World Famous Comics: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Starring: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone Directed By: Steven Spielberg Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Paramount Home Entertainment Number of Items: 2 Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 14, 2008 Running Time: 122 minutes Theatrical Release Date: May 22, 2008
Amazon.com: Nearly 20 years after riding his last Crusade, Harrison Ford makes a welcome return as archaeologist/relic hunter Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, an action-packed fourth installment that's, in a nutshell, less memorable than the first three but great nostalgia for fans of the series. Producer George Lucas and screenwriter David Koepp (War of the Worlds) set the film during the cold war, as the Soviets--replacing Nazis as Indy's villains of choice and led by a sword-wielding Cate Blanchett with black bob and sunglasses--are in pursuit of a crystal skull, which has mystical powers related to a city of gold. After escaping from them in a spectacular opening action sequence, Indy is coerced to head to Peru at the behest of a young greaser (Shia LaBeouf) whose friend--and Indy's colleague--Professor Oxley (John Hurt) has been captured for his knowledge of the skull's whereabouts. Whatever secrets the skull holds are tertiary; its reveal is the weakest part of the movie, as the CGI effects that inevitably accompany it feel jarring next to the boulder-rolling world of Indy audiences knew and loved. There's plenty of comedy, delightful stunts--ants play a deadly role here--and the return of Raiders love interest Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood, once shrill but now softened, giving her ex-love bemused glances and eye-rolls as he huffs his way to save the day. Which brings us to Ford: bullwhip still in hand, he's a little creakier, a lot grayer, but still twice the action hero of anyone in film today. With all the anticipation and hype leading up to the film's release, perhaps no reunion is sweeter than that of Ford with the role that fits him as snugly as that fedora hat. --Ellen A. Kim
Stills from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
I Obviously Wasted Ten Dollars I honestly can't believe I wasted ten dollars and two hours of a beautiful Sunday afternoon to see this movie. The scripts are chopped up like rotten sushi with a dull knife and then pasted together with super glue, with a couple gunshots thrown in for good luck. Harrison Ford is obviously too old for this, and no-talent pubescent clown Shia LaBeouf just throws in a couple punches for the ladies. And it's still unclear what time period we're actually in. All the characters that made the first three movies good are dead. If you can have an alien spaceship take off from a canyon in the middle of nowhere after killing another knowledge-phychopath, and then having them all float to the center of the room in extreme graphics worthy of Michael Bay and his crew, then why not just reanimate the dead? Bring 'em back! Maybe it'll boost this review up another half a star!
on the edge of my seat Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat with action every second.
I think I know why so many people were disappointed... "KCS" was not anywhere nearly as bad as I'd been lead to believe. But I understand why so many fans were disappointed.
As others have said, it's not fair to condemn Indy's "refrigerator escape" without also criticizing all the other silly gags in the films (they are, after all, supposed to be tongue-in-cheek homages/parodies), most notably the "life-raft escape" in #2. Indy, Willie, and Short Round /should/ have been killed (or at least had their hips rammed into their jaws), * but it /looked/ plausible. Sort of. The "refrigerator escape" so obviously crossed the line of plausibility that audiences rejected it. (I have no problems with CGI prairie dogs, however.)
"KCS"'s main problem is that, unlike the other films, there is no specific item -- the Ark, the stones, the Grail -- to drive and motivate the plot. Instead, he and the others are headed someone to find something that might be of interest. We've already seen the powers of the Crystal Skull, so why should we remain interested? And we're told so much about what to expect that the climax isn't much of a payoff. (And it isn't very exciting, either.) The result is an adventure film lacking the tension such films need. The whole thing has a set-piece "concocted" quality.
The Blu-ray Disk comes in a nice little hard-back book with production photos. It's not a big deal, but it's nice to see this sort of deluxe packaging, which other companies seem to be adopting. (Maybe they're trying to maintain the price of BDs.)
Now, how about the first three disks in good BD editions?
* I recently met a retired Army man whose chute failed to open -- and whose legs were so badly injured he's now 3" shorter than he used to be.
hmmmm...... Like most pople I enjoyed the first three Indie films. However, I was extremly disapointed with this film. Mostly because I belive The Last Crusade was kind of supposed to be the last of the series. Though they didn't Try to make Ford look younger, which was good, I really don't think that they needed to make a new Indie movie.
Someone please tell George Lucas to retire already As a fan since I was little of the original Indiana and Star Wars trilogy, I knew I had to at some point watch this movie but I waited till it came out on video because while it was in theaters I wasn't hearing many great things about it.
Yeah, someone needs to help George Lucas understand that he should not be in the Production business much less ever write a script or (gulp) Direct. I think Spielberg did what he could with it as a Director but what I cannot stand is the horrible and completely out of date writing.
The movie made a lot of money, but if Police Academy 12 had a marketing budget like this movie, I'm sure it would do well also.
I think this movie was terrible and I really hope they do not make another one.
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