We first posted about the later mentioned Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Review and now that we draw closer to its release, more reviews are coming out, and they are not looking so hot.
AICN received three [reviews] today, one heavy on the “it sucks” and spoilers, the other basically saying, “Yeah, that first guy who said the movie sucks? I see where he’s coming from.” The latest says it’s a worthy addition and brings a smile.
The best review out of the three mentioned is only luke warm and that doesn’t spell good things.
This of course reminds me that back in the end of March when I wrote about George Lucas downplaying the movie.
“When you do a movie like this, a sequel that’s very, very anticipated, people anticipate ultimately that it’s going to be the Second Coming. And it’s not. It’s just a movie. Just like the other movies. You probably have fond memories of the other movies. But if you went back and looked at them, they might not hold up the same way your memory holds up.”
I of course speculated that this meant that George knew the fans would over hype its importance and fail to have fun with it like they had hoped.
Has this happened? George is strong with the Force and perhaps he sensed a disturbance.
Like millions of moviegoers crying out at once and then suddenly silenced.
Visit /Film to read the reviews. If ya want.
Awful. Just awful. Bad writing. Bad CGI. Was like watching someone play a video game. As bad as the 3rd Spiderman. Don’t waste your money.
If Spiderman has taught us anything it is that no matter how bad a movie is, if it makes a pantload of money they will attempt a sequel.
And this will not bomb. This will do very well this weekend at theatres.
Harrison Ford looks awesome, he kicked ass, and got his kicked in this flick. In the beginning there was some really zany camera work particularly in the driving sequences. This set me up to think this was gonna be another roller coaster. But after the opening sequence, the all encompassing thing that ruined the movie was essentially the story itself.
For Spielberg to say, “it’s just a movie” well, let’s see what adjectives you use to describe it when it bombs royally at the box office. And, just in case you were wondering, NO, there will NOT be a fifth one after this turd.
I saw it at the early premier showing. Personally…I was intrigued but felt alot of it seemed forced. I absolutely love the idea of Indiana Jones, but I think I would have went in another direction. I just don’t know that what they did with it was the right thing. Spielberg was the only saving grace. AS usual when he collaborates with Lucas. Another thing you have to understand is this is not the same kind of Indy movie. Indiana Jones is older and wiser. It’s a different sort of film, with familiar old charms. Some are forced, some come natural. Fortunately there was Shia and Allen to help move things along gracefully…it was not the best Indy film I have ever seen though. Not by a long shot.
I loved Indy as much as any fanatic did, but if it sucks, it was worth it just to give someone the true psychic ability of a mutant for the duration of this post!
by Darren J Seeley
“After long hours of production, Lucas finally gives Darabont’s script one last look. Suddenly, a light bulb. Then, a streak of lightning from the heavens zaps him, his hairs stand on end. Lucas hits the Jesus Juice, and says…
“I fucked up”
No seriously, I must be psychic too in the way I am absolutely sure this actually happened!!
When have reviews ever affected sales or cult followings in movies? This thing will do big bucks no matter what.
Lucas knows that he’s not going to make a movie for fan-boys. He wants to do his own story and make the film independant of the other three. None of the second two movies carried over anything from the prior ones, other than Indy reaching for his gun to kill the swordsmen in Temple. A very small nod to the prior movie.
I’m looking forward to this movie, will see it a minimum of two times and buy the DVD when it comes out.
I disagree with what most of you guys criticize here: the Indiana Jones movies have always been part of my childhood experiences and have influenced me to be a animator/filmmaker and whoever says the new movie will suck have probably spend their time playing too much Doom-type games or watching/listening to other recent nonsense. Just to dismiss it as dreadful is inconceivable, considering the talents of Spielberg and the storytelling abilities of Mr. Lucas himself: AICN is known for posting not-entirely-true-and-reliable reviews and we shouldn’t place too much trust on such info like this.
I still have high hopes on this new Indy flick and for the guys at AICN, prepare to meet Kali… IN HELL!!!
Let me clarify. These reviews we are talking about were simply reported by AICN. They report stuff as they get them.
I tend to take anything they report with a grain of salt since they worry more about getting it out first than getting it out right (we are all guilty of that sometimes) but I can’t hold this against them.
Its a review for a movie that isnt out yet. They will eat up any news they can. I would have written the same article and reposted the gist of the reviews themselves.
We can hope they are dead wrong. I really want to love this movie.
