(Spoilers) Initial Reactions and Discussion for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

will this thread be spoilers allowed....spoilers highlightable, or no spoilers?

 

The major media publications, TIME, Entertainment Weekly, People, etc. have posted their first reviews and generally they're favorable. However be warned they're full of spoilers. I had to stop reading the TIME review after the first paragraph.

 

Right now it has 67% at RottenTomatoes, which is pretty decent. These are mainly from its "top critics" selections, like Variety and Hollywood Reporter, which are usually the most demanding bunch. So, when the rest of the reviews come in it'll probably settle in the high 70's.

 

Good, a 70-80% I can handle.....as long as it isn't below 50% I'll be pretty happy.

 

Don't really care what the reviews say. It isn't my movie, I'm only concerned about how I feel about it.

 

Can't say that I give two farts what the stupid Tomatometer says since really it's the combined score for a bunch of opinions that ain't mine. And when all is said and done I'm paying my ten bucks to see this sucker so it's my opinion and my opinion alone that matters.

That said I'm certain that Lucas, Spielberg and Ford have sufficent magic left in their brown fedora to give me another ride of my life keeping up with the Jones's.

 

Can't say that I give two farts what the stupid Tomatometer says since really it's the combined score for a bunch of opinions that ain't mine. And when all is said and done I'm paying my ten bucks to see this sucker so it's my opinion and my opinion alone that matters.

That said I'm certain that Lucas, Spielberg and Ford have sufficent magic left in their brown fedora to give me another ride of my life keeping up with the Jones's.

Boy, are WE in agreement.

I've read a few of the reviews, it's quite clever the way a lot of the critics work both sides of the fence. They're sort of like high school debaters who can take any side of an issue, and in this case, a lot of them decided before they walked into the theatre that one way or another, they were going to skewer this movie, and of course, if there's a will there's a way.

I read one review that basically claimed the problem was big over the top action pieces and CGI...WHAT? It's an INDIANA JONES movie...what do you expect? If they don't put enough action and adventure in, then they would have complained that it lacked the scope and energy of the previous films. If you go all out to give the audience thrills, then it's "too much." They HAVE to have something to complain about. It's all they live for.

Not all of the reviews are negative of course, I've certainly read some positive ones, but honestly, some of these critics are so predictable it's embarassing.

 

Yeah, complaining that there's too much action in one of these movies is like complaining that there's too much Indiana Jones. "I mean, that guy in the fedora was in, like, every scene!"

 

It's like watching a porn movie and complaining about all of the sex and nudity.

--MissPadme

 

Certified fresh on rt.com now at 81% and rising.

 

Very good rating so far.

-matthew

 

The intersting thing about the "too much action" complaints is that some people would say that even RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK has too much action. Gary Kurtz is one of those people. He beleives that RAIDERS is a part of the era of blockbusters' obsession with huge action sequences as opposed to story and character. He does not beleive A NEW HOPE and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK are a part of this.

 

Saw it, loved it! I initially experienced it all a lot like I did The Phantom Menace. Hard to process in the beginning, absorbing all this new material becoming a part of a familiar fictional world I've cherished for years... but then something's triggered, by the simplest sight or sound and I feel at ease. The man with the hat never left, he just didn't check in for a while.

I look forward to seeing it again and again, soaking it all up and becoming more and more familiar with it over time as I am with the others.

 

Well i saw the movie last night (05-20-2008) at a special screening. I have some mixed views about it. First of all i wanted to say I love the old trilogy. I didn't care to much about the voodoo side of temple of doom, but it was a fun movie. Now to KOTCS

SPOILERS for sure....
The movie started out great. Indiana Jones was kidnapped and brought to area 51 by the Russians to find an object that is located in that huge room at the end of Raiders of the Lost Arc with all those boxes. Indy helps them find what they are looking for but then he tries to escape. Indy cool during these scenes. He's punching people and using his wip and all. Its cool too during these scenes because you see a cameo of the Arc. At one point as Indiana is driving and trying to escape in that huge room, you see a cracked open box and you can clearly see its the Arc.

But the first real what the heck moment is when Indiana goes into a small town while escaping and realises that the town is a test are for a nuclear bomb. Indy realises a Nuke is about to go off, so he goes and hides into a fridge. When the nuke goes off (which by the way the graphics were amazing for that scene) you see the fridge getting thrown miles away. Its lands and of course indy comes out fine. Then you see indy standing and looking at the Nuke explosion (which again the actual Nuclear mushroom effect is the best i've ever seen on screen)

Anyways i dont want to write about every scene, but I'll say the thing that bothered me the most were the really unrealistic ways Indiana or others survive certains things.
1) Indiana survives a Nuke bomb
2) A truck falls right on top of Indianas car (with Jones son and Jones friend) and they all survive.
3) Falling off 3 huge waterfalls
4) Jones girlfriend drives off a cliff with Jones and others in the car and lands on a long branch that slowly lowers them to the water. And the whole time the girl was laughing like she knew it'd be that easy.

I know some of the old movies hard weird survival stuff like in Temple of Doom when they jump off the plan and land in the water with a small 3 person boat.

But one thing I liked about the older movies was that you knew what Indiana Jones was trying to do.
The first movie he's looking for the Arc
The second one he's looking for those stones/free the slave kids
3rd find the holy grail and save his dad.

