Indie 4 review

[Graham Kennedy]

Just got back from seeing it. It's.... okay.

It's not bad, really. But it's also not great. I rate it as about equal to the other two sequels.

Upsides... lots of impressive action sequences, lots of amazing sights. Performances are good all around. Story moves along well enough. It does feel like an Indiana Jones movie.

Downsides... first off, sorry folks, but Harrison Ford is too old to be doing this stuff any more. They make an issue of his age, the same way they did with Kirk in ST II and in Undiscovered Country, and kudos for not simply pretending that Jones is motoring along as always. But even so... Ford just doesn't look like a person who could go out and do all this stuff any more.

Spoilers follow!!!!!!!

The Skull is treated in a pretty weird and silly way. I get that they are trying to make it mysterious and strange, but what it does is too arbitrary and inconsistent. It's "highly magnetic"... but attracts things like gold, which are not magnetic materials. They make a point of mentioning this... but give no consistent rule for how it works. And the magnetism only works some of the time - for instance covering the skull up seems to all but eliminate the magnetism on occasion.

The killer ants (yes, you read that right) are scared of the skull. Why? Who knows.

The ending makes relatively little sense to me. As best I can figure it, these thirteen crystal skeletons sat in a room for centuries... then a skull was removed... eventually it's returned... and then the skeletons come alive, and fly off to their own dimension. Why didn't they fly off before the skull was stolen if that's what they wanted? And before going they give the Russian woman "a great gift"... which is to basically set her on fire. Thanks guys. Christmas must be fun in their dimension! Were the aliens evil? Did they kill the woman because they thought she was evil? Was their power simply too much to handle? We are given no clue.

Some of the action just didn't work. At one point Indie is attacked in a cemetary by a bunch of weird zombi-looking guys. We're not told who they are or why they attack. They just appear, have a fight, then vanish again.

At one point an atom bomb explodes. Indiana is right next door to it, hiding in a fridge which gets thrown hundreds of feet through the air. He just gets out and walks off. Silly. In fact that whole atom bomb sequence was one of several that serve no real plot purpose; they're just there to be exciting, rather than to drive the story forward. And when the kid does his Tarzan routine... oh please.

I could go on, and I am probably giving the impression that I hate this movie, that it's full of problems. But it's really not like that. I enjoyed it, I really did. But I think it's one of those movies that you enjoy the first time or two that you watch it, but then the more you see it the more you start to realise that a lot of things about it don't make sense, and it's not quite as good as it felt the first time. Raiders of the Lost Ark is a movie I have seen again and again, and it always thrills me. This one won't, I think.

[Teaos]

I know you were focusing on the bad parts but it really doesnt sound that good. Stupid plot points tend to ruin movies for me.

The last crusade was my favorite indy movie,

[Sonic Glitch]

Warning: here be spoilers

I believe if you listen Dr. Spelko or whatever her name is asks "tell me all that you know" and begins to stare into the eyes of the skulls and as things all go to hell around her you hear "no more, enough" etc. So I think all that the skulls know is supposed to be too much for the human mind to handle currently, hence the mind explosion.

Also, I think the ant thing was Ox using the power of the skull to ward them off, notice: he only protected himself and Indy (and the guy Indy was fighting), also, remeber the aliens were multi-dimensional beings.

They go out of their way to show the fridge is lead-lined. My biggest beef is that there is no way anyone could survive a nuclear explosion like that, and no way a DUKW could take that kind of punishment/go that kind of speed. But I'm willing to forgive them because they make the movie good.

I really enjoyed the return of an "old flame" and the "easter egg" references to the other films. (WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS!: i.e. seeing the Ark in the warehouse, and the pictures of Brody and Senior on the desk).

[Captain Seafort]

My biggest beef is that there is no way anyone could survive a nuclear explosion like that, and no way a DUKW could take that kind of punishment/go that kind of speed. But I'm willing to forgive them because they make the movie good.

I got the distinct impression that those bits (and the jet-powered car thingy) were put in purely for OTT Indiana Jones-ness. I don't think it's anymore unrealistic than a bloke legging it from a gigantic boulder.

[Tsukiyumi]

...I don't think it's anymore unrealistic than a bloke legging it from a gigantic boulder.

A gigantic, perfectly spheroid boulder, no less.

[Graham Kennedy]

My biggest beef is that there is no way anyone could survive a nuclear explosion like that, and no way a DUKW could take that kind of punishment/go that kind of speed. But I'm willing to forgive them because they make the movie good.

I got the distinct impression that those bits (and the jet-powered car thingy) were put in purely for OTT Indiana Jones-ness. I don't think it's anymore unrealistic than a bloke legging it from a gigantic boulder.

One thing that nagged at me a lot throughout the movie was the feeling that things were put there so that they could be in the video game.

Like when they were running from the temple, and great big gears were ripping the ground up. What the hell were those there for? They seemed to serve no purpose at all. I just looked at them and thought "that's going to be in the video game".

Gah, I need to stop thinking about this movie. The more I think about it, the less I like it.

[Sonic Glitch]

Yeah, I'm willing to forgive most of its outrageousness as "well, its no worse than surviving a fall in a tank off a cliff that becomes a gentle hill between takes" and other such...dramatic plot progressors. All in all, it was a fun movie. I liked it (the less I think about it )

[Teaos]

One thing that nagged at me a lot throughout the movie was the feeling that things were put there so that they could be in the video game.

