When I was dragged to see National Treasure 2: Treasure and Treasurer I sat through the lamest paint-by-the-numbers Indy knockoff I’ve ever had the displeasure of seeing. I told my wife “This summer, Spielberg is gonna show them how it’s done.”
I’m going to see it Monday so I hope I’m correct. Looks like the jury is still out.
There was one part where they walk into a “treasure room” which they’d been looking for throughout the movie. I half expected Nicholas Cage to come walking through an opposite door.
This Indy flick does, in fact, feel quite a bit like the National Treasure movies. It’s a lot better than the National Treasure movies (getting assraped by a camel is better than the National Treasure movies), but the cutesy feeling is definitely there. Call it one part National Treasure to nine parts Indy. Not overwhelming, but a recognizable scent.
Actually, the ending of this was a big problem for me. Specifically the escape moment:[spoiler]Marion drives up to the cliff edge, looks over, grins, and drives back into the fray. Then, a minute later, she’s gunning it straight at the cliff with everybody aboard, yelling “trust me” while her passengers panic. They go off the cliff and land in the tree, which slowly bends and deposits them in the river. Marion grins smugly, as if to say, “I told you so.”
Which means: she knew it was going to work. Which is the antithesis of the Indiana Jones model. Everything is seat-of-the-pants, skin-of-the-teeth, razor’s-edge, lucky-break, blah blah blah. Recall, from Raiders, the tiny breather in the tent before he steals the horse and goes after the truck, when Sallah asks what he’s going to do next: “I don’t know, I’m making this up as I go.” The beauty of the Indiana Jones action style is that lots of stuff doesn’t work. The heroes go at the bad guys, get knocked around, and are thrown clear; they catch themselves and go back at the bad guys again. There’s a moment like this early in Crystal Skull, where Indy swings for the jeep, comes up short, and swings back onto the hood of the truck.
That Marion had every confidence in the bendy tree was death for the tension of the action climax. Imagine how much cooler it would have been if Marion had skidded to a stop, looked over the cliff, and had the idea, but then started to shake it off, knowing it was crazy. Then a few moments later, having picked up Indy and the rest, her vehicle gets cut off, and she realizes she has to go through with the only option available. She barrels toward the cliff, gritting her teeth, eyes wild, knuckles white on the wheel, yelling “trust me” but not even believing it herself…
Wouldn’t that have been better?[/spoiler]
Just got back from it. I thought it basically sucked: Formulaic, too many characters, ridiculous plot (even by “treasure movie” standards), unbelievable action sequences (and not unbelievable in a good, fun way), and pointless and obvious CGI. My favorite scene was the “nuclear family” scene, which I thought was quite clever. The interminable chases through the jungle: Eh.
I didn’t think it was the hot mess Indy II was, but I didn’t find it particularly engaging. Personally, I would rate the movies I, III, IV, II. And I would recommend anyone who isn’t a really big Indy fan wait for the DVD of this one.
ETA: I saw a lot of elements that reminded me of The Mummy. (The recent, Brendan Frazier one.) I thought The Mummy did them better.
Well… Back at Jackass Flats, where my dad did some testing back in the day, over in Nevada, they had some rocket chairs.
That’s not so far from where Area 51 was, and not an unreasonable thing to have. Good nod to Murphy’s Law, too.
I, too, saw it earlier today. I don’t have much to contribute in the way of a review–like everyone else said, it was a pretty good movie with a couple flaws. Also, the fact that I’m not a huge Indy fan to begin with didn’t hurt; I wasn’t salivating over the movie, and, as a matter of fact, I didn’t even know the movie was out until I looked at movie times for the local theater.
One thing I want to know, however, for the people who have seen it, is this:
Was I the only one who didn’t see it coming that Indy was the kid’s father? It was so obvious once it revealed; please, someone validate for me that I am not the worst predictor of what will happen in movies.
It was pretty predictable and there was a huge piece of foreshadowing when you learn that…
…his name is Mutt. Remember in Last Crusade we learn that Indy took his self-chosen nickname from his dog, Indiana.
Just got back from the movie and I agree with pretty much all the reviews so far. It was probably a C for me, and most of those positive points are based on nostalgia. The heroes are basically indestructible crash-test dummies and many of the fight sequences crossed the line from outlandish to absurd.
