OMG! Indy and the Crystal Skulls! OMG! WOW! ***SPOILERS***

underwhelmed is not the word.
I dare say by tomorrow my underwhelmedness will become hatred.

I loved the prior 3 Indy movies.
I love the 2 Mummy movies.

In fact the trailer for mummy 3 was better than this flick.

There was no real moments in the film. It was just sort of there. What a waste of fucking time. More later when I can be arsed. I hope Speed racer and Narnia are better.

Critical reaction for TEMPLE OF DOOM- terrible to "OK but not as good as RAIDERS".

Critical reaction for LAST CRUSADE- terrible to "OK but not as good as RADIERS".

So it looks like we're right on track.

Michael Barnes wrote:

Critical reaction for TEMPLE OF DOOM- terrible to "OK but not as good as RAIDERS".

Critical reaction for LAST CRUSADE- terrible to "OK but not as good as RADIERS".

So it looks like we're right on track.

BULL-SHIT!
I couldn't give a fuck about critical reviews (which were mostly positive, dunno what film they saw.)
I would rank the first 3 Indy flicks pretty close to one another. Doom was my fav when I was a Kid. Crusade is fucking awesome.

This was just an unnecessary waste. The more I think about it the worse it gets.
I was NOT joking when I said the mummy films were (way) better than this was. Hell one set piece is a poor man's Mummy ripoff.

Can't wait to watch your ass try and defend this junk.

This sounds like bad news. I was hoping for something great here since Raiders is my favorite movie and I am a huge Indy fan.

I just saw the movie "Firewall" with Harrison Ford and it seemed he was sleepwalking all the way through that movie. I was thinking at first maybe that was his character but then later it hit me that the movie was just bad.

I really had high hopes for Indy and I hope this is just a case of Skeletor being a wanker but it doesn't look good.

What is really amazing is that the movie guys have a high tech arsenal of special effects at their disposal yet they can't make a movie anymore that moves people.

No offense to my computer friends but I think it is a case of getting too many computer nerds into the movie industry. They wield their "special effect sword" but have no clue how to make a movie. They were schooled in tech not art and the result is a movie with no heart.

Yeah, whatever...you were primed to hate this from the get-go. I remember you saying that it was going to suck when the first trailer came out. You got what you expected, bro!

But seriously, you did say something that could very well be the thing that sinks the movie- that it's just there. That's the worst damnation a movie can ever have as far as I'm concerned. If it's bad, I want it to at least be bad enough to hate passionately. The last thing I want to see is a mediocre Indy film, which this may very well turn out to be.

I've lowered my expectations a lot- both remembering the STAR WARS fiasco and seeing how much CGI is in the movie from the newer trailers. That's a big disappointment considering how physical the other movies were. I totally expect to see the least good Indy picture at this point.

I'll be seeing it tomorrow and I'll probably do a F:AT review over the weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but expectations are not monumentally high.

As far as the original, I like DOOM almost as much as the first film. The third was a little too light-hearted at times, but I still enjoyed it. Very much distant third, though.

Ken B. wrote:

As far as the original, I like DOOM almost as much as the first film. The third was a little too light-hearted at times, but I still enjoyed it. Very much distant third, though.

The original is one of my favorite movies, period. I didn't like ToD too much as a kid, but enjoy it now. I actually think its closer to the serials that inspired Raiders in the first place. Have never liked LC beyond the young Indy stuff at the beginning. Don't have high expectations for KCS either. Lucas and Spielberg have both earned my distrust with cash-in sequels at this point.

The first one was cool in my books. never really liked the second one. The third one had Sean Connery but it seemed more of a comedy in some places. Everything I read about this one seems to indicate it's a money grab. Spielberg and Lucas never really wanted to do this one but there was so much demand that they had to.

Money grab or not...I'll still go see it.

As for the Star Wars movies, I don't consider them a fiasco, with the exception of Jar Jar. There is more story in them than alot of people give them credit for. The problem is that there's no real suspense. We know that Anakin becomes Darth Vader and we have inklings how. Sadly, Lucas can't direct very well and would have been better off leaving that aspect to a professional. but I get the impression that Lucas doesn't like the word "No" especially when it comes to Star Wars.

Just headed over to the Apple website to check out the newer trailers. Still seems to be a "do I want to watch it for the CGI flick", i.e. don't expect anything more.

If you want to see an appalling mega-turkey look at Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

mikoyan wrote:

As for the Star Wars movies, I don't consider them a fiasco, with the exception of Jar Jar. There is more story in them than alot of people give them credit for. The problem is that there's no real suspense. We know that Anakin becomes Darth Vader and we have inklings how. Sadly, Lucas can't direct very well and would have been better off leaving that aspect to a professional. but I get the impression that Lucas doesn't like the word "No" especially when it comes to Star Wars.

There was not just no suspense, there was no likable characters, nothing to get you emotionally attached to anything. You knew Anakin was going to be evil, but he was an annoying, unlikable dork from the beginning. Obi-wan was basically a robot, and you didn't even get to know anyone else. It just felt like a soulless money trap.

It took me years to come to terms with the fact that the prequels were in fact garbage- not that there aren't cool ideas here and there and some good scenes, but as a whole they're just a horrible, horrible failure. The fact that they already look terribly dated says a lot.

The main problem is that somehow somebody somewhere forgot that what made the original movies so amazing is that they had heart- they weren't solely about parading out a cavalcade of oddball characters and floor-to-ceiling special effects. The prequels are a fiasco because _they weren't good movies_. Not that they weren't good Star Wars, they weren't good movies at all. The writing is so unbelievably bad I almost have a hard time believing that someone heard it and thought it was good. I mean, some of the lines that come out of peoples' mouths are as bad as anything I've ever heard. Not that the originals were masterpieces of the screenplay form, but even lines like "I'd rather kiss a wookie" had panache and charm. Compare that to Anakin's creepy come-on "Are you an angel?"

