He's such an incomplete and inconsistent filmmaker. He can be SO good in some areas while being absolutely amateurishly bad in others. He's got a very inventive and creative mind, but is VERY bad at recognizing when something crosses the line from imaginative to bad.
@@brianmulholland2467 I agree, unfortunately. And the problem is their were too many people that said yes to his ideas. As far as I can tell, the only ones I can think of that challenged him and said no to his ideas at times were Gary Kurtz and even Steven Spielberg. Even he wasn't totally on board with Crystal Skulls ideas.
@@coopsauce112 It appears to be based upon the Antikythera mechanism. I understand why they didn't go with that, but Dial of Destiny is terrible. If the last two installments had been "Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods" and "Indiana Jones and the Twist of Fate" I'd have liked that a hell of a lot better than what we got.
@@MrNinetyFivePercent Dont see Indy 4 as a pure adventure movie but more as a 50s scifi one. And dont put it together with 1-3. Read the script from Darabont as a unique story then you will enjoy it.
The "nuke the fridge" was actually a great idea. It just happened in the wrong place. If it had happened during the film's climax, the audience would have embraced it because you can get away with a lot more during the film's climax than you can in the opening moments.
When I heard "Indiana Jones & The City of the Gods" I thought it was going to be something more akin to that one old game where he goes to Babylon because the Russians were digging there in search of something even bigger than the atomic bomb. It even makes sense with the whole idea that we shouldn't have access to such destructive power. Still much finer than the mess we ultimately had.
Lucas was always at his best when he had people around him prepared to say "No, that's crazy" and stick to their guns. Yes, Darabont's script was way better than the one we got, and had a much better title - bad George!
The biggest flaw for me was the lack of Sean Connery. John Hurt's character was clearly meant to be Indy's father, but they had to recast the role/introduce a new father figure for Indy, and it needed to be Henry, not a guy we had never met before. This crucial part of the story would only work if we had seen that character before his mind had deteriorated. It's Mutt and Indy's entire motivation to go on this advemture.
Amazingly, Oxley was in multiple scripts and was never written to be Henry Sr. Sean Connery’s role was always written as something much smaller in the scripts where he appears - he never went on the adventure with Indy and his grandchild. But maybe that makes SOME sense - You can’t have Henry Jones Sr having poured his entire life into one ancient artifact hunt and then say he ALSO poured his life into another ancient artifact hunt. Dude’s only got the one life, Lol
John Hurts Oxley had no sense in the final movie. He was doing nothing and was not important for the progress, Im sure a lot of things had been cutted for the final movie.
Yes indeed, Darabont's script actually sounded like a more plausible and doable ending with a story to it. Would have rather seen that film than the one we actually got!
Yes it was still classic Indy characterization AND it had some of the alien elements Lucas wanted. Spielberg loved it, he shouldve went with his gut and known Lucas had lost his touch. Shouldve been evident to him after the prequels, idk why he was still taking his guidance like Lucas was his mentor or something
@@sergeantbigmac you dont know much. Speilberg loved the prequels. He almost Directed ROTS. He and many other Directors, Zemeckis, Howard were approached to Direct THE Phantom menace but all told Lucas, 'it's your baby, you need to direct it.' In 1996. Darabont was asked HIS opinion the TPM screenplay. His thoughts, suggestions... Darabont said, "I WOULDNT CHANGE A THING". Stop the mindless bashing. You dont know shit.
Frank Darabont's script was really good. Too bad they changed it. Also, the "nuke the fridge" moment is from the first draft of Back to the Future where Marty hid in a fridge during a nuke blast to time travel home!!
You're kind of right. The time machine itself was the fridge in the early drafts. Also, whenever I see someone say "nuke the fridge" I get a little thrill. I added that term to urbandictionary a few days after the movie came out in 2008. It was the product of a conversation on the imdb message boards. A few days later my entry was their word of the day, a short while later Time Magzine made it a word of the year. It's amazing to me that fifteen years later I still hear it. Glad to have made a contribution to the Indiana Jones lore, even if it takes the form of loving mockery.
@@Ben-pd2bx if you are legit on this by all means all the credit in the world. Its one of the only phrases to threaten to dethrone “jump the shark” that shit will live on eternally. If you are full of it i cannot verify one way or the other so well done on picking an obscure brag.
The more and more I learn about George Lucas, the more and more it seems like he’s his own worst enemy. For the original trilogy, he had people keeping his ideas in check, but after that he was giving free rein to do whatever he wanted. Had we gotten city of the gods, I think it would’ve made for a far superior Indiana Jones 4
@jamestolbert1856 Are you kidding? Lucas is a terrible director. The Prequel trilogy has some of the most stiff, bland, uninspired acting ever; not to mention the cinematography and blocking mostly consisting of people just walking from one end of the green screen set to the other. Lucas works best as a producer/story writer. Not as a director/screenwriter.
I've chewed over what I would have done for Indy 4. This is my basic bullet points 1. Still a search for El Dorado/Akator, it ties into Indy's past and the Percy Fawcett Lost City of Z quest and a Spanish Conquistador, heck I even considered the reason Indiana Jones was after the Golden Idol at the beginning of Raiders was because it connected to Akator as a possible "key" the Spanish Conquistador used/the one adventure/treasure that got away. 2. The reasons the Russians want Akator is they're flat broke from WW2 and all that wealth would be an enormous boon to funding their space program/war machine 3. Marion is the one who calls Indy to the quest because Oxley sent her to get Indiana Jones. Also no kid of Indiana jones but Indiana Jones and Marion seeing they had their treasure in each other the whole time. 4. The Crystal Skull isn't an obviously alien skull but a human shaped skull that has properties similar to what it had in the movie. 5. The Crystal Skull was once a real human skull turned crystal because Alien technology/whatever the twist about Akator's Gold is ala a metaphor about atomic energy. But no aliens actually show up.
