How to Fix Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is an interesting mess. While George Lucas certainly brought a number of strange ideas to the table, there are moments where Steven Spielberg's ability to direct action shines through.
So how do you Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?
What needs to be fixed?
This long form video attempts to both review and analyze what when wrong with this film and propose a better version of the film.
THIS IS A VIDEO REVIEW FOR CRITICAL, ANALYTICAL AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS PROTECTED UNDER ARTICLE 17 AND 107 IN THE UNITED STATES FAIR USE CODE. THIS VIDEO IS NOT AN INFRINGEMENT ON COPYRIGHT.
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Screenplay by David Koepp
Story by George Lucas & Jeff Nathanson
Based on Characters by George Lucas & Philip Kaufman
Starring
Harrison Ford
Cate Blanchett
Karen Allen
Ray Winstone
John Hurt
Shia LaBeouf
Music by John Williams
Cinematography Janusz Kamiński
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3:35 First Problem: The Look
5:51 Fix: Shoot in a style that looks like the original trilogy
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6:52 Second Problem: CGI & Green Screen
11:09 Fix: Return to practical effects and actual stunk work
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14:35 Third Problem: The Characters
17:53 Fix: Let Indy age and cut the side characters
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21:00 Fourth Problem: The Script
25:02 Fix: Remove George Lucas as the ultimate authority, keep the genre the same, drop half of the plot lines in the movies, and trust your screenwriter to write a great script
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27:17 Fifth Problem: The Plot
28:56 Fix: Better story
There’s absolutely some great ideas in KOTCS. Especially the idea to set it in the Cold War, due to Harrison’s age. And even the idea that instead of religious artifacts, it’s an Area 51/alien treasure
Indy 5: Indy's retired. His glory days are behind him. He's dealing with the death of his son in Vietnam. He's bitter. Something sends him on one last adventure (maybe the Fountain of Youth). He tries to do everything just like he used to, but he can't. His years of physical punishment have taken a toll on him, and his mind isn't what it used to be. Through out the film, he comes to terms that he won't always be around. When faced with the offer of youth, he rejects it. During the climax, he loses his eye. At the end of the film, Indy has decided to spend his remaining years with his family, and decides to educate the future generations. Even if it's only by telling children about his adventures as a young man. Basically, it leads up to the Old Indy stuff from the Young Indy TV show.
👍👍👍👍
That is exactly how I’m going to see “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”!
Your close. But I commend you.
The scenes that actually kind of captured the magic of the old movies are in my opinion:
-The warehouse scenes for the most part
-Indy teaching in school and the conversation with Dean Stanforth in his house.
-The bar scene and the motorcycle chase that follows.
-The graveyard scenes
-Marion's introduction and indy finding out about him having a son
-The jungle chase scene for the most part
- The jungle fight scene
- The wedding
This could have been a great movie only if there was more love implemented. The lighting doesn't seem right, the CGI is just too much.
The music is owerall very good but not as memorable as the old themes
I guess the moral of the story is: Don’t allow George Lucas to control how the script should turn out
I like Crystal Skull, I knew it's flawed. I agree Mac was pointless. I never thought about Ox which says he's forgettable. I didn't like Temple of Doom.
I probably watch it every year or two. It's definitely got some good elements to it.
Why don't you like Temple of Doom?
Michael H I don’t like TOD much either but it’s still good.
SirTyJensen you’re an idiot fuckhead
Yash S7 All because someone likes a movie you don’t, get over it man
This movie can be saved:
Imagine using Crystal Skull as a template. Showcasing how the use of de-aging technology (10+ yrs for Indy and Marion), modern CGI (or it’s removal in many cases) and aggressive editing could take a below average film, and turn it into..something you wouldn’t want to hide in the root cellar.
At its core, the movie has heart. Indy finds his ultimate “fortune and glory”..a family. It just needs A LOT of cosmetic surgery.
Checkout Mark Myers for how smart editing can drastically improve the film. Example, he takes out the 3 waterfall scenes, to make it appear as one. More realistic. Also, he removes a lot of the Jungle fight, Ant and Tarzan scenes.
Even the “nuking the fridge” scene can be made less ridiculous. How expensive would it be to add a CGI lake a few miles behind Nuke-Town in that establishing shot? Instead of having a geriatric man, stuffed inside a fridge, sustaining multiple bone crushing impacts..it lands in the lake and partially washes up on the shore. Pan up and end on the mushroom cloud, with a digitally deleted Indy. Cut scene.
Alter the color grading, to be more inline with the originals. Digitally remove the exploding crates, Tarzan monkey scene, “alien” and UFO. Use CGI to make scenes more brutal, in-line with originals and less cartoonish.