The biggest issue I had was that Indy and Co.'s motivation throughout the film is spurious at best. He was ostensibly sent on this quest in order to rescue Marion and his old friend Oz, but then once they are free and clear the motivation to go on with the quest is pretty thin. Also they never adequately explain why the Crystal Skull is in the place where it’s originally found, I have my speculations but it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. The bad guys make a particularly illogical leap in their supposed rationale as well. I don’t mind suspending my disbelief with the obnoxious action and invincible heroes but at least take the time to spell out why these people are doing what they are doing.
Here’s what I don’t understand about the movie:
Indy and Mutt found the crystal skull behind the conquistador’s body, and they openly say that Ox put it back after he (presumably, I don’t see how else it could be) found it, took it to the temple, and then returned it. In other words, he had gone through everything they went through already. Maybe he got to the temple and couldn’t get in, and returned the skull, but the conquistador did get in, he HAD to, because he had the skull. Indy and company got in by knocking the carved heads out of the obelisk, this caused the sand to run out, and the huge stone fell as the supporting sand ran out, undercutting the top part of the obelisk, making it fall and raising the four stone arms and opening the door. Let’s assume that Ox was stymied(although he knew just what to do at the temple later) and it was the conquistador that got in and got the skull originally. Fine. SOMEBODY had gotten in before, there were bodies at the bottom of the obelisk, the Aussie stole some chain mail from one, and Mutt shoved another between Indy and Marian to keep them from kissing. My question is this: Who reset the obelisk, and how? It seems to me that the trap is a one shot deal, once the sand has undercut the obelisk, it falls, the door is open, period. Even if you say that the Spaniards raided the temple originally, and opened the door, how did it reset? Also, HOW did they get through the last door to the aliens? Indy used the skull as a key to open the last door, the Spaniards wouldn’t have had the skull to open the door, yet they got beyond it to get the skull in the first place. Am I remembering wrong, or is this a complete paradox?
This is true, but at the end of Last Crusade, both Indy and his Dad drink from the Holy Grail- which, it is mentioned in the film, will give the drinker a very long life (one of the knights who originally found it lived to be 200 or something like that, IIRC).
So, I was surprised that Indy’s dad was said to have died in the years between Last Crusade and Crystal Skull, although I suspect that has more to do with Sean Connery not wanting to reappear than anything else. Otherwise, the events of Last Crusade and the link to the YIJC- even in their new form- would lead me to believe that Indiana Jones is going to live to be at least 150- and given that he was born in 1899, he’d be 58 when Crystal Skull is set, and he hasn’t slowed down appreciably from earlier films, which fits in with the “Re-set biological clock” thing established in Last Crusade
The way I saw it, At least some of the aliens were still alive when the Spanish got into the temple, explaining how they were able to re-set the “trap” and set themselves up in their “Throne Room”- but not before the Spanish had killed one of their number and carted off the skull as a souvenir, explaining how it got into the outside world in the first place..
I may be wrong in that though, but that was certainly what I figured was the most likely explanation.
Also, Ray Winstone’s character, Mac, is English, not Australian. His accent isn’t even close to an Australian one, FWIW.
The plot is a total and unmitigated clusterfuck, don’t strain your brain trying to figure it out.
It was pure unmitigated pleasure seeing Karen Allen’s cocky grin again. That woman has the best grin in the movies. 
The Grail cup gave long life, but only if you stayed inside the grail cavern. Which is lame, yes.
Fun fact! C. S. Lewis’s nickname was ‘Jack’. Now, how do you get ‘Jack’ from Clive Sinclair?
They named the dog ‘Jacksie’. When Lewis was about four or six, the dog ran out in the road and was killed. From that point on, he insisted his name was Jacksie. His parents convinced him to use ‘Jack’ instead.
Betcha that’s where that bit of Indiana Jones comes from.
I might be misremembering, but I distinctly recall a mention of a Knight who walked out of the desert- and had drunk from the grail but not remained in the Grail cavern- who died of extreme old age many, many years after he returned.
'm going to see it now in an hour… With My Dad.
My dad’s been battling (and winning) against cancer for a few years now, and all that time it’s been at the back of my mind that when the time comes, if he’s well enough, then I’m gonna take him to see the new Indiana Jones. See, cinema is my number one pastime, and I’ve always wished that my dad had shown more interest in it. I’ve always wanted him to just come with me to the movies. Now, it’s just not every movie he’ll sit through, but over the years I’ve asked him to come to very “Dad” movies, y’know; War movies, westerns, Casino Royale, things like that. Again and again, he’s just shrugged it off as having no heed init at all. Now, he’ll drag me to football games and Vintage Fairs and suchlike, and I go; not for the interest I have in such activities, but as an acknowledgement that he just wants to bring me to these places. As such, I’ve been downheartened by his lack of reciprocation. However, I just knew that if I asked him to go to see Indy, he’d say yes.
