.

Overall, I enjoyed it but it didn't feel like an Indiana Jones movie and I will probably exclude it when discussing the series and just keep with the first 3.

The shots were a lot more claustrophobic - much tighter even in the expansive shots than they were in one and especially 3. This felt like they were shooting Temple of Doom in Last Crusade environments.

There was a "glow" to absolutely everything. In previous movies, this was used effectively to separate the glossy professor life with the gritty adventurer life and was only used in the American/Academia scenes to add a softness that contrasted with hard edge lighting of the field work. Now, it;s fucking EVERYWHERE and it got annoying.

Add to my "Ssit that Annoyed ME" list, the random comic relief CGI animals that popped up. NOT NECESSARY!!!! But in a modern Lucasfilm, I expected it.

This had some of the worst stunt double cuts that I have ever seen in a post 1995 film. Harrison was definitely holding his own in his scenes, but then they'd cut away and some dude with a fedora was leaping around like he was fucking circa 1980 Jackie Chan...felt a bit forced and added a lot of cheese that shouldn't have been there.

Story wise I really have no complaints other than the ending...it should have ended with the last shot in South America and certain females should have been excluded completely from the script. Maybe I'm too forgiving with the rest because I was expecting a lot worse. Also, as I said, the alien thing didn't bug me personally...but doesn't this kind of contradict the first and third movies? They were going in the "YAY! Judeo/Christain" direction and now they introduce this Alien aspect...it's kind of like throwing a big wall up between this and the other movies.

[Cosmic Muse]

This is a verbatim quote from a post I made over at the Agonybooth messageboards so I do repeat myself but it adds a few more things to what I posted here.

I went with my mom and Niece/Nephew to see this movie. Beforehand though I sent AJwins a PM asking him if it was really that bad. The contents of our messages will go unreported in any great detail but I think I should have listened to him concerning this installment. It's missing alot of the charm the earlier movies had, but it especially isn't as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark. I think my issue was all the over the top slapstick. It's like they took the moments of Stooges type humor (Such as Willy running through the jungle freaking out from all the critters she encounters.) from Temple of Doom and kicked it to dial 11 instead of the gritty realism of Raiders. Something as subtle as Indy shooting that fancy sword playing pursuer after his little fancy show was easily funnier than seeing Indy fall off that rocket powered tram onto the desert floor. Another one of my gripes was the X-Files moments with aliens and stuff. I'd rather prefer when Indy deals with supernatural elements, not Sci Fi tropes. I mean isn't there a wealth of mysterious, magical objects akin to the Ark and the Grail that they could have used as the McGuffin instead of having to delve completely into X-Files territory? How about the Holy Lance aka Spear of Destiny?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear_of_Destiny

That could have bridged the story from Nazis to Communists given the legend that whosoever possesses this spear can conquer nations unimpeded due to it's divine power. But then again a hack like Keopp wrote the script. He's basically one of those yes men who won't stand up to Lucas or Spielberg who desperately need more outside input at this point in time because what they've been making or attaching their names to has been slipping in quality. But I digress. All in all, I guess I'm disappointed with this movie because I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. I guess I'll just stick with my Raiders of the Lost Ark DVD and watch that to ease the sting of this movie.

[Cosmic Muse]

I'm sorry but I just can't bring myself to paying for another disappointment. I mean whatever happened to quality movies that are good all the way through? This movie is all the more painful for me because I wanted to like it 100% but I didn't find it as enjoyable as, say Ironman.

[torgosPizza]

I just had another thought - while I fault David Koepp for much of the writing (some of the banter was good, but the story itself should have been worked on more) I also realized that much of the blame should fall on Lucas.

I realized that it's probably his fault this movie was so cartoonish, since he's the one who basically had "veto power" over the previously offered stories and screenplays. The fact that this is the one that made him go "Yes! We have it!" pretty much makes me aware that he is out to make Kids' movies now.It started with Episode 1, with the Jar-Jar character, and it continues now to the inclusion of Dramatic Comic Relief Prarie Dog and Jungle friends.