You could, hypothetically, use modern tech/trickery, to better explain the connection between the small Area 51 “alien”, to the 9ft Peruvian ones. Maybe a quick-line dub about how perhaps they were designed as drones/servants to the taller Peruvian ones. IDK.
Also, dub Ford’s voice to say, “Russians. I hate these guys.”
1: fix Mutt’s character. 2: make it so you don’t see the aliens. You didn’t see God in Raiders or Crusade and you didn’t see Shiva in temple. I’d just have the placing of the last crystal skull trigger a supernatural trap and destroy the temple in an awesome display like in Raiders. Wouldn’t that make sense? One of the last lines from Indy could be akin to “she wasn’t worthy of the knowledge” (I know that’s an awful line but you get the idea.) 3: make the Russians defectors who work for the US government. It would give Mac a reason to constantly flip flop (due to him not knowing which side is in the right) Spalko could have a better motivation by wanting to bring peace and being willing to take control of people so she can gain ultimate power from the skulls in order to do so. (I totally stole this whole idea from Adam Harum’s done better series. Check his video out as it explains it way better.) also as you said overhaul the look of the film and remove those stupid gophers and monkeys. Why not have Mutt use some of his actual skills to save the day instead of going all Tarzan? It would make his character actually contribute to something.
I love this video !!! The fact that you gave the End credits at 3:21 had me hollering !!! Confidence and smart. Your channel is going places.
Anyone here after “How to fix Iron Man 2” ?🧐
Robert C. Bethune me
Yep.
Let me just say the shot at 7:29 is actually NOT cgi, it's a model
Kingdom was ok, I mean it wasnt terrible by any means, but it could've been better.
The nuke scene was a model.
+Jack Hill maybe parts were models
But there's shortage of cgi and color over correction
Mac was also a better character in the books. Such as Indiana Jones and the Army of the Dead.
Interesting. Did realize he was in the books
I recommend reading them. They are GOOD.
That's even worse, when post-processing makes a model look CGI. Color grading is killing movies, making them all look the same. I can't tell the difference between filmmakers these days.
1000 percent agree. Cinematography was TERRIBLE! Slocumb captured real life shots, light, and Indy's eyes in an elegant way.
When people try and pin all of the issues of this film on Lucas, I get pretty frustrated. Sure Lucas came up with some terrible ideas, but then Spielberg made his own set of terrible decisions. He executed the bad ideas poorly.
I suspect simply by having SPielberg direct and shoot the film like the previous 3, it would have been FAR better received. A lot of the issues correct themselves if you can't have CGI monkeys and CGI nukes and CGI aliens. THey're forced to be done practical and more reasonable.
Fantastic analogies, Sean. This is an amazing video and holds up to this day, even six years later.
Completely agree with all your ways of fixing King of the Crystal Skull. It was really George Lucas that let the film down rather than Steven Spielberg. Let's hope Indy 5 turns out as good as The Force Awakens did.
Totally. But now Ford and Spielberg are old enough that I'm actually worried about their ability to still pull it off. Ford is already in his mid-70's and Spielberg was seeming overly sentimental in the last one.
I'd feel a lot more confident with a different director attached....which I really hate saying.
@@SeanChandlerTalksAbout Well you got your wish
The Force Awakens a good movie? Bro it’s a fan-service banaza with no real story. I’m not saying you can’t do that I like fan service, but have it make it understandable within the film.
@@MichaelEarnedIt-19 pretty sure he means he hopes it's not bad like The Force Awakens
So many, myself included, say that they should have given Indy a daughter. Why is that?? Great minds?? I really like those changes to what is one of my most disappointing films.
I was at the right age when this movie came out. I saw it in theaters, I played the LEGO games, I liked Shia LaBeouf from Transformers so his presence didn’t bother me. I found the ideas of the Crystal Skull to be really interesting. It’s the worst of the franchise for sure, but I enjoy it and I’d rather have it than not.
I do agree with your assessment on the look though, the movie didn’t need to look as fake as it does.
Great video - although in my opinion you only hinted at the films biggest flaw: it’s humour.
Here’s a sentence that had never been said prior to 2008: “I feel like watching a goofy comedy...let’s watch Indiana Jones!”
It tonally ruins the film and is so different from its predecessors.
This movie is underrated
This movie sucked big donkey ding dong
What about Hotel Transylvania?
This movie can be saved using modern technological advancements:
Imagine using Crystal Skull as a template. Showcasing how the use of de-aging technology (10+ yrs for Indy and Marion), modern CGI (or it’s removal in many cases) and aggressive editing could take a below average film, and turn it into..something you wouldn’t want to hide in the root cellar.
