[Movie Review] Indiana Jones 4

Sazar

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Name was too long for me to type out so, I'll just refer to it as 4 :)

I watched this movie earlier today with a number of my friends and I had relatively low expectations primarily because of Lucas and Spielberg saying they wanted to make a "good B movie".

Well, let me tell you this, they succeeded, partially. It was DEFINITELY a B movie, but it was far from good. In fact, this is probably one of the worst high-profile sequels I have ever seen. The movie is only about 2 hours long but felt like it was at least 3, if not more, tortuous hours.

I was ecstatic when the theme song rolled by and when the iconic hat is placed atop the head of the titular character but, alas, that was the high-point of the movie.

While the other 3 movies were very tongue-in-cheek and had oodles of fun and lots and lots of brilliant campy moments that have stood the test of time, Indy 4 is full of mundane bits with a couple of good moments every half hour or so. And just an FYI, you see about 90% more of the stunt-man portraying Indy as some kind of old-school spider-monkey/man/beast than you do of Harrison Ford.

Excellent move by the movie-makers there. Obscure your title character to create a few crappy moments of supposedly adrenaline boosting "action" and then return to the mundane dialogue and life-less acting by all the characters.

Any redeeming qualities I hear people ask? Well, unfortunately not. While the other 3 movies were all full of incredulous moments, the trilogy worked because, as I said, it was good, campy FUN. Indy 4 FAILS in every way imaginable precisely because the acting sucks, the pacing is worse than some C class movies I have seen, the Crystal Skull looks like plastic and the action sequences are beyond ludicrous. Just when I think that there is a good moment in front of me, BAM, the 2 geniuses who have a license to do whatever they please decide to destroy the momentum with something so mind-bogglingly idiotic, only Uwe Boll would have previously considered it.

Folks, save your money and go watch Iron Man again. You'll thank me in the end.

2/5 OSNN stars, simply for nostalgia and some decent moments (that are eventually covered by buckets of manure).
 
Agree wholeheartedly with you Sazar. Me and a bunch of friends went to see the film, the second showing on the release day. None of us wanted to particularly see the film, but for nostalgia purposes it sounded promising.

A lot of people's views seem to be that Lucas shouldn't be allowed to write movies ever again. The storyline and script seemed haphazard at best.

A few moments of the film actually included some very nice looking CGI, one part early on in the film, then one just before the end - but immediately gets ruined by something horrific in the story line.
I mean.. the mushroom cloud looked great.. then he survived being thrown 3 miles up in the air in a fridge... and the earth swirling effect was great, then a goddamn flying saucer.. was I the only person crying inside?
The rest of the CGI is horrible, and some of the pointless parts of the film just hurt my inner child.

The best scenes (in my opinion) were pretty much shown off in the trailer itself. Indy standing tall going "Part Time!" where as in the film, the line didn't come across in the same way, I'm pretty sure it was a different recording.

I'd also like to give it a whopping 2/5.

Edit: My parents thought the film was good - It now only deserves 1/5 stars
 
Last edited:
Name was too long for me to type out so, I'll just refer to it as 4 :)

I watched this movie earlier today with a number of my friends and I had relatively low expectations primarily because of Lucas and Spielberg saying they wanted to make a "good B movie".

Well, let me tell you this, they succeeded, partially. It was DEFINITELY a B movie, but it was far from good. In fact, this is probably one of the worst high-profile sequels I have ever seen. The movie is only about 2 hours long but felt like it was at least 3, if not more, tortuous hours.

I was ecstatic when the theme song rolled by and when the iconic hat is placed atop the head of the titular character but, alas, that was the high-point of the movie.

While the other 3 movies were very tongue-in-cheek and had oodles of fun and lots and lots of brilliant campy moments that have stood the test of time, Indy 4 is full of mundane bits with a couple of good moments every half hour or so. And just an FYI, you see about 90% more of the stunt-man portraying Indy as some kind of old-school spider-monkey/man/beast than you do of Harrison Ford.

Excellent move by the movie-makers there. Obscure your title character to create a few crappy moments of supposedly adrenaline boosting "action" and then return to the mundane dialogue and life-less acting by all the characters.

Any redeeming qualities I hear people ask? Well, unfortunately not. While the other 3 movies were all full of incredulous moments, the trilogy worked because, as I said, it was good, campy FUN. Indy 4 FAILS in every way imaginable precisely because the acting sucks, the pacing is worse than some C class movies I have seen, the Crystal Skull looks like plastic and the action sequences are beyond ludicrous. Just when I think that there is a good moment in front of me, BAM, the 2 geniuses who have a license to do whatever they please decide to destroy the momentum with something so mind-bogglingly idiotic, only Uwe Boll would have previously considered it.

Folks, save your money and go watch Iron Man again. You'll thank me in the end.

2/5 OSNN stars, simply for nostalgia and some decent moments (that are eventually covered by buckets of manure).

man, spielberg has been striking out.
 
I think 2/5 is a little too generous. 1/5 is more appropriate and thats only because it had the right soundtrack. Other than that it simply wasn't an Indiana Jones movie. The use of slapstick comedy and corny one liners, the bad CGI and the ridiculous plot ( I thought I was watching X-files 2 towards the end). What a waste of time and money. I had always said that the National Treasure series was Indiana Jones for stupid people. It would seem that Crystal skull is National Treasure for really stupid people.
 
Just spotted this thread, (was linked off the Lego IJ thread).
I must admit I was very dissapointed with this film, I have now seen it twice though and it was better the second time (after the intial dissapointment you can focus on the good bits) although it is by far the weakest of the four.
I just don't think the theme works as well, and bits were not quite the same such as the general energy level maybe?
At the end of the day it could of been worse (Indy Jones and the Valley of The Gungans springs to mind) but then again it could of been much, much better (such as an lost Atlantis such as the Lucas Arts game).
 
It's a shame (haven't watched it yet). The original was the movie I had seen the most times in the theater of any. Fifteen times.

Even Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, I "only" saw eight times in the theater. :)
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
Xie wrote on Electronic Punk's profile.
Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
Electronic Punk wrote on Sazar's profile.
Rest in peace my friend, been trying to find you and finally did in the worst way imaginable.

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