Spoilers do follow. Also, some bitching.

It just doesn't sit right with me at all. On one hand I thought the first hour was pretty great and actually felt like an Indy movie but then it just went all... Lucas. :(

Ok, maybe I'm a little late to weigh in on this moggie but I've been trying to work out how I really feel about it. From the nuclear fridge to Shia "tarzan" Labeouf it all doesn't go down well with me. I mean, all the actors in the movie did a pretty nice job. At times the cast did feel a little too crowded but overall I can't really fault any of the actors. Sure the script was a little iffy but they did their best with what they had. Also, as much as I thought Harrison pulled off Indy once again I don't think anything could be more awesome than Cate Blanchett in leather boots with a Russian accent.

In a nutshell for me Indy 4 was pretty great but it was crippled by only a few scenes. Funnily enough these scenes must have been crowbarred in by George Lucas as they just scream the quality of the Star Wars prequels. The scenes I'm talking about are pretty much the prairie dog scenes, the tarzan scene, the nuclear fridge and the ending that showed way too much of the aliens. Just imagine that Spielberg had full control over this project. I could live with all the goofy stuff but they showed too much at the end regarding the aliens. It was too in your face and was really too over the top even for an Indy movie. I know some people will say that the Indy movies were always over the top what with the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant rearing their heads but those ideas still kept the us firmly in the real world while not getting too realistic. It was a perfect mix for awesome entertainment.

At the beginning over the movie when it shows the alien corpse I thought it was nicely done. It eludes to something bigger. But the payoff at the end was way too much. If the alien on screen killing Spalko was in your face enough the giant UFO took the biscuit. If they do make an Indy 5 where can it go? I mean, you can't get any bigger than aliens.

Man, I'm a little pissed off. Minus all that Lucas garbage it was great. 3/4 classic Spielberg, 1/4 goofy Lucas. :(

denny, i know EXACTLY how you feel. the alien part was just so unrealistic and stupid. it prevented me from truly enjoying the movie. and i also agree about cate blanchett. imo, she carried the movie.

Did anyone else read the original script of the movie? It leaked out a few weeks after the release of the movie and was easily obtainable online.
In a nutshell, it was a superior version of the movie, as well as where most of the key elements/ scenes from the movie came from (as it was the first of many).
There was no "Mutt" character, the psychic Russian chick wasn't in it, and Marion Ravenwood was an ass-kicking older version of herself, rather than the watered-down, whimpy mom version we got. The basic premise is more or less the same, except all the sucky scenes in the movie are either well-written or gone. The plot is a lot more straightforward, while maintaining a sense of mystery and excitement. Sure, it had some bumpy sections, but they just needed an actor's touch or some polishing, that's all.
Here are some specific examples from the script:
The rocket sled/ atomic fridge scene originated in this script. Except here, it's much better. There's more build-up, there are a few Soviets chasing Indy on foot, and they both have the same realization of their situation at the same time, and together make a run for it. Indy realizes its pointless and instead runs back into the town and clears out the refrigerator, which flies over the heads of the running Soviets just as the heat/blast wave hits them (the script has them staring at the flying fridge as they're vaporized. It's a bit more personal, and at the same time funnier).
Also, the alien scene is also there, except there's only one, and it's a nasty bastard. It basically "grants" any wish a person may have and distracts them with the euphoria of their fulfillment while it vaporizes them and absorbs their bodies to regenerate itself. Remember how every Indy movie had a scary, shocking moment (like when the Angels turned into wraiths and melted the zombies, or when that guy drank from the wrong grail and aged super-fast)? This was it, and it was really castrated in the final version.
Anyway, you can find it here:
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1498453
Read it for yourself and be disappointed by the film that could have been.

Yeah, I'll have to read it soon. I've had it on my pc since it was leaked but didn't get a chance to read over it. I*'m sure it is much better though. I mean, it is good old Frank Darabont.

I don't get the Lucas hate in relation to this movie. This film wasn't getting made until writers, producers, director, and lead actor were all 100 percent behind the script. Blame all of them, they all wanted this specific story told. It seems to be disregarded that aliens are big time Spielberg territory, he was probably jacking off to the idea more than anyone

Not just you though, a lot of people seem to immediately blame Lucas.

I really liked the movie. Of all the summer blockbusters I suppose it's my 2nd or 3rd favorite, battling Iron Man for those spots after The Dark Knight. It's been claimed to be way too unrealistic and ridiculous but when I watch the original 3 - they're all that way. Yes, I'm one of those types. Indiana Jones is supposed to be about flat out fun grand adventure, and I think this one totally delivered that. They've absolutely never worried about realism or plausibility. The whole series is fucking crazy - and it's awesome.