At its core, the movie has heart. Indy finds his ultimate “fortune and glory”..a family. It just needs A LOT of cosmetic surgery.
Checkout Mark Myers for how smart editing can drastically improve the film. Example, he takes out the 3 waterfall scenes, to make it appear as one. More realistic. Also, he removes a lot of the Jungle fight, Ant and Tarzan scenes.
Even the “nuking the fridge” scene can be made less ridiculous. How expensive would it be to add a CGI lake a few miles behind Nuke-Town in that establishing shot? Instead of having a geriatric man, stuffed inside a fridge, sustaining multiple bone crushing impacts..it lands in the lake and partially washes up on the shore. Pan up and end on the mushroom cloud, with a digitally deleted Indy. Cut scene.
Alter the color grading, to be more inline with the originals. Digitally remove the exploding crates, Tarzan monkey scene, “alien” and UFO. Use CGI to make scenes more brutal, in-line with originals and less cartoonish.
You could, hypothetically, use modern tech/trickery, to better explain the connection between the small Area 51 “alien”, to the 9ft Peruvian ones. Maybe a quick-line dub about how perhaps they were designed as drones/servants to the taller Peruvian ones. IDK.
The ending, with physical bio-alien removed, could consist of both the Villain and Indy surrounded by the swirling skulls. Perhaps, using their individual voices, we hear what the alien is asking them in their heads/thoughts. “What is it that you wish for the most?” Villain says she wants knowledge, to know everything. When asked the same question, Indy responds questioning what is his ultimate fortune and glory. Unlike the villain, Indy hears Marion, snaps out of his trance and escapes. Meanwhile whe burns alive, overwhelmed with knowledge. In the end I day’s great “fortune and glory” is Marion and Mutt, solid ending to a franchise.
Add the line, “Russians. I hate these guys.” The proper call back to Crusade.
Yes, even with these changes the movie isn’t a masterpiece..or even close to Raiders or Crusade. But, handled correctly, it could be closer to Temple. Again, Crusade could easily be the finale. But, for an epilogue, this movie has heart…giving Indy his ultimate award, a family
How can you say that… arks of the covenant, god’s justice, cups of Christ and magic stones, but inter dimensional aliens is where the line is drawn! (Hope the sarcasm was thick enough)
Cgi sucks
Hearing your plot line made me so sad that it isn’t the real movie. That sounded like it would have been amazing!
Adore the prequels! Love Crystal Skull!
Broken laws of physics:
Proximity to the mushroom cloud,
Getting thrown a crazy distance in a fridge with collision landing
Not being immediately incinerated by the nuke
Swinging from vines..? Really. There’s no way to guarantee that you wouldn’t just pull the vine right off the tree or snap it
Not being beheaded by cars that would drive over their car
Sword fighting on the back of trunks going very fast over very rugged terrain
Mutt balancing between the two cars
Did you confuse it with a documentary?
What's interesting is that Lucas wanted Indy to have a daughter, but Spielberg objected to it. In fact, in the Young Indy Chronicles, the elderly Indy has a daughter.
This is great. Wish I could see the fixed version of the film.
Thanks! I really liked this video. It was fun
Edited Crystal Skull myself and those who saw it agree it's much better that way. Unfortunately can't share it on social media to reach a larger audience because, well you know: copyrights.
Cam Katarn I would gladly watch it
I’m glad you kept doing these how to fix videos, please keep going with them!
Oxley DOES affect the story since he was the one who drew the directions leading to Akator
10:01 Decelerating their fall with only a rubber raft, you've got to be kidding me. Surviving a fall from such a height with just a rubber raft is impossible regardless if that rubber raft is somehow slowing them down. Additionally, they miraculously avoided hitting any trees in the forest and surviving a waterfall, which you seemed to have overlooked. To me it looks like a lazy excuse to differentiate this scene and the fridge.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull DOESN'T NEED "fixing".
It's ALREADY PERFECT THE WAY IT IS!
I personally like the Star Wars prequels and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
But you do not like Jurassic Park
Of course I do.
