Canon-Strike XV: Indiana Jones

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, Crusade wasn't the first film that I saw at the cinema but it was the first film I feel where I went to see it and was utterly lost in the experience. I saw it at the local cinema in town which was the last of what was once eight cinemas the town had, it was a two screen building which was an ex-theatre that had had two screens placed where the stage used to be and a dividing platform placed between the upper and lower stalls to create the two screen set up. Being an ex-theatre there wasn't a huge amount of seats but the foyer was still in its original design with ornate grand split staircase and mid-film a member of staff would come around selling sweets and ice cream. I loved seeing the film so much my Nan took me two further times before it stopped showing and as is the way of things the cinema would later close and become a LaserQuest, then a nightclub before a few years rotting until Wetherspoons gutted every last classic detail out of it to turn it into an old man's haunt that it still is.

Another showing at a Manchester cinema nearly three decades later takes the film to where it is currently - the film I've seen most at the cinema with a prized yet humble 4 counts to its name.

I think the reason it is my favourite is like I mentioned earlier, it's Raiders with more added and all of the added stuff actually adds to the film rather than detract. In Raiders Indy is much like Bond, he's the hero who gets the girl and saves the day which is a role that he also has in Crusade but he's a much more rounded character because of the backstory they give and how well the dynamic is played with Connery where his entire demeanor changes around. That they used a Bond to play his Dad is just *chefs kiss* let alone how well Connery tackles coming into a third entry that is so strongly focused around Ford.

[Neon Ignition]

Chapter Five - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Set over twenty years after the previous film, Soviet KBG operates kidnap Indiana and his friend Mac in order to break into Area 51 to steal the skull of an alien being that is stored there. After escaping, he discovers that an old friend and Marion are also captured by the Soviets and so he and his son Mutt, go to rescue them.




A genuinely bad entry worth fridging?

[Asura]

Years later and I remember almost nothing about it. I only remember it was set in Peru because of a joke on South Park.

Oh, and there were aliens. I remember people took exception to that but frankly I didn't mind so much; the previous ones had religious mysticism and this had the whole Von Daniken thing which was a big deal in the 60s and 70s, and kinda came back into vogue around the time the movie was made. It just thought the material was handled badly; the concept was something I was on board with.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, the aliens thing makes for the era it was set in. The biggest issue with the film, and possibly the only time this can be outright said for a film, is its director. His disinterest in it oozes from every film cell. You can really notice when Spielberg's interest is lessened in a film and this reeks of a film he was pushed to do by Lucas and Ford. Give it better direction and tightening in the script and you likely wouldn't have the best entry but you'd have a solid entry. Even for what the film is, there's a bad Indiana Jones film and then there's a bad film of this type and even against that latter bar Skull is better than most films of this type.

[QualityChimp]

Years later and I remember almost nothing about it.

This! I was about to say the same thing.
Mutt, swinging from ropes, fridge, aliens.

It's not a bad film, but it's mind-boggling how they can make an Indy film so forgettable!

[Dogg Thang]

I watched it just a few weeks ago. It is a very bad movie.

[Neon Ignition]

This was the red flag. Before literally anything else happens in the film you see this moment and you know something is off.

[QualityChimp]

Is that not from Caddyshack?

[Asura]

Yep, the aliens thing makes for the era it was set in. The biggest issue with the film, and possibly the only time this can be outright said for a film, is its director. His disinterest in it oozes from every film cell. You can really notice when Spielberg's interest is lessened in a film and this reeks of a film he was pushed to do by Lucas and Ford. Give it better direction and tightening in the script and you likely wouldn't have the best entry but you'd have a solid entry. Even for what the film is, there's a bad Indiana Jones film and then there's a bad film of this type and even against that latter bar Skull is better than most films of this type.

Yeah; like with the aliens thing.

I went back and watched some clips, and now remember - it was too literal. Like seeing the alien stare down the villain like that at the end... In Raiders, the Nazis open the Ark and the literal Judeo-Christian god doesn't come down in a toga and judge them. Instead they witness a somewhat vague, but terrifying demonstration of the wrath of god.

They should've treated the ancient aliens as somewhere between technological and mystical. I would personally never have shown a bipedal alien character onscreen. It would've instead been more of a cthulhu-esque thing; incomprehensible, vast.

[Neon Ignition]

That would make for a hell of an alternate Raiders cut

[Cassius_Smoke]

The opening 10 minutes or so make you think that it might not be so bad. But then the CGI ramps up... And up. To a point where I don't think they ever left a green screen.
Its a terrible film. Even if it wasn't Indy, its a terrible film. I can't think of anything redeeming.

[Neon Ignition]

Finishing out the year and very possibly the last update for this one ever:

Chapter Six - Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Many more years have passed and Indy now lived alone following the erosion of his marraige following Mutt's death. The world has turned its eyes away from history and toward the skies as the space race unfolds but Indy finds himself pulled into one last adventure when a threat from his past risks the resurrection of the Nazi threat.




Now that the dust has settled, where do you land on the ending of the franchise?

[Asura]

Not seen it yet. Waiting for Disney+

[Neon Ignition]

For me it still sits in the same bracket as the glut of films from this year whereby it's been ripped a new one but is actually a perfectly fine film. It's not up there with the peak of the franchise but it's much better than the last one Spielberg himself made so considering the factor at play it's a solid enough note to leave things off, a better place than the franchise was at before it.

[Dogg Thang]

I thought it was pretty good and I loved the last section of the movie. I love that they just went for it there. But I found it far too long with too many similar chases that just all blended together. And not all of the characters landed. But I enjoyed it.