I tend not to trust anything AICN says. I will go see this movie and make up my own mind. I NEVER let a review sway me into going to or not going to a movie.I take it into consideration and may agree or disagree afterwards, but I still will go see it and judge it for myself.
MOVIE REPLICAS, Lucas doesn’t make these movies for himself. Clearly the prequels were made with the intention of cashing in on the millions of people interested in Star Wars. I don’t see him digging up something like American Graffiti which the vast majority of the world has long since forgotten. Clearly the mass marketing, licensing and merchandising indicated that he was making them to be seen by as many people as possible.
It’s not like every single person has a different complaint about the films. For the most part, everyone has the same complaints, and they’re always things which would improve the films, even for those who aren’t particularly bothered by the faults. Had Jar Jar not been in E1, would billions of people worldwide have complained about the total lack of a poor attempt at comedic relief by a computer animated idiotic alien with a speech impediment? Really?
So once again it looks like Lucas has just wasted a chance to make a great movie by not looking for decent feedback prior to releasing this film. How hard can it be?
Lucas is correct when he says, “it’s just a movie.”
However, that is not an excuse for a crappy, poorly scripted movie.
Which I feel this is going to be.
Really, out of all the reviewers at AICN, the only two who’s opinion I even consider are Harry and Moriarity’s… They seem to be the only two there who actually have a genuine love of cinema.
The rest of the lot over there are just a bunch of bitter and jaded wanking fanboy whining crybabies.
I don’t expect this to be the best thing ever. All I ask of it is that for two hours I get to have some fun at the theater with Junior and Marion. If it accomplishes that, then I’ll be happy.
“Star Wars will be remembered through out history over any other film..”
..as the films that Lucas kept tampering with until their pacing & score was utterly ruined & ultimately more unwatchable with each new version.
(obviously this was referencing the original unaltered trilogy only)
This why i Think Dark Knight can beat Indy. Not opening weekend but overall The Dark Knight will have great reviews and Indy wont so with that said Indy will fall and The Dark Knight shall rise.
I will not be upset if this film is bad. does anyone remember Temple of Doom, this movie was by Lucas and Spielburg. But to you people that bash Lucas he created Star Wars. Star Wars will be remembered through out history over any other film.
“For Lucas to say stupid shit like “it’s just a movie” is an insult to movie fans everywhere. ” – Ransom
My sentiments exactly.
Culturally irrelevant & seriously Out Of Touch are what Spielberg & Lucas are. they do not know when to stop hogging the time & the potential bank of other talented & up & coming filmmakers. for every piece of doodoo they crank out, i see a lot of potential enjoyment i could have had from some young buck’s great movie that the studios nixed just to prioritize their fucktard halfassed efforts.
i mean this in all sincerity: i would rather Campea & Nagy have helmed this Indy installment than those two uber rich turds.
or
that Prince Of Peace,God Of War has this shitbag flick’s promo budget & became a box office success.
Georgie & Stevie will not see dime one from me ever again.
ransom
he’s not saying that the movie is of a lesser caliber, what he’s saying is that these movies (star wars included) have transcended to “cultural phenomenon” levels and need to be treated like just a normal movie
i know that may sound dumb, but you have to admit that these movies are almost considered legendary, and when you get to that level EVERYONE expects you to deliver a classic film and thats not always the case.
I don’t think that it’s too much to ask that an Indiana Jones movie be of the highest possible caliber. For Lucas to say stupid shit like “it’s just a movie” is an insult to movie fans everywhere. The fact that this movie is anything less than perfect just goes to show you how irrelevant and inconsistent Lucas and Spielberg have become.
I just re-read the actual article.
The complaint that the jungle looked fake has been in my mind ever since pics started coming out. Lots of the picture look like sets from what I’ve seen.
I have a bad feeling that the only reason this movie got made was for the three way paycheck of Spielberg Lucas and Ford who saw that time was about to run out on the possibility of actually making this movie.
This film should have been made 10 years ago and for the right reasons. That doesnt mean that it cant be good though. Ill hold out hope that it will be entertaining and that Spielberg and ord had something left in the tank for Indy and that the script was sufficient.
Well see. Im excited about it, but I wont be devastated if its not that good like with The Dark Knight.
On the other side, Spielberg and Lucas did bring us 3 awesome Indy films. But still, c’mon.
My expectations for this movie are so low the only thing that can happen when I walk out of the theater is be impressed. I hope.