Great point about the CGI fights looking unrealistic, the big part of what made the originals better compared to Crystal skull was the Indy was human. He couldn't physically beat the guy at the plane scene and got lucky when the propellor took care of it for him. He tried to save Elsa even though his dad warned him she's a Nazi. He has character development and always fixes his flaws or repairs relations with other characters. You can argue that he fixed his relations with Marion and his son but they felt forced. Also he wasn't human in this, he was perfectly fine after falling off 3 waterfalls, he drove off a cliff and was saved by a tree, he was saved by a refrigerator. The movie tried to make it seem like over the years he essentially became superhuman with all his other adventures but in reality his flaws and character development are what made the movies good and entertaining
Great video Sean, completely agree with you on many of the points and fixes you discussed. I personally don't hate Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I think it's okay but I still like to pretend it doesn't exist because I love the original trilogy so much. For me, the Indiana Jones TRILOGY are some of the best if not the best action adventure movies of all time and is one of my favourite trilogies of all time too. You hit the nail on the head with the fact that there should've been more practical effects and less CGI and that the characterisation wasn't on point. In the original trilogy, Indy is constantly getting beat up and downtrodden and so when he does eventually rise up and defeat the enemy it's a triumphant moment, yet in this film like you say Indy is more invincible than he's ever been before and that just doesn't make sense. Also, the aliens and all the Science-Fiction stuff just felt totally out of place in an Indiana Jones movie, where it should be a realistic world with elements of fantasy sprinkled in with the mythological relics and in this film they just went overboard with the Fantasy and CGI and it just didn't work. However, I did like your idea about making it more subtle and ambiguous. Finally, I also liked your idea about Mutt being an archaeologist or a girl instead, I think it would've been better if their relationship played a bigger and more emotional part because like you said, the father/son dynamic in Last Crusade is one of the best things about that film and is what made it so great.
I'd saw the original trilogy is the greatest adventure films ever made.
Using aliens as the macguffin just screams of a hold over from Lucas' original idea to make it a 50's B-Movie. He gave up on that bad idea, but he never gave up on the aliens. So it just seems totally out of place in the series and really even in the film.
Nicely done, man. While I enjoy KOTCS for what it is, I've often said that people are right to be displeased about it, but not for the surface level reasons of "gophers, monkeys, and fridges", though as you explain so eloquently, those are symptoms of the disease. One surface level issue that IS a problem: Indy doesn't shoot a single person. I'm not a gun guy in the real world by any stretch of the imagination, but it just shows how much Spielberg changed as a filmmaker and how out of touch with the character they became. In the OT there were literally JOKES in ever movie centered around Indy shooting baddies (like the famous one in Raiders, or the german gun on the tank in TLC shooting 3 at once, etc.)
Oh hell I fix Kingdom of the crystal skulls decade ago or so I just pretended like it was never made and there's only three Indie movies boom fixed
I’m convinced James Mangold saw this and put elements of this videos in Dial of Destiny
I love all 4 Indiana Jones movies and of course I love Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull .
3:12 that very smart. It tells the shallow to take a hike.
Imagine if the title of the movie was “Indiana Jones and the Waters of Life” which would be about searching for the Fountain of Youth, not aliens. At first Indy wouldn’t care for this search until his daughter (your version I like) comes for his help because Marion is dying of cancer, and they need to find the Fountain so Marion can beat her fight with cancer since there’s also a myth saying it can cure sickness, not just restore one’s youth, and this new adventure would just be more personal for Indy because it could save Marion and he loves her.
And the Soviets would want to go find the Fountain so Nikita Khruschev can keep his rule as leader of the Soviet Union forever.
Then Pirates of the Caribbean 4 had to come up with a different premise.
Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny, where evil villains (you design them) with a fun personality are looking for the mystical Spear of Destiny, that will allow them to control the world and put them on top, for whatever reason. Indy is visited at his job by his daughter and the government who bring him into action and Yeah, basically it.
I'm firmly convinced Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would have been on par with the original three movies had George Lucas not been involved.
I feel like this movie had all the ideas needed to be a great movie thrown in , but didn't actually refine them,missing that final post-production step that turns average movies into classics. Another few months of production with a competent director and this could have been epic. 24:31 is on point, there are clearly a TON of workable ideas all over the script, but that's the issue, they remain half-ideas and as a result, you get the impression that they are trying to unsuccessfully copy/recapture the feeling of the earlier films by forcing new things into a canon, instead of feeling that they are expanding as expected with these new elements that make sense.
eg.: Ox is a character that was never in the prequels, so you should spend time & effort to sell him to us first before you do twists with him. A lot of movies DO successfully trick you introducing elements late (does anyone notice or remember that Leia being Luke's sister is a completely last-minute retcon in the 3rd movie, for example?) so it's perfectly fine to do this and totally possible to pull it off, but it needed a few extra scenes and dialouge in the script.
The family dynamics and Mutt being a greaser - I think he's actually perfect. Mutt as a girl would've been stupid that would've changed the entire tone, checking how that worked out in Jurassic Park was actually the right call from Spielberg. Mutt being an Indy copy or war veteran(???) would've been catastrophic, the greaser thing is perfect since he's supposed to be a contemporary youth and embodying the generational gap between him an Indy. The problem is, like you said, that the father-son element was an after-nod in the script instead of being the focus from the beginning.