Oh, and then there's those ol' Space Chinamen...good god, people thought the Gungans were racist caricatures.

The stories in the prequels also had a really awful "make it up as you go" feeling- do you really think that Lucas had it in his mind when he saw Boba Fett riding the Dragon in the Star Wars Christmas special that he was going to turn out to be the model for all the stormtroopers? Hell no. And don't make me bring up the Midichlorians again- not even Lucas seems to acknowledge.

There was nothing dazzling, spectacular, or awe-inspiring in the Prequels. Think about seeing that Star Destroyer in the beginning of A New Hope. THAT was awe inspiring. And it was a fucking five foot model. Or Darth Vader's screen presence- all costume, posture, and sound design. No god damned computers. Then there's Yoda...I _believe_ in Yoda when he's a puppet. When he's flying all over the place in an incomprehensible fight with Dracula, I just think how much of a fucking waste the prequels really are.

I knew Star Wars had pretty much hit rock bottom with "Who da man? Yoda man!" That doesn't even make fucking sense!

No movie magic at all...and I'm nervous that the new Indy picture will fall into the same trap.

Aarontu wrote:

mikoyan wrote:

As for the Star Wars movies, I don't consider them a fiasco, with the exception of Jar Jar. There is more story in them than alot of people give them credit for. The problem is that there's no real suspense. We know that Anakin becomes Darth Vader and we have inklings how. Sadly, Lucas can't direct very well and would have been better off leaving that aspect to a professional. but I get the impression that Lucas doesn't like the word "No" especially when it comes to Star Wars.

There was not just no suspense, there was no likable characters, nothing to get you emotionally attached to anything. You knew Anakin was going to be evil, but he was an annoying, unlikable dork from the beginning. Obi-wan was basically a robot, and you didn't even get to know anyone else. It just felt like a soulless money trap.

I think that has more to do with Lucas' directing more than anything else. I like Lucas. I like what he's done. I just don't like his directing. Both Empire and Jedi were directed by other people. While Star Wars was good, it could have been better. But then again, I don't think it aspired to be better. It aspired to be a modern take on the old serial. That being said, I still like the prequels better than most movies.

Michael Barnes wrote:

It took me years to come to terms with the fact that the prequels were in fact garbage- not that there aren't cool ideas here and there and some good scenes, but as a whole they're just a horrible, horrible failure. The fact that they already look terribly dated says a lot.

The main problem is that somehow somebody somewhere forgot that what made the original movies so amazing is that they had heart- they weren't solely about parading out a cavalcade of oddball characters and floor-to-ceiling special effects. The prequels are a fiasco because _they weren't good movies_. Not that they weren't good Star Wars, they weren't good movies at all. The writing is so unbelievably bad I almost have a hard time believing that someone heard it and thought it was good. I mean, some of the lines that come out of peoples' mouths are as bad as anything I've ever heard. Not that the originals were masterpieces of the screenplay form, but even lines like "I'd rather kiss a wookie" had panache and charm. Compare that to Anakin's creepy come-on "Are you an angel?"

Oh, and then there's those ol' Space Chinamen...good god, people thought the Gungans were racist caricatures.

The stories in the prequels also had a really awful "make it up as you go" feeling- do you really think that Lucas had it in his mind when he saw Boba Fett riding the Dragon in the Star Wars Christmas special that he was going to turn out to be the model for all the stormtroopers? Hell no. And don't make me bring up the Midichlorians again- not even Lucas seems to acknowledge.

There was nothing dazzling, spectacular, or awe-inspiring in the Prequels. Think about seeing that Star Destroyer in the beginning of A New Hope. THAT was awe inspiring. And it was a fucking five foot model. Or Darth Vader's screen presence- all costume, posture, and sound design. No god damned computers. Then there's Yoda...I _believe_ in Yoda when he's a puppet. When he's flying all over the place in an incomprehensible fight with Dracula, I just think how much of a fucking waste the prequels really are.

I knew Star Wars had pretty much hit rock bottom with "Who da man? Yoda man!" That doesn't even make fucking sense!

No movie magic at all...and I'm nervous that the new Indy picture will fall into the same trap.

Part of me wants to agree with you but part of me still enjoys the Prequels. Do I enjoy them as much as the other movies? No. But then again, I'm not a seven year old kid again.

Part of the prequels had the made up as you go feeling to them. Namely throwing Jango Fett in there. But part of it felt like it belonged, especially if you watch them all in order.

As for the special effects...they were good but then special effects have been good for a while.

The prequels are a mess but that is a topic for another thread.

As I suspected after sleep the movie is looking worse, and I'm starting to formulate my ideas on what just doesn't work in this film.
I see AICN's 'talkback' reaction is pretty poor. I suspect this will go the way of the prequels.
The good thing is this film doesn't make the prior 3 any worse, so it's not as bad as the prequels. It's just unimaginative, stilted, and I'm already forgetting whole chunks of the film. Say what you want about stuff like The Mummy, Hellboy, and the other imitators, but at least they brought new things to the table. This doesn't.
The fact that it goes for the nostalgia tips every 5 minutes doesn't help. Just made me want to go and watch those films.

None of you have seen it yet? Once some of you do I may convert this into a spoiler thread and discuss it more in depth.

My wife nudged me before the trailer when we went to see Ironman because I was talking about seeing this. She then said to me "the first time there is an "I'm old" joke in the movie I am walking out of the theatre." We then proceeded to watch a trailer that featured two old jokes.

*groan*

I love Indiana Jones, even though Temple was just ok, but now I'm just really worried.