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But like I said, I hope I’m wrong. It can’t possibly be worse than KOTCS, can it? I mean, there’s no possible way that what we will see in the cinemas will be a shoddy mess, overloaded with CGI, overloaded with unnecessary callbacks and references to earlier films as “a treat for fans,” with a plot that makes no sense at all, and with much-beloved characters brought back only to be used as the butt for comedy? There’s no way at all that the film makers would do that? Is there?
If KOTCS had been a better film than it turned out to be then I would be feeling happier about this. But KOTCS wasn’t very good really, and now Disney owns it I can’t really see it getting any better. So I think there is a good chance that we have not yet seen the worst Indiana Jones film ever made, because they are still making it, and it is yet to be released.
But I do hope my worries are unfounded because I love the character.
You say KOTCS is a shoddy mess, overloaded with CGI, but I watched Joe Johnston's Captain America again the other day, and that is an incredibly bland bit of nothing, similar in tone in that it's a period adventure story full of derring-do: but if you want to look at something with an empty heart and wall-to-wall terrible CGI (despite good performances), there's your film. Skull actually feels like a real, proper old fashioned movie next to that.
I have to respectfully disagree here; Captain America is a far better film, on every level. For me it a too 5 Marvel film.
And you can’t deny it has far more and far worse CGI. Look at that dreadful runway scene towards the end with Tommy Lee Jones pretending to drive a car. Or that embarrassing train sequence. It seems kind of crazy people complain about Skull using CG when it’s full of real stunts. I spotted about two in Cap America.
I couldn’t disagree more, but that’s just personal preference.
As far as the CG, the work that was done on “ skinny “ Steve Rogers is exceptional and the rest suits the comic book source material of the film. I tend to be more forgiving when it comes to CG for a comic book adaptation. I expect more from Indiana Jones.
The skinny stuff is amazing (even if I never believe it), but the comic book thing is really just an excuse- it's awful CG and really ruins the film. I don't for a second believe that train abseil thing and it looks stupid. Basically it means people hold Indy to a higher standard, which is understandable but not fair. To gripe about the CG in that and look past horrible stuff like Cap Am has in the same genre (and made several years later!) is odd.
It's a very hollow and charmless film and just feels empty, drifting into a greenscreen world of bland action about two thirds in and never recovering. There's even a bike chase which is shot for real and it's.. nothing. I was so disappointed that it came from the director of Rocketeer. KOTCS has bags more heart, flawed though it is.
We must have seen different movies . 😉
Well you think that wasn't all horrible CG then I'll have to give you the name of my oculist :D
Ford v Ferrari was set in 60s and was done perfectly… whereas Crystal Skulls 50isms were so heavy handed and contrived it was ridiculous.
I have been thinking recently that as good as it was, Last Crusade did mess the series up slightly. Temple was a proper 'next film in the sequence', almost like a Bond film- it was the same character in a new and interesting adventure. But Last Crusade went back to the Raiders formula- it even used the same font in the credits! And now that seems to be seen as the 'Indy formula': do a Raiders remake with a Jones family member.
I'm certainly hoping that, as you say, they take more of a lead from Temple's way of doing things i.e. a new adventure story with Indy in it which doesn't take the form of 'race against time to find a christian relic which an army of baddies are also searching for, which will kill them in the end, with a third act vehicle chase, ideally in a desert'.
Anyway, if you want to see how an Indiana Jones movie could work in the sixties, just consider one of its inspirations (which I may have already mentioned here), That Man from Rio.
Indiana Jones is part James Bond, and part Tintin, the Belgian comics, except that neither Spielberg nor Lucas knew Tintin at this point. Spielberg had on the other hand watched dozens of time a French film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo called That Man from Rio, co-starring the late Françoise Dorléac (Catherine Deneuve's sister) and Adolfo Celi. Director Philippe de Broca had worked for a while on a live action Tintin adaptation that didn't go off the ground (it was ultimately handled by a different team) but paid tribute to the albums when he put together an adventure film with Belmondo.
Spielberg ultimately discovered Tintin when people pointed out to him that it was a major inspiration on this French film.
And many things from the opening sequence from ROTLA, like the giant ball and the statue, are references to the ending of That Man from Rio.
Belmondo and de Broca worked together a few more times, including Up to His Ears (co-starring Ursula Andress), which is not as satisfying as That Man from Rio but features impressive stunt work by Belmondo (it reportedly impressed the Hong Kong film industry and a young Jackie Chan a lot), and Le Magnifique, where Belmondo's love interest is Jacqueline Bisset. Le Magnifique is a trite spy story... that doubles up as comedic meta fiction. The first sequences are ridiculously pulp and corny, starring French suave spy Bob Saint-Clar, until it's revealed that they're the work of criminally shy writer François Merlin (also Belmondo), who has to deliver a 43th entry in his series but faces a lot of issues in his life, that permeate more and more in his writing. Merlin/Saint-Clar is less a reference to Fleming than to the second rate spy thrillers which where very popular in France at the time (OSS 117 of course, but also SAS).
I mention this because these films were also a huge inspiration to the recent OSS 117 spoof reboot starring Jean Dujardin, particularly the second one. There's a third film that will premiere in Cannes next week, but it looks like there's a different creative team in charge.
These sound good, I’ll have to check them out, thanks.
I also do think she will be good, I could be wrong on any of this but I think Shaunette Renée Wilson may be one of the baddies. Either way, a female baddie would be great. I loved Elsa from The Last Crusade, and even Irina Spalko.
Actually that's one aspect in which Skull does deviate from the Raiders/Crusade template: Spalko is really the only villain. I know there's the other Russian guy with the name beginning with D ( :) ) but he's more of a Bond-style henchman than a co-villain like Toht or Vogel.
Some folks have wondered whether the film might be set before 1962. Were there really some sort of Mets reference in the film, that would indicate the film were not set before 1962.