How Marion sees Mutt, how Marion sees Mutt and Indy, what she expects from Indy as a father, how Indy responds to that, how she sees Marion and him, eager to rekindle the relationship then BANG realizes that comes with being a dad he's totally not ready for, awkward moments of roleplay his image of a TV dad, callback to how HIS relationship with his dad was, Indy struggling with not wanting to turn into his dad, Indy attracted to Marion in a different way seeing how she is as a mother, Marion being protective of Mutt, Mutt not sure how to deal with this change to the mother-son dynamic he thought he had mastered with this new element of there being a dad, Mutt no longer being the "man of the house", Mutt being a city boy not caring about archeology but forced into the adventure and realizing he can have a role in his dad's life he originally felt indifferent towards etc. - THESE character moments should've been the crux of the film.
(Karen Allen is so charming even with the little she's given the film practically screams for her to be given more to do like this.)
The Crystal Skull plot: this is as bad as Lucas' original idea for movie 3, (ghosts, haunted houses and the Fountain of Youth). The supernatural elements are there in Indy movies but they are actually very overt and (this is important) largely religious in tone. Indy can't just grab a magical artifact and shoot lightning at nazis for the rest of the movie, any supernatural power of the MacGuffin should limited to a brief punch in the finale. Indy movies are almost Lovecraftian in that the protagonists uncovers these ancient, possibly magical secrets but whcih are one-of-a-kinds that "belong in a museum", treasure"s in the narrative sense, rather than stuff with the power to transform and threaten the setting (and usually lost to the competitive greed of those who want to obtain them - if Grals were littered all over the world, the setting would be a lot different and we wouldn't be so invested in the race for one either). And the religiousness helps to sell these as something that can be part of a mundane setting.
That whole X-files element should've been lost from an early script version. Going to the Amazonas and Aztec pyramids isn't neccessarily bad in itself, but there's so much you can do with a chase for artifacts around the world I can't imagine that jungle wouldn't have been lost during the rewrites or given less screentime only appearing near the end.
+1 on keeping Indy more weathered (I honestly forgot that they tried to badass him up in this movie but I can easily see it)
The daughter idea would have been much more interesting. Plus, Indy mentions a daughter in the original cut of the Young Indy TV show so it would work. I heard Speilberg originally wanted a female instead of Mutt, but Lucas changed the character to a male.I think George does best when he has an outside filter, like having Gary Kurtz produce.
This was a fun video. You should do more of these with more recent films.
Great Video Sean! Would love to see a video similar to this for Dial Of Destiny.
Great video! The only thing I disagree with is that Indy was not old in Crystal Skull. A lot of people don't realize, but he is supposed to be in his late 50's. 😁
Great, now I really want to see the movie you pitched. I wanted more of Marion in the movie we got, and I think it would have been cool for Indy to have a daughter. Since Indy is blindsided and presumably his daughter doesn't have a father-figure, it would be an engaging thing to watch them navigate that relationship, and it could show how Indy was mad his father wasn't around much when he was a kid so that could build his character about how he feels about missing out on his daughters life (for whatever reason). But yeah, missed opportunity I think.
I don’t think it’s entirely true that there are NO moments where older Indy reflects upon aging. I think the scene when he’s at his home packing up to leave for awhile - he reflects upon losing his father and Brody. That’s the most obvious example. And probably at the end when they get married too.
I personally loved the prequels and would happily rewatch them before anything that came out of Disney
That movie had so many gigantic flaws, but, even though I did not enjoy it, I must defend some of their less popular decisions. About the gophers : They were funny. That's all. CGI or not CGI, they're just a very small, completely unimportant part of a much larger movie. I can let that slide. Besides, it's at the very beginning, before CGI is completely abused in practically every single scene. The gophers were still acceptable, at the very start of the story.
About the infamous fridge scene : i know it's bad, but, at that time, after 19 years of waiting, I felt like they were really telling us 'The man with the hat is back - and he's as unstoppable as ever !!!', instead of 'Yeah, that would totally work in real life - stop thinking, now.' Besides, at the time of the explosion, it was still unclear if Indy still had some remnants of divine healing abilities. Don't forget Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade : At the end, even though the Grail was taken too far from its resting place and destroyed the temple, it's unclear if those who drank from it would only loose immortality or loose divine healing, as well (don't forget its healing abilities saved Indy's dad).
Of course, as the movie progressed, the remnants of divine healing theory collapsed and seeing Indiana Jones and his allies survive the waterfalls became just too ridiculous (and it's not the most ridiculous part of that movie).