This one was kinda off. He was looking for the skull, but then when he found it, it didn't know what he was really trying to do. What was the purpess of the skull? I know they explain it, but its not as simple as the old movies.

Plus Indiana seemed to be caputed almost throughout the whole movie. It wasn't as fun as the old movie. I loved the start of the movie. I love the interaction with indy and his son, and the whole car/bike chase.

So i guess i'll say a few things I did like/love
-I loved that they showed a picture of Marcus and Henry Jones Sr.
-I loved that 50's look to the movie, especially when Indiana and his son were in the dinner together
-I really loved when Indiana son tried to save Indiana from the quick sand by tossing him a huge snake to use as a rope. That was the funniest part of the whole movie, if not the whole indiana Saga.
-I loved of course the music. I really didn't noticed any 'new' music that i'll remember.
-I gotta say this movie had to great special effect shots that I thought looked beatiful. When Jones was standing looking at the end of the nuke, and when Jones was standing and looking at the space ship leave. Those were amazing looking shots (yes there are aliens in this movie)
-Overall there were a lot of little things here and there i loved. Its just nice to see Jones again.

Anyways theres alot more i could right. It was a fun movie, but as of now.... this might be my least favorite Jones movie.


Ok end of spoilers

 

I like it, great movie

The finale is a bit weird, can't really put my finger on it, but the rest of the movie is just so much fun.

Definately over the top, but hey, that's Indy, always been that way

 

I liked it too, just came back from an early showing... i give it a solid 9

For me, it was fun and sooo typical Indy in many moments, i found myself laughing ... it had plenty of action, and once it started, i was hooked.

I would recommend it, and i would ignore critics and reviews and just go to enjoy an Indy movie ... i know i'll be rewatching it at least once more before the weekend is over

 

Sweet. Nice to drop by here too and good to know that you liked it

Im going to see it tomorrow.

 

I just got back from a midnight showing and after my first viewing.....I'm disappointed to say the least. That was virtual consensus I gathered when everyone was walking out of the theater. Maybe it'll be better the second time around....

 

That's not at all what other people are saying. Not by a long shot.

So you were disappointed "to say the least", but you're going to see it AGAIN?

 

Just got back from a 12:20 showing. Basically the first half is incredible--great set-up,and good potential. The final act is disappointing, confusing, and generally bad. Not sure what happened. I thought it was leading somewhere more interesting, thought the characters would be explored in more detail, and thought there would be more depth to the relationships. It all abruptly ends.

This is an interesting Indiana Jones meets the atomic age, Cold War tension, and McCarthy era paranoia. An interesting combination, but a squandered concept. In the first half, I was thinking that this could be one of the better Indy films, sadly it just doesn't turn out that way.

-Seldon

 

I am a HUGE Indiana Jones fan. I purposely avoided spoilers of any sort, I accidentally stumbled across a few here and there, but nothing that I felt would ruin my experience. I went in with a fresh open mind, having just re-watched the original films. Midnight showing!

I sit here now and I believe I may be in a state of shock.

Absolute garbage.

I have no idea where any of these good reviews are coming from. I feel unfortunately people didn't know how to react so there was a bandwagon effect...you can't trash an Indy film...right? I mean it's Indiana Jones. It can't be bad! Unfortunately that's not the case.

This was an absolute letdown on all levels. The absurdity of the film and where it takes you for the final act is beyond me. There are some scenes mid-way through the film that feel like a genuine Indiana Jones movie. But the last thirty minutes of this movie completely killed any semblance of this being a good film. What in the world were they thinking?

I have to let this run through my head for a little before I can write a real review. But I honestly wish I had sat this one out...

I've had a long exhausting day. I need to get rest. I will be back. I would imagine that some people won't be pleased with my words, but I know there has to be others out there like me that were left pulling their hair out.

-matthew

 

Overall, I had a great time, and for the most part the reactions of other folks at the midnight screening were fairly enthusiastic.

It's hard to compare the movie overall to the original trilogy, because GL and SS set out to do something quite different to begin with. All of the original trilogy movies were set in the late 30's, this is set 20 years later -- and just as the earlier movies drew a lot of inspiration from the serials of the 30's and 40's, this one seems to draw a lot from the cheesy sci-fi movies of the 50's. I believe that's fully what Lucas and Spielberg intended.

My biggest concern overall, going in, was pacing. And although I'd heard some critical comments about the pacing in the mid-section, I actually thought the pacing was quite good all the way through. The whole 2 hours went by incredibly quickly, compared to almost any movie I've recently seen in a theater (could waiting in line for a few hours beforehand have an effect? Not sure).

There's a few quibbles, but nothing huge. I think Williams' score might be a bit of a letdown only in that it didn't seem to introduce any new catchy theme like the doom-doom-dum-dum-dum-dum-doom theme of Temple of Doom or the scherzo for motorcycle from Last Crusade.

Also, there's a slight reference to something from the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles that might rise a few eyebrows -- the explanation that Indy learned Quechua "from a couple of guys who fought with Pancho Villa" (which is patently ridiculous because Quechua is only spoken in the Inca section of South America) I mean, it's cool to reference something we watched in YIJC, but it would have made a lot more sense if he'd just explained he'd spent some time in the area where Incas used to live.