Five Things the Indiana Jones Movie Did Wrong (warning: Spoilers)

Yeah, pretty good recap. I thought Ford was a little too old to be doing any kind of action scenes, and the scenes inside the temple were too much like the ones in National Tresure 2. I still enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as something fresh like Iron Man.

I liked this one considerably more than I liked Temple, actually. I'm on the fence with Shia Labeouf, because he kind of irritated me half the time and engaged me half the time. I did enjoy how he handled the knife-work though.

I was pretty disappointed by the movie. I kind of enjoyed Temple of Doom more than this just because of the plot. The entire purpose of the artifact and its eventual role in the climax of the movie felt completely hollow to me. I think it is probably just the subject matter that doesn't agree with me. I never found that type of story very appealing except in a campy, tongue in cheek sort of way a-la Douglas Adams (I hope I haven't given to much away).

At times, the action sequences in the movie went entirely over the top. One of the things I loved about the franchise was that Jones was able to overcome incredible odds with just his wits, his fists, his whip, a pistol and huge huevos. But even during all those exciting scenes in the previous movies, when he is taking on scores of Nazis or Voodoo priest child-slave drivers, I never had a moment when I thought "Oh come on, really?". However, I had a few of those moments in Crystal Skulls. Especially, the sword fighting and Tarzan scenes.

I loved the opening sequence and chase scene through the college. Those felt like classic Jones action sequences. And the jungle chase was good up until the fencing started. However, surviving the weapons test was just a bit too much for me in that otherwise great opening sequence. All in all, I go back and forth on whether this is better or worse than Temple. One thing is for sure. I wish I had saved my money and waited for it to hit the dollar theater or video.

It was almost like the movie was thrown together so that they could get the movie out before Ford was too old to do the action scenes. I liked the first three better but this is still a good action flick.

"the House"?

It was good to see Karen Allen but they didn't give her anything to do and I couldn't figure out why she was in the jungle. Her acting skills are a bit rusty after all these years but Ford seemed as wooden as she did sometimes. They needed better dialogue. Blanchett was pretty good I guess but hammy and unthreatening. The stunt double stuff was embarrassing. LaBoeuf was just so so. They wasted Jim Broadbent, a very fine actor. And the greedy guy who won't leave a disintegrating building just so he can grab a few more trinkets might have been good in the old Tarzan movies. And didn't the skull look like it was full of Saran wrap? I wish they'd have stayed in the warehouse with all the secret stuff. Really underwhelming tired plot and corny dialogue. Loved the ants and the prairie dogs (though Meerkat Manor is better!). Bring back the pyramids and the evil dorky Nazi with the coat hanger!!!

It amazed me how quickly the lady caught up to them, they went over three waterfalls, then went down a tunnel where the steps disappeared and fell into water and BAM! there she was, clothes and hair dry.

Also with all the water they were in, His hat never got wet or lost.

Scott:
I must confess I haven't seen this Indy movie, however I watched LeBeouf in Transformers and really enjoyed his work in it.

This Crystal Skull movie, however, validates my theory that if a movie has a reasonable chance of making money, it will be made. LOL Sounds like it was pretty rough compared to the rest of the series of movies. Sen And The City is another example. Naysayers screamed "They all hate Kim Cattrall, it'll never work!" I calmly sat back and said "It'll make money, that movie will be made no matter how long it takes to negotiate." It took a few years, but I was vindicated. Those Cosmo-swilling cougars put their foot up Indy's ass and dethroned him on Friday. :-)

I wish this was Indiana Jones 20 so i could say they are running out of Nazis or evil cult story's so they had to do Russian alien story. A trophy wife was needed for Indiana I need bouncy tit and scared of skeletons. If I was looking for my 13 head the door would be wide open for everyone to bring it to me. It just seem like it was something that should have been resolved a 1000 years before Indiana Jones was born. LaBoeuf loved him in transformers but a 1000 other people could have did a better job as Indiana Jones kid. Indiana Jones is not P.C. he is just a urban John Wayne.

I enjoyed the movie AAAALLLLLLLLLLL the way !
Good concept. A bit of a twist to getting close to intertwining the rosewell with the mayan mythology, but heck its a movie !!!!
Indy remains Indy ! :D

Your post is currently a bit confusing in that it's titled "Five Things ... Wrong" but only items 1 and 5 are here. Also, item 1 is choppily edited (Note: "the tv seriesl say before"):

1 – Spielberg and Lucas fell for the "everything but the kitchen sink" mistake. Watching the movie reminded me of the first few episodes of the tv seriesl say before he or she says it, especially when you've not watched an Indiana Jones move in more than five years. In other words, the dialogue was predictable and clichéd, which seems to often be the case in George Lucas-written stories. Also I was underwhelmed by Shia's acting. As Time put it in their review LaBeouf is "an intelligent actor without an ounce of charisma."

Is it just my copy of this article or am I missing something??? What happened to reasons 2,3 & 4 ??? The article skipped from reason 1 straight to reason 5. Did reasons 2, 3, & 4 offend someone?

George Lucas has once again managed to rape a great part of my childhood. I mean really, a spaceship at the end. I will take melting Nazis and the 200 year old knight hanging out in a cave, but a friggin spaceship. Not even a space ship, a damned flying saucer. I can't even rationally discuss this!

I'm also missing 2,3,4... Thought I was going crazy there for a second.

I too was underwhelmed. Crystal Skull is a missed opportunity if it was anything - after all the wait for the 'right script,' and we get this? Either Lucas, Spielberg and Ford were bull@!$%#ting or they don't know a good script if it bit them in the butt.

And what is with the Tarzan thing anyway way.

I don't think this movie was awful, but it wasn't the best, I have seen much worse. I really like Labouf in other work, so maybe it was just a bad film with bad acting all around, even Kate Blanchet didn't shine.

And wasn't the whole "surprise, you have an angry adult son" thing done in STAR TREK 2?