Everyone goes, “oh but it’s Spielberg, it’s gonna be great!” totally ignoring the fact that this is the same dude who brought us War of the Worlds.
And Lucas is the one who brought us the Prequels.
I have no hope for this movie.
if it’s “just a movie”,Georgie why bother with the hype then the downplaying of it?. i say shut the f*ck up & let yours & lil’ Stevie’s lovechild do the talking. i cannot get excited about this one bit.
I’m extremely jazzed about this movie, and I’m not chagrined at all to know that ‘Chum Guzzler’, in all likelihood some AICN review flunkie who happened to see it and gets an erection every time he slags Lucas or gets his stream-of-consciousness rantings posted on that dumpy site, didn’t like it. So what — for anyone who enjoyed the Indy movies (and they all had faults), this will be a treat to see, despite its faults.
I’m just going to pay my $12, buy a big bucket of popcorn, and enjoy it, so in my mind it’s pretty much critic and Lucas-basher proof.
Not an Indy fan so my expectation for this movie is to be a lukeworm action adventure drivel. Ford is over-the-hill for this type of adventure and Lucas’ ego is inflated as ever.
No surprise really considering Lucas’s involvement with the script.
“He knew that when Episode I came out that it was gonna be huge.”
Grave what’s your point? That he could get away with making a shitty movie?
Hmmm, you may be onto something. Once he fondled his BO returns for the TPM he went ahead and repeated the same results with the next two movies.
oh geez, i hate this whole “lucas bashing”. star wars films are his playground, he tests all his ideas/fx on star wars. he does it for himself because he can, he doesn’t write for the fans. i can respect that. i’ve enjoyed all the star wars films.
personally, i’m going in to see indiana jones without any sort of judgement and i’m going to have my son with me to share this experience.
Sometimes these fake reviews are fed from the studios themselves. Reviewers can sometimes jump on the bandwagon. If they see a early review calling it the best of the series, some of the lazier reviewers will steer their review that way without being subjective to the film.
At least the third and only positive review they mentioned had some objective things to say but still said it was a fun movie.
AICN is known for posting fake reviews, they’ve been caught doing it before. AICN is the bottom of the barrel for me and I don’t pay attention to any early reviews from them
reviewers are always bashing Lucas so I will wait and judge for myself and I for one am still excited to get back to the world of indiana jones
Sorry Grave… what’s your point exactly? That he ignores what fans want to see and just makes films the way he wants. Well that’s pretty stupid.
To be honest, I cant believe that with a franchise like Star Wars and Indy, that Lucas has not consulted more with fans to find out what they want to see. He doesn’t have to do *everything* for die-hard fans, but generally speaking the major faults die-hard fans have are the same as the general movie-going public with the prequels. Likely this will be the case with Crystal Skull too. When the vast masses say something is a stupid idea, why not find out that opinion before sinking millions into making a movie that just annoys people and turns them off your franchise?
This really makes me feel bad for George Lucas. I think Star Wars may have sucked all of the genius out of him. Maybe if he did a low budget drama, or adapted a book we could see some of his pre-Star Wars mojo. The way I understand it, before SW people were looking at him as the next great art-house film maker. Maybe he can get back to that somehow.
Poor George.
I’m not a huge Indy fan to begin with, so if this sucks, it won’t affect me one bit. I do feel badly for the rest of you who’ve been obsessing over every bit of this film, and for my dad, who’s geeked beyond belief to see this movie.
Hush Grave! It’s very popular to knock George Lucas.
Just jump on the bandwagon (the one with the picture of a forum troll on the side) and we can happily crush any notion of Lucas’ ability when it comes to making films.
George Lucas is not a stupid film maker. He is not a director that shoots a shitty movie then wonders why no one likes it. He knew that when Episode I came out that it was gonna be huge. He also noted in an Episode III interview that if he made the prequels the way the fans wanted then E3 would have been E1. Which is what fans said after seeing E3! So when I read that quote I knew that, “Ohhh, he thinks this will turn out like prequels.” I like all 6 Star Wars movies, they were good, fun and kept those ideals that made Star Wars great. Same with the new Jones movie, its looks fun and has the same ideals as the older films. Thats all a fan really needs.
After long hours of production, Lucas finally gives Darabont’s script one last look. Suddenly, a light bulb. Then, a streak of lightning from the heavens zaps him, his hairs stand on end. Lucas hits the Jesus Juice, and says…
“I fucked up”
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA
This will suck.