Ah yeah, I didn't address the division of hate between Spielberg and Lucas.
First - Face it, Lucas got fucking LUCKY with A New Hope, and then left the other two movies in more capable hands. Sure, he still produced and helped write all the Star wars movies, but if he had been directing as well, he would have screwed up that trilogy too. Have you seen THX 1138? I watched it, hoping to see a bit of genius, but Lucas is just not a good director. His stories are interesting concepts, but he should really invest in a team of writers to hammer out his dialog and character motivation, as well as making better casting decisions. Hayden Christensen was a terrible choice. Sure, he kinda looks like he could be the father of Luke Skywalker, but if he can't act like it there's no point. His camera work is also pretty bad. They're all effects-oriented, rather than attempting to convey the moods and feelings of characters, or give a sense of what is happening in the story. Prime example:
Couresant. Pretty much every shot on the planet is to convey a sense of the enormous scale of the city-planet. Okay, we get it it. The place is friggin' huge. That's why we had an establishing shot. Now focus on Obi-wan and Anakin.
Now as for Spielberg - He is a skilled filmmaker, or at least he was. I love Jaws, ET, the Indiana Jones trilogy, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan....but it seems that about that time his ability to make excellent movies began to wane. War of the Worlds, Munich, Indy 4, they're all decent films, not bad, but oh they could have been better. I don't know whats going on there, but I don't like it. He should have stepped in during the production of Transformers to address some of the issues in the story (for example, Bumblebee and Sam should have been buddies the minute Sam found out he was really a huge robot in disguise, rather than Bay doing the typical "let's have some fun and scare the hell out of the kid" bit) because as the producer, he can do that.
Anyway, I have a lot less gripes about Spielberg than Lucas. Lucas got lucky once (and he doesn't even like the original Star Wars, I might add), and Spielberg continued to make excellent movies again and again over the years.

I don't get the Lucas hate in relation to this movie. This film wasn't getting made until writers, producers, director, and lead actor were all 100 percent behind the script. Blame all of them, they all wanted this specific story told. It seems to be disregarded that aliens are big time Spielberg territory, he was probably jacking off to the idea more than anyone

Not just you though, a lot of people seem to immediately blame Lucas.

I really liked the movie. Of all the summer blockbusters I suppose it's my 2nd or 3rd favorite, battling Iron Man for those spots after The Dark Knight. It's been claimed to be way too unrealistic and ridiculous but when I watch the original 3 - they're all that way. Yes, I'm one of those types. Indiana Jones is supposed to be about flat out fun grand adventure, and I think this one totally delivered that. They've absolutely never worried about realism or plausibility. The whole series is fucking crazy - and it's awesome.



I know and I don't want to be in on the "hate modern Lucas camp" to be honest. Without that guy we wouldn't have either Star Wars or Indiana Jones and for that I'd happily get messy with him. But like I said, despite all the crazy bits that made me cringe I did really really enjoy it. I just felt that some things were a little too out there even for an Indy flick. Still, second best summer movie after TDK imo .

I just had to vent, man. Gimme some manlove, won't you.

Yeah that's cool. It's just interesting to me how most people that have gripes have the exact same ones and some of them I just sort of wonder how it's an issue. I remember one guy saying he hated it because the end was people standing around while a bunch of effects twirl around the screen. I guess he never saw the big climax in Raiders :( A lot of the complaints I just sort of scratch my head over.

The whole escape-chase with the sword fighting, the fist fight, the fucked up ants, the ridiculous waterfall scene, and how all that empties right into the later scenarios of the film reminded me a lot of the best parts of some of the other Indy movies and the first Star Wars. Shit just keeps happening, situation after situation, and it's a really good ride. Yeah...there's the goofy monkey swinging bit but otherwise I thought all of that hit the mark perfectly :D I guess that was my favorite part overall. For me - I guess everything up to there pretty much makes up for any of the weirder things that go down in the ending.

I was extremely disappointed with this movie. My dad kept on going on about how shit it was and how the actors were too old to play the characters especially the lady who played Marion. Did you see her face!? Jesus christ!

The cute prairie dogs that pops up in the first scene and pops up again in numbers the next makes the movie really cartoonish. It was more Bugs Bunny than Indiana Jones. :(

Wanted was a better movie than Crystal Skull.