tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post1487917131239640365..comments2024-03-29T04:57:26.162-04:00Comments on John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV: Cult-Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)John Kenneth Muirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-88667678964051537962016-03-22T00:42:23.330-04:002016-03-22T00:42:23.330-04:00Great insightful analysis as to why this underrate...Great insightful analysis as to why this underrated Indiana Jones film has become the target of such raging vitriol and misplaced scorn. Has there ever been a more despised major genre film? Maybe "The Phantom Menace".<br /><br />"The Temple of Doom" has always been my favorite Indy film by a mile. My only beef with "The Crystal Skull" is the CGI army ants. Compare that to the terrifying scream-in-your-seats bug scene in "Temple of Doom", using REAL bugs (mostly). <br /><br />I love the 50s stuff in "Chrystal", especially the chilling McCarthy-esque subtext. <br /><br />I also absolutely am on board with the alien/Roswell style McGuffin. For that reason I give Chrystal the edge over the toned down intensity of "The Last Crusade", which recycled the "safe" Nazi villains after the torrid backlash "Temple of Doom" received.James J. Caterinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01457868136494514710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-45286726767836702802016-03-18T06:26:04.755-04:002016-03-18T06:26:04.755-04:00I really hate this movie, but I have to agree with...I really hate this movie, but I have to agree with you to a certain point, that audiences changed pretty much in the 20 years between Indy 3 and 4. But there are 2 things about this movie, that really destroys the whole thing for me and that just differs from the original trilogy.And both things can be summed down to "too much".<br />First of all, there is just too much CGI in this Movie. Nothing seems to be real. The Jungle, the Killerants, the Aliens, all the Action is coming out of computers. Well, I guess that's just how it is today, but I hate it in every movie. So it really bothered me here.<br />But even more I hate a point that you just mentioned. The lack of realism. Of course I know, that Indy never was much about relaism. We had Indy possesed by a Voodoo-Spirit and Holy Grails that cure everything and all that stuff. But there is a big differnce between the old movies and this one. In the original trilogy they always "earthed" it down a little bit. It seemed realistic to a certain level. Talking about "suspension of disbelief". I bought, that this stuff could happen more or less like it happens in the movie. But with this one it is just too much. We have Mutt swinging through the jungle with a bunch of monkeys, then he fights Irina on Jeeps driving through the jungel, then they all are attakced by the Ants, then they go down a thousand waterfalls, then there are aliens an d a UFO etc. It was just too much of everything. I know, movies are made that way nowadays and I hate it. But when you take an old franchise you have to look back and see what the people in this frnachise were able to do. Indy always had action, but it always was kind of realistic to a certain point. Or let's say "believable".<br />Today everybody is a undestroyable superhero. Take another "reboot" that came around that time for instance. Die Hard. I really enjoyed Die Hard 4. Yes, it was't the best movie of the franchise but the action was there and John McClane was ther an d the One-Liners were there. Everything a Die Hard Movie needs. I had a fun time. And then suddenly John McClane, a character who was famous for being kind of vulnerable, startet surfing a Jet and became a undestroyable Super Hero.<br />Yes, Super Heros are the new thing and all. But that doesn't mean that everything out there has to be that way. Indy 4 and Die Hard 4 (and 5 even more so) forgot about the roots of the characters and destroyed them.<br />I really hope Indy 5 will make up for it. I haven't lost hope ... yet.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-26865031866015003262016-03-17T23:16:13.003-04:002016-03-17T23:16:13.003-04:00Funny thing about the involvement of aliens right ...Funny thing about the involvement of aliens right from the first movie with the "Ark" being a device to communicate with said aliens is something I come across in almost everything I've read about the movie but despite being part of the "In Search Of..." generation it never occurred to me when I first saw the movie. All of the casual viewers of the film (you know, not obsessives like us who re-watch pontificate about and hungrily consume all available information about our beloved films, TV shows and books:-) that I've talked to seem to take the events supernatural/religious. nowherehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12125582590094636085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-49346073804550386532016-03-17T10:40:39.219-04:002016-03-17T10:40:39.219-04:00I liked your point about the change in audience mo...I liked your point about the change in audience mood from the 1980s to 2008. When Raiders came out, we had firmly turned our back on the gritty '70s action of Shaft, The French Connection, and Sorcerer. We wanted escapist fun like Star Wars and Raiders fit perfectly in that mold. Now we're in this odd middle ground where we want fantasy characters and situations, but everything is laden with grim emotions and stark violence. Rollicking adventure is out of style.<br /><br />I could never quite put my finger on why I didn't like Crystal Skulls. They did everything I expected them to do, such as use '50s movie references and a Cold War backdrop. Somehow, it just didn't come together the way I expected.<br /><br />My biggest complaint was the heavy use of CGI. The main selling point for Raiders at the time was the amazing stuntwork employed. This was no longer necessary, so we end up with Shia LeBeouf swordfighting on the back of a jeep and giving it the same sense of realism as Don Knotts flying a Gemini rocket. And while Indiana did survive the mountain slide and waterfall in Temple of Doom, it didn't feel quite as exhaustingly ridiculous as the multiple trips over the stepped waterfall in Crystal Skulls. The tone was the same, but somehow the execution was not as good.Neal Phttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com