I always think that in blockbuster videos.

Like the car chase scene in the matrix.

[Tsukiyumi]

One thing that nagged at me a lot throughout the movie was the feeling that things were put there so that they could be in the video game.

I always think that in blockbuster videos.

Like the car chase scene in the matrix.

You mean the freeway fight? I love that scene.

[Teaos]

It was kinda pointless.

[Tsukiyumi]

They had to get the Keymaker away from the Merovingian's henchmen, and prevent the Agents from killing him. The freeway was the only option for withdrawl. See? There's a point. Just not the most reasonable point.

[Mikey]

...and it was a good setting for auto manufacturer product placement. GM was all over that scene.

[Tsukiyumi]

...and it was a good setting for auto manufacturer product placement. GM was all over that scene.

And, apparently, the Cadillac Escalade gets a 1/2 star forward rating against katana-wielding Morpheus...

Man, I love that part.

[Sionnach Glic]

Okay, I'm just back from seeing it. And I have to say that it was brilliant. Great action, plot keeps you guessing, nice twist at the end, good acting, cool references to the other films (Ark of the Covenant FTW!) and it kept an atmosphere that, from the moment Ford put the hat back on, let you know that this was an Indiana Jones movie.
Were there bits that were ridiculous, and made no sense? Yeah, of course. But then, I didn't go expecting to see scientific accuracy in....well, anything. I went to be entertained and see Indiana Jones kicking Soviet ass, and I wasn't disapointed.

Spoilers follow!!!!!!!

The Skull is treated in a pretty weird and silly way. I get that they are trying to make it mysterious and strange, but what it does is too arbitrary and inconsistent. It's "highly magnetic"... but attracts things like gold, which are not magnetic materials. They make a point of mentioning this... but give no consistent rule for how it works. And the magnetism only works some of the time - for instance covering the skull up seems to all but eliminate the magnetism on occasion.

Yeah, the skull was a bit out of it in terms of ability. But the characters in the film do also bring this up. And what do you really expect from a psychic skull made of crystal that comes back to life? Realistic abilities?

The killer ants (yes, you read that right) are scared of the skull. Why? Who knows.

Didn't Evil Russian Woman say that people can be controled with it? Perhaps Ox was simply using it to make the ants go around them? After all, they had no inhibitions attacking anyone that went near them while he was doing that.

The ending makes relatively little sense to me. As best I can figure it, these thirteen crystal skeletons sat in a room for centuries... then a skull was removed... eventually it's returned... and then the skeletons come alive, and fly off to their own dimension. Why didn't they fly off before the skull was stolen if that's what they wanted?

No idea. This is something that isn't explained at all. However, I have my own theory on this. (spoilers for the end follow)

We see at the end that the 13 skeletons reform into one 'living' alien. Perhaps there was really only one physical individual (I know I'm going against what Evil Russian Woman said, but she's hardly an expert on them) when it was active and moving around, but with 13 conciousnesses. Maybe when this alien goes to sleep, or hibernates or something, it divides back up into the 13 different parts. While it was sleeping, someone sneaked in and stole one of the skulls. This may have prevented the creature from 'waking up' and reforming. This would seem to go along with what we see in the film: none of the skeletons are active at all until the 13th skull is replaced, then they all become active again and reform into the one body. After several hundred years of being like that , they probably decided "screw this planet, I'm going home" and left.

And before going they give the Russian woman "a great gift"... which is to basically set her on fire. Thanks guys. Christmas must be fun in their dimension! Were the aliens evil? Did they kill the woman because they thought she was evil? Was their power simply too much to handle? We are given no clue.

Jones translated Ox's words to say that they were going to give them a great gift. Then Evil Russian Woman buts in and starts saying "tell me everything you know, I want to know everything". The alien probably decided "okay, there's your gift" and proceeded to fulfill her request. We know they did fulfill this request, because while the aliens are getting ready to blast off she's saying "I can see everything". Then, just before she dies, she seems to be and pain and starts saying "enough, I can't take any more" and then....disintegrates.
Basicaly, they let her pick what the gift was, and she picked badly.

Some of the action just didn't work. At one point Indie is attacked in a cemetary by a bunch of weird zombi-looking guys. We're not told who they are or why they attack. They just appear, have a fight, then vanish again.

I think Jones and what's-his-name commented that the place seemed to be inhabited before they attacked. They were probably living there, living nearby, or regarded it as some sort of sacred ground (it was a burial site after all). They attacked, and only fled when Jones pulled a gun on them. Presumably they knew what a gun was, and decided not to mess with them. When Jones and the kid went underground, the Soviets arrived with their guns, prompting the locals to decide "screw this" and bugger off somewhere else.

At one point an atom bomb explodes. Indiana is right next door to it, hiding in a fridge which gets thrown hundreds of feet through the air. He just gets out and walks off. Silly. In fact that whole atom bomb sequence was one of several that serve no real plot purpose; they're just there to be exciting, rather than to drive the story forward.

Ah, but Graham, the fridge was made of lead.
Yeah, that bit made absolutely no sense. But it did look completely brilliant.

And when the kid does his Tarzan routine... oh please.

Yeah, agreed.

[Sonic Glitch]

Something I found on youtube...someone is either a genius, or has too much time on their hands (or both) http://youtube.com/watch?v=fTrK4VQG93Y