He loves Indiana Jones; he just loves that old school, wisecracking, Nazi-punching bloodless killing style of movie. Nothing makes him laugh harder than when Indy shoots the swordsman in Raiders. And I just love to hear him laugh at things like that.
So, i have high hopes for this movie, and frankily, I probably won’t watch a whole pile of it. I’ll be sitting there, watching him watch it. I hope there’s a few bits in it like the swordsman-shooting from Raiders, just comedy-action beats that will crack him up. From the trailer, the bit where Indy misses the truck (I thought that was closer!), I know Dad’s going to love that bit. He loves seeing people get elbowed in the face. I’ve seen pics of Shia punching Cate… Dad’ll get a big kick out of that. He loves to see women getting punched in movies (I’m making him sound like a monster, aren’t I? 
). All in all, I hope it’s exciting, and fun, and I hope and pray that it doesn’t slide TOO deeply into Sci-fi; he hates that shit.
I guess I sound a lot like GOB Bluth right now, but I just want to go have a fun evening with my dad in the cinema. I’ll be back tonight to give you my thoughts on it all. I’ll be going to see ti again on Sunday with my friends, which will probably be a more relaxing afternoon.
I thought the explanation was that the cup would give long life to those who drank from it as long as the cup stayed in the cavern, and since it was carried out and dropped in the chasm, its effects begin to fade quickly. However, it’s been many years since I’ve seen the movie (it’s my least favorite in the series), so I may be misremembering.
I saw it. I enjoyed it. But it didn’t feel like an Indiana Jones movie until almost half way through and there was WAY too much of ‘They should ALL be dead!’ and Fridge Logic.
The so-called magnetism was the part that bothered me the most during it. It turned off and on so much with no explanation. It helped a little when we found out it was basically magic
I just saw it. I liked it a lot less than most of you - I’m more in line with Jodi.
The fridge scene and the monkey army scene were so ridiculous that it took me several minutes to recover. I never thought I’d see a scene more ludicrous than some of the ones in earlier movies, but these were just…impossible in every way. Melting Nazis? Chest-opening heart-stealing? Holy Grail? No problem. Not getting pulverized into dust in that fridge? Uh-uh. Commanding an army of monkeys to attack the bad guys? Uh-uh.
Just got back from seeing it.
Cervaise, my friend, you know more about movies than anyone I’ve met or read from, but sir, I respectfully disagree. This movie was not a B or a B-. It was a D at most, and only because I reserve F’s for movies so bad they could not be worse and in fairness it could technically have been worse.
This was a legitimately shitty movie. It just wasn’t enjoyable. Forget whether or not it was believable; it wasn’t FUN. I didn’t enjoy a single moment.
It’s true that the first movie sets a standard no other adventure movie will ever hope to match, but “Temple of Doom” and “Last Crusade” were much better than this dungpile. And I didn’t think they were all that fantastic.
Well, my Dad chuckled along to it all, lapping it up, but at the end he admitted that it “wasn’t Jones’ best”. AndI’d have to agree.
The thing we both enjoyed most was the PUNCHES. Wich means, in a nutshell, that the Indiana-Jones-PUNCH-Sound-Effect is the coolest, most smile-raising sound effect EVER.
the ending was the kind I dreaded; I bought it, I guess… It’s no stranger than Nazi Face Melting or an Old guy in a cave, but still… Dad hated it.
Some One-line things I will say;
Bronze Statues; Not as well built as you may think.
Monkeys; Suprisingly compliant.
Vines; Speedier Form of Transit than I would have said.
Magnetic Skulls; Can Be Magnetic when they feel like it, t’would seem.
Waterfalls; Pussies.
All in all, I had hoped it would be the kind of movie that I’d run straight back in to see again. As it is, I have to go see it again with friends on Sunday, and its gonna be a CHORE. It’s a good movie, dont get me wrong, but it’s a LOT of disbelief to suspend, I mean A HELLA LOT.
And on ething that really, absolutley pissed me off;
He only Cracked his whip TWICE in the whole movie, in the first ten minutes! The Fuck?!?
Which had me scratching my head since, trying to think
Just ho much actual whip-cracking was done in the previous movies… was here ever that much, really?
Whch Makes Indy 4 the worst kind of sequel; one that casts a shadow of doubt over how good the series was to begin with.
Just rent “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” It stands up to unlimited viewings.