Whereas the first three movies had heart-rippings, beheadings, swordplay (NOT fencing), gunfights, dudes getting flayed via propellers - ON TOP of the humor and wit, those were some of their trademarks. Now I think the most inventive method we had in this one was Indy blowing back into the tribesman's blowdart gun and him getting it in the roof of his mouth., Which was cool and all, but it wasn't a face-melt, or a heart-rip, or the breath of god.

I think Spielberg really wanted to make a good movie. Some of the parts at the end I was generally captivated by. I thought the Sci-Fi idea was a strong idea, the more it was bantered about on movie websites. But it's pretty clear that Lucas is beyond doing serious movies anymore; which is why he should have been vetoed himself, for the sake of a great story. That's why I feel Darabont should never have been removed from the project - it's obvious that he cared more about the Indy character and his adventures than Koepp or Lucas. I'd really like to read his screenplay.

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

I did notice throughout that there were little bits of detritus from these other drafts--the janitor from Scrubs calling Indy a commie was the bit that reminded me of Darabont, the whole "Area 51" thing was in another script--and didn't Indy at one point even say "the saucer men from mars"?

yeah he does, in the camp when they introduce the body.

it took me a while to figure out that the mission he was talking about while being interrogated, was the Roswell Incident.

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

that's what it sounded like to me at least, I could be wrong

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

yeah, well I'm an idiot

[Pak-Man]

I said it elsewhere, and I'll say it here. Every Indiana Jones movie has been so different than every other Indiana Jones movie, that there's no way to say this one doesn't "Feel" like an Indiana Jones movie. The basic forumula remains intact. Mysterious artifact, ,Indiana has to find it and keep it away from the bad guys. One of the bad guys gets their hands on it and is forced to deal with a power they didn't comprehend, Indiana Jones does the right thing with the artifact, happy ending.

Beyond that, the tone and style in the movies has always been drastically different, so picking your favorite Indiana Jones movies becomes a matter of personal taste. I personally put this movie at number 2, right under Last Crusade and right above Raiders. The end result is whether the movie entertains you, and if you're not the kind of guy who can be entertained by a SWORD FIGHT happening on top of 2 cars in the middle of the jungle, then perhaps this one wasn't for you. :^)

But then I've been known to enjoy things that other people hate before. I like to think of it as a strength more than a weakness.

[mrbasehart]

ABOVE Raiders? Seriously, has Isaac been sharing his crack pipe with you?

[Pak-Man]

Not by much, but I thought this one did a better job of keeping me on the edge of my seat.  Raiders could get slow from time to time. There were a few scenes that had me waiting for them to cut to the chase. Crystal Skulls cut to the chase right when it needed to. I liked the pacing just a little more, but it's like flavors of Ice Cream. Just because I like Rocky Road better than Vanilla doesn't mean I don't enjoy the occasional Vanilla Ice Cream Cone. :^)

[Tripe]

What I didn't get about the ending, and perhaps I missed something, was:
The aliens tell Cate Blanchett's character that for returning the last skull, she'll receive an award.  One which burns her completely alive.

Ok not seen the film yet but...
Considering the general morbidness of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica it's possible that such a result might actually have been seen as a gift or honor. I swear there was something really amiss with the diets of those chappies.

[Pak-Man]

I kind of got from it that...

The aliens were pretty much going to grant her a wish. She wished for something she couldn't handle and paid the price. She got greedy, and that never gets you very far in an Indiana Jones movie.

[Doctor Who?]

OK Aliens?!

This movie doesn't even get a spot in my Netflix Q.

Why did they have to make this again?

Last Crusade had the perfect ending.

[mrbasehart]

I kind of got from it that...

The aliens were pretty much going to grant her a wish. She wished for something she couldn't handle and paid the price. She got greedy, and that never gets you very far in an Indiana Jones movie.

Okay, I guess that makes sense, but doesn't it basically steal the ending from Raiders? I liked the film, but it wasn't great by any stretch of the imagination.