I woulda loved if it started the exact same way, aliens, russians, Spalko, but then we went straight from rocket car to him back in college and kicked off a completely different unrelated adventure
I am convinced Temple of Doom was the best
Pretty much agree with most of these points. Also, the whole "Indy under investigation by the FBI" plot doesn't go anywhere. Mac served a purpose in the beginning, but they could've killed him off after the first scene. I think we also see the skull way too early. I don't have a problem with the Aliens; but the Area 51/Roswell thread felt like fan fiction. We also don't know anything about what the Aliens know, or what their "knowlege" is.
Interesting video! I thought the main problem with the film was the main villain.
Can't disagree at all. All of them were totally forgettable and non-threatening.
Really? I've always enjoyed spalko, in my opinion the other villains (other than mola ram) were too forgettable.
Hopefully the filmmakers of Indy 5 follow this mantra. I could live with the slightly less impressive characters in the way you outlined if the movie looked like it fit more in with the other movies and there was less CGI and more stuff that was shot practically. I've heard the 4K version of the film addresses the look/colour grade of the film. having looked at some examples online it does look a bit more inline with the older movies, or as much as it can be.
9:10 ngl did this 2 times she survived without any damage and made us some cake;)
I liked the movie, probably because I was young when I watched it, but no one calls out the fact they killed Indy's dad, even though he drank from the holy grail which should have gave him eternal life, I mean it healed a damn bullet wound, and Indy drank from it himself so he shouldn't have aged from at point either, so they did kinda spit in the face of anyone that liked the Last crusade.
Absolutely excellent analysis. You articulate points and also provide alternate ideas that could have made Crystal Skull even better.
Appreciate it 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I see people defending this movie by comparing it with the other movies silly moments. It's more about how the scenes in the 4th part were executed, the CGI was terrible in many scenes. In the old movies you had practical effects and looked much better on screen. There is also nealry no emotion/tension throughout the movie. Some characters are pretty much useless. It has some very good ideas but unfortunately as a movie it doesn't work.
I don’t think Mutt colluded have been a veteran of the Korean War. He’s supposed to be like no older than 20 here in 1957? He would have been 15 or 16 when the Korean War ended in 1953. He just took fencing lessons. That’s why he can fight apparently.
I don’t see the problem with Mutt being a greaser. That was what rebellious kids did in 1957. Indy ran away from home and took up jazz saxophone in 1920 the the young Indians Jones chronicles.
If Indy was born in say 1938 instead of 1899, he probably would be a little like a greaser.
Can you do “How to Fix Hotel Transylvania”?
After 30 minutes of slashing and burning everything, the final analysis is: make a totally different movie with everything different but Harrison Ford. I think a lot could be fixed by making the existing film a grainy b&w and make some modest cuts to fix the plot holes.
I’ve never had a problem with this film. It’s my second favorite after temple of doom.
One should see to rewrite some of the gags between Marion and Indy. It would have been a much better punchline (and fully in character) if it turned out that MARION HAD CHOSEN TO LEAVE INDY AT THE ALTAR for ... reasons.
19:55 Bruh, we ALL figured out Mutt was Indy's son, from the trailer alone. Of course, he was supposed to be his son. Why else would he be there ? At that time, quite a few movie and video game franchises were obsessed with shoehorning children of beloved characters, just to ensure the franchise's future and brag about how cool the next generation would be. Spoiler alert : It was not cool, most of the time.
Also (but that's just my opinion), I felt the quality of the movie dropped twice : First when Mutt was introduced (but it was still somehow acceptable), then when it was revealed what every single person in the audience have already known for months (that he's his son) - and the second drop was, by far, the worse, with absolutely no redeeming element for the rest of the movie.
Spielberg and Kaminski actually tried to emulate Slocombe. It backfired.
I really don't like the ideia of the aliens. A new plot with a new macguffin is what that movie needed.
Mutt was generic. George Lucas came up with the daughter idea. Steven Spielberg didn't like the idea for whatever reason.
That makes me kind of want to try and track down that version of the script and see what it's like.
Has Spielberg ever done a movie with a female lead? It seems like it was always boys adventuring and then these flat female characters who only serve to be a love interest or a motherly supportive figure
These are fantastic ideas Sean has come up with, it could’ve made the film amazing. I still like this movie even though it has very obvious problems.
Great ideas.You look like a young J.T.Walsh
I think he survived 2-3 bombs in dial of destiny 😭
Indiana Jones takes place in our world but with God and magic, aliens, ect..
28:06 No. They should have introduced Marion early and have her tell Indy : 'Yeah, our idiot son is fooling around with monkeys ... anyway, let's go on a REAL adventure, far from aliens and our idiot son.' ... only for Indy to reply : 'A son that acts like a monkey. Why did it have to be a son that acts like a monkey. I hate sons that act like monkeys.'
