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

Apparently you haven't seen Ironman.

 

I haven't seen Iron Man, but people keep telling me it's good.

I usually like Robert Downey Jr.

Speaking of things I have to check out, I just bought the Indy Lego game for 360!

You know how a lot of people say that the fans who were let down by Lucas' contemporary installments in his franchises were let down because they were expecting Lucas to make them feel like a kid again as if that was too much to ask?

Well I feel like I'm this many right now ***holds up 4 fingers***

 

Has anyone here played Uncharted: Drake's Fortune? I think Uncharted is what Indy 4 should have been.

 

Apparently, you assume too much!

 

Shut down your computer now. Go to the movie theater, wait until morning eagerly, and watch Iron Man. You won't be dissapointed. It rises above the traditional summer flick (no offense to Indy) by having popcorn fun and a compelling, complex plot and characters. Not to mention the cool special effects and fantastic performances by all actors/actresses involved.

 

Iron Man is OK. I watched it on opening day and enjoyed it a lot. But I certainly didn't enjoy it nearly as much as KotCS.

 

I loved KoTCS also. I give Iron Man a slight 0.002% edge though.

 

It's different for everyone, of course, but for me (and I suspect many others) Indy is simply a character we've grown to love over the last 27 years. Just watching him in action again brings back a lot of fond memories of going to the movies back in the 80's, the joy of discovering movies like The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark for the very first time (100% spoiler free, too!).

So obviously from that perspective, a new movie introducing a new character like Iron Man couldn't possibly hope to compete. It's definitely the best non-sequel movie of the summer so far, I think, but Indy 4 is simply the best of this year's summer movies so far.

 

I'll probably go see Iron Man, but that really has no bearing on how much I enjoyed Indy.

There have been some decent movies here and there but there is just something about a Lucasfilm production. I don't know if it's Lucas exactly, but the whole team he's put together for each project.

You know it's like when you look at a Normal Rockwell painting, you can just tell it's a Normal Rockwell. There's always this specific quality about everything he has done that is just so "Norman Rockwell".

Lucasfilms have that "Lucasfilm" quality.

Howard the Duck excluded, we are talking some quality entertainment across the board.

 

I enjoyed Iron Man more than Indy.

 

Well, in case you missed it, im my first post in th thread, I stated that KoTCS was my first ever Indy flick. I know that may sound unorthodox coming from me, a huge Star Wars and GL fan, but I digress.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt though, and state that I'd perhaps like KoTCS better had it been my fourth Indy experience.

 

I've played it, and I got a definite Indy vibe from it. As a film, who knows how it would work, but the 'germ warfare' hook was a little better to me than psychic skulls.

Too much shooting for an Indy film though.

 

Lucasfilm projects from best to worst...

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Star Wars
4. Last Crusade
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
7. Temple of Doom
8. Revenge of the Sith
9. The Phantom Menace
10.Attack of the Clones.

 

I just came from a second viewing of the movie, and I must say I enjoyed myself immensely! The first 2/3 of the movie is brilliant -- not a wasted moment of action, humor, character development or plot advancement. Really, really topnotch stuff all the way around. The last 1/3 is a little uneven, IMO, but I realize I was too critical of it before. The ridiculous scenes (monkey-man and tree-driving) are still ridiculous, but somehow, since I knew they were coming they didn't bother me as much. The film is a farce to a certain extent, a spoof, a satire. It cannot be Raiders because well, Raiders is Raiders. That degree of (what I believe to be) gritty realism will never be repeated, so I might as well stop pining for it. Crystal Skull is the best of the IJ sequels, all three of which are farcical adventure-comedies rather than tough-as-nails action dramas. The tone is lighter, the events more fantastical, and the purpose purely to amuse and entertain. And on that level this movie is all win.

 

Well, that's the spirit.

In all honesty, I don't think movie audiences today would really like a movie with the same tone as ROTLA, no matter how well done.

 

I like Indy way better than Iron Man. The story the jokes all better. I'm going with some friends again after Church Sunday. I'll let ya know how it is after a second veiwing. I suspect it will be just as good as the first time.

As I stated before Skull has already passed Temple in my book. And in case you don't know I love Temple. Raiders is still the best.

 

Indy gets better after every viewing... i've seen it 4 times now and it feels like it's been around forever, it fits right in with the other three.

I also find myself liking it more and more after every viewing, the reverse of how i feel about the prequels.

 

saw it a second time -- can't say I liked it better , I quite like the first hour but the second hour isn't much .

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one to find Indy 4 is really worth repeat viewings - I can't wait until it's out on DVD so I can have an Indy marathon and watch all 4 movies together.

 

^ ^ Will you watch Temple first? Or Raiders?

 

I just watched them all Temple - Skull this past week. Had a lot of fun seeing Skull again. I'm pretty certain I'm never gonna like the ending, but I enjoyed the movie a lot.

There are some things about it that don't feel like Indy, but I think it's mostly cinematography to tell the truth... honestly, it just looks really different. Which might partly be the color process and not the DP's fault. I think it's that the colors look too saturated and bright. Even the greens of ToD's jungle look somewhat washed out. Skull looks a little too 'smooth' visually.

Also, I noticed this time that there are *tons* of lens flares. I mean, like in almost every scene. It's a super trendy thing to do now but wasn't used almost at all in the 80s so that's probably another element that makes it look different. It was actually kind of distracting because of the volume... I have a feeling it's also probably an attempt to work into an overall theme of knowledge, light, enlightenment... That's what I would guess the idea behind it is.

There's some other stuff I found interesting on this go, but I think I'll post another thread for that.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Personally, I prefer to screen them in the order of their release.

 

I'm playing through the Lego game in chronological order.

They make you do Raider's opening temple first, but then when all 3 sections opened up, I went right to Temple.

The one thing that doesn't work so well in chronological order is the shooting the swordsman bit.

You see it in Raiders, then they reference it in TOD when he goes for his gun but doesn't have it.