I disagree, when you say you could cut off Ox and Mack from the movie, without consequences. In fact, they served as throwbacks to ideas that would have made at least half a dozen other movies that would all have been infinitely better that this one. think of all the times they mention Indy's involvement with the governments and the work as double agents. Now, use that to create actual Indiana Jones stories. Use that material to create movies, limited series, graphic novels and video games. All of them would have been so much better than Indiana Jones 4. Without Mack and Ox to bring in those topics in that movie, we would all have thought 'Too bad that franchise is dead and out of good ideas - we should leave it to rest', instead of thinking 'Wait -there's still hope, if we leave the franchise into good hands.'
They chose a silly, campy storyline and tried to make it serious
Yes , you about summed it up👍
100% agree 👍
The movie should of reactivated old indy back into action. It should of had Indy retired and reluctantly brought back into the fight.
To be fair no one could survive falling down a waterfall which does happen in temple of doom
This is fantastic! Loved this video! I really liked your summary at the end of what you would've done for the plot of this movie. I won't say that here to spoil the end of your video, but I think that would've been a far better story. Now we have an Indy 5 coming. Now, I didn't totally hate Indy 4 but you're right that there's just so much in it that takes you out and that just doesn't fit the series. But I don't want Indy 5 to ignore 4 either. So I hope, with the lack of George Lucas, they can pull together a great story that fits the original trilogy. And I hope it's a film that doesn't rely on CGI like this did, and goes back to the practical effects. The Force Awakens I thought was really good, which gives me the hope that in the right hands Harrison Ford can get one last great Indiana Jones adventure.
Thanks man
I"m fascinated to see where they go with INDY 5. Ford is 74 right now and they haven't started filming yet.
And as crazy as I feel saying this, I"m nervous about Spielberg directing it. For lack of a better word, I just don't trust him to make it right.
Yeah, I feel ya. He's still a great director it's just...well, look at Indy 4. I'm a little nervous about it too because this franchise should just be done. And yet they are doing another, and you know it will be Harrison Ford's last go as this character it just has to be good!
I'd call Spielberg the best director of all time, but he's just not the guy he was in the 80s. He's an older guy worried about kids and violence. He took guns out of ET. Indy doesn't kill people like he used to in part IV.
Dramas are probably his place at this point in his life.
This is a very well made video Sean!
Your old intro is quality
Plot is Problem No. 1. Script is Problem No. 2.
Perhaps Mr. Lucas wanted to see the couple get married?
The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is no different than the other 3 moves, you're just not 10 years old anymore.
Yes and No. The movie does have problems, but its not near as bad as people make it out to be. Their nostalgia for when they were 10 years old is causing them to view an at-worst-medicore film as a piece of shit.
This was an excellent video! In the future I'll probably end up reviewing all four movies because after finishing Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I immediately watched the other three movies.
You hit the nail on the head for the problems I have with the movie. My main issue is the overabundance of CGI and the ending felt a bit rushed whenever they go into the cave where the aliens are.
I know I'm definitely in the minority for saying this, but Kingdom is probably my 2nd favorite Jones movie. There's just not really a dull moment in it for me and I'm huge fan of Shia Labeouf too, so his character wasn't an issue. I actually thought he was quite good in the movie and worked well with Ford, but I totally understand people not liking it because after watching all four movies back to back, it feels the most different out of the series.
Very curious how Indiana Jones 5 is going to turn out and I'm honestly surprised it took them 20 years to make another Indy movie after Crusade. They had a good James Bond kind of thing going on and the movies were making a lot of money too.. Always thought that was strange.
I'd kind of view it the other way, I'm surprised they were able to make a 4th film at all. I think it only happened because Spielberg and Lucas are good buddies and Ford's career stalled for a few years there.
* During the 90's SPieldberg and Ford's careers were on fire....making a 4th film in a series probably wasn't that interesting.
* Then in the late 90's through 2005 Lucas was in full-blown Star Wars mode.
* Lucas wanted to make a wacky alien movie which no one else was interested in doing.
* Eventually so much time passes that the bar expectation gets unbelievably high and that changes how you make a sequel.
When you put it all together, I'm fairly surprised they decided to do it. It was such a gamble and their reputations all took a hit for making it.
How about don't go with a script that requires cgi? As a director i would "say try again".
Wouldn't fixing it make it an entirely different movie, completely unrecognizable from the one we got?
No crystal skulls, no Shia, no aliens, no Comrade Winslett, a Harrison Ford that actually cares.
Depends
Crystal skulls were cool imo. But they should have kept the appearance of the actual alien a mystery. That wonder and mystery is what makes it an interesting concept, because revealing the alien is going to be anti-climactic no matter what since we have no concept of real aliens
@@himesilva yeah making the crystal skull a mystery could've been better. Due to the fact of bringing atmosphere, the fear of the unknown
Careful what you wish for
Lucas had a good story idea, though. It was the myriad of micromanaged decisions-some by Lucas, some by others-that made KOTCS movie the weakest in the series. Crystal skulls are real archeological relics, and many ancient people claim their gods came from the stars. The concept should’ve been an epic slam dunk. Despite being a subpar fourth entry, even the excessive CGI, lack of gory moments, not very intimidating villains, too many subplots, and weak character developments weren’t enough to completely destroy the popular franchise. I don’t know if they’ll ever make the final movie, but I wish them all the best. Harrison Ford not getting any younger. Get cracking!
Shia labeuf. Rarely, very rarely he fits in any given movie. Here, I cringed every time he was on screen.
There's endless problems with this movie, my opinion is that once the director wasn't in it (alien story) they banked on the "Indiana Jones" brand and that was a licence for sloppiness
You mention how he isn't 35 anymore and so he should be doing these stunts or he should have said he would be regretting it. Well I pretty sure people in their late 50s who keep in good shape would be fine.
Nope. Aliens changes the whole flavor of the film. Agree with the rest of those points.
Honestly I love crystal skull!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Righto, much too much and too many writers trying to fix bad ideas. You have to be honest with the passage of time. At his core, Indy was a prof who went on amazing adventures, periodically. Raiders is the best version of the character. There is no substitute for good story that holds up, whether you shoot it or read it on the page. Frank Darabont wrote an earlier treatment that was better than what appeared on film.
You might as well not like any fantasy movie, if you think willow was a disappointment.
George went full prequels in kingdom of the crystal skull because it's right after revenge of the sith! I loved the grandma example 😂
Return of Rambo in 2008 was better than return of Indy in the same year!
The only problem with ep.1 was mu h humour for kids from JarJar and a young Anakin. Change young Anaking with a Hayden Christensen and take out most of Jar Jar and is perfect. Ep 2 was great, keep in mind that its romance for teenage audience. Ep 3 is just perfect. You want to make it even better, have Grevous out and Maul do a comeback.
As far as Indiana Jones 4 goes is a great film. Most people have a problem with the aliens. Considering the period the film takes olace in, Aliens and comunists were a big thing.
A bit much cgi in some places. The one that iritated me was the scene with the monkey swinging from tree to tree. But the rest is gret.
This is a great video, I definitely like this lower key style of video for you. In your review/ranking of Indiana Jones movies the lighting was really bright and you seemed a little exasperated. Here the lighting is calm, and you seem really poised. It really helps relay your opinions really clearly. I think your points are very accurate as well!
The jungle chase scene was shot on location. In a documentary about this film, the cinematography explained how they wanted that scene to have similar lighting to the one at the beginning of raiders, which was also set in South America.
That's why it looks the way it does
+Jack Lame I guess I don't know that I believer they actually did that. There's countless shots which are clearly Shia in front of a green screen. The visuals look so different from Raiders.
Do you think that sequence looks like raiders?
@@SeanChandlerTalksAbout super belated exlpination, but they couldn't find an untouched jungle to film safely in.
So they shot it on location on a paved road in Hawaii, then they used cgi to try to make the jungle look authentic to the in-movie location.
So it's sort of an unholy mishmash, but there were real stunts happening on location.
Mac is supposed to be like that dude in the opening to original that was with him but once he got what he wanted he betrays him lol. Can't say anything we learn about the villains in this. I can't recall hearing anything about the villains in the original besides he's creepy lol.
Problem 1 in my opinion
Aliens
You got those aliens lol! But Stephen didn't want to do aliens so George had to think about it and agreed yeah you're right they shouldn't be aliens in this. Stephen was relieved and George is like yeah they're not aliens they're extradimensional beings. Stephen is like what? Extradimensional beings you know about string theory these beings are from another dimension lol like fifth dimension I guess lol. Stephen rolling his eyes ok!? Lol
my biggest problem with this movie was the aliens. it feels so out of place for an indiana jones movie. plus the aliens that they used were so stereotypical. if they went with a slightly different plot point i would enjoy this movie a lot more.
I dunno but for me. In a series of movies were supernatural events do occure; It didn't feel out of place at all. The designs were stereotypical though but I wasn't expecting anything like the Xenomorph or Yautja.
I think aliens could work, I don't think aliens are that out of place and it could fit into the world of archeology as ancient cities are related.
I could fix both movies with ease.