Yessssssssssss. And I wish Ke Huay Quan had been utilized in some way but with an updated nickname. When I walked out of that theatre, disappointed af, I looked him up and was bummed to find out he wasn’t acting anymore. Boy was I wrong. Wtf is wrong with these guys? Don’t they listen to fans? Why use Shia when Ke was out there somewhere dying to take up the role again? He was much younger then and about the same age as ‘Mutt’! Argghhh!!! Are you going to watch the new one? I’m so torn. And they STILL didn’t bring back Short Round!
@@cruzin54321 as a peruvian i was heavily dissapointed. Seeing the mexican mariachis in Nazca made the whole theater laugh here in Lima. Also the story was lame in some parts and lost some of the Indy feeling of previous movies. We were really excited as lots of peruvian landscapes and history was promised to be featured but we received a scrambled mixture of mexican/peruvian/ aliens(?) thing.
Late to the party, but I think the novelization does include Spalko's skull turning into crystal as a result of the alien uploading the information into her mind. It also sounds vaguely similar to what happens to the Nazis in Fate of Atlantis who use the "God-maker" machine.
Yes, Darabont's script is pretty amazing. It's really remarkable how every single scene in it that survived to be in CRYSTAL SKULL is executed way better in Darabont's script. Mind you the 'snake scene' is so OTT I don't know how it would have played on screen. Indy is not afraid of snakes anymore, and he literally gets swallowed by a giant anaconda, then regurgitated, and so comes back his terror of snakes.
The main problem with Crystal Skull is that, no matter how good it could've been, it was never going to be ideal. When you dissect how Raiders and the character of Indy were crafted, nothing's really going to work terribly well outside of World War II. Ultimately, I think it comes down to the power fantasy that Spielberg was able to inhabit in both Raiders and Last Crusade. I think that's one fundamental reason Temple of Doom just wasn't as good overall, even if parts of it were strong, and why Last Crusade soared - despite being very, very, very similar to Raiders - simply due to the dynamic of adding Sean Connery as Indy's father.
I think it's awesome that the script for City of the Gods manages to tie the atomic test at the start of the film to the ending, thus driving home the theme of man's hubris and thirst for power and knowledge leading to his demise. The version we got was entertaining, but the ending seemed disconnected from the rest of the film, with no real connecting through-line. I'm personally fine with the aliens, since the Indiana Jones franchise has always had supernatural and mysterious elements, but the way they were written left too many plot holes and problems in my mind.
Yeah, it seemed like they carried several elements over from the previous script, but changed the context of them so that they made little sense in the fabric of the new story.
I've long held the bones of what we got were great. That a pulp hero man of action from the 30's should feel a little silly during a story set in the 50's. Where the genre motifs shifts on him from the pseudohistorical and mystical to the pseudoscientific and futuristic. Where he is both a relic of the past and out of place in the "modern" day , while also being more clear-eyed and sagacious about what is important in the grand scheme of things. Sadly didn't get much of that kind of introspection or meta awareness of the genre conventions that was always at the heart of the Indy movies.
Spielberg never wanted to make this movie, and it shows! He only did it cause Lucas and Ford wanted to. There's only a few moments that really feel good enough for Spielberg's standards. The university bike chase is one of them. It does feel like an Indy movie at that point. Indy facing the nuclear blast in the distance is also a pretty iconic image.
@@cruzin54321 I remember off the top of my head he got into producing a bunch of stuff at this time. Maybe the script being in development hell for years and him being spread across producing projects just made him lose interest. His directing sortve pivoted after this into smaller scale serious stuff (ie Lincoln, Bridge of Spies) I havent heard him say much negative things about Crystal Skull but maybe it did bother him more than we think.
@@sergeantbigmac him never speaking ill of Crystal Skull yet knowing that he’s dogged Hook is just unreal. He must have current business partners that he doesn’t want to censure.
@@cruzin54321 Thats a good point and I forgot about Hook. That weird behindthescenes stuff with that and Poltergeist deserve their own videos... And youre probably right, im guessing he doesnt want to sour his past/present working relationship with his producing partners ie Kathlen Kennedy, Marshall, Lucas etc. So he just let it go and moved on. He has directed a bajillion movies so its just a costly lesson for him at this point. Mangold directing Indy 5 confirms this for me, he wants to put it behind him. Hes not just a good director but a damn good businessman too. He knows when to cut losses.
I will say right off the bat, I was the young demographic for Crystal Skull it was my Indiana Jones, I grew up with the originals but I was just at the right age for action films and also unapologetically love Shia LaBeouf. Crystal Skull is by no means the best Indy but I cant say any of them are bad either, Crystal Skull has its faults but I think alot of people who unfairly judge it likely haven't seen it since its original run or romanticize the original trilogy as if it also wasnt filled with unrealistic fantasy adventure gimmicks.
I don’t hate it, but Last Crusade was just such a perfect ending. It’s like Return of the Jedi, we never should’ve seen these characters again after they resolved their stories
At least Kingdom of the Crystal Skull didn't destroy the original characters like the Star Wars sequels did. I will never understand the hate this movie gets.
@@MediaLoverChris02 You really need help on understanding that some people actually have a different opinion than you. I thoroughly enjoyed Crystal Skull and have done since I saw it in the cinema in 2008. And I despise the new Disney Star Wars movies. Deal with it.
@@MediaLoverChris02 You really need help identifying which movies people just have a hate bandwagon boner for. Is it agai8the law to compare two franchises that were away for a long time, and identify which one didn't fuck up the original characters and put woke trash in it?
The sad thing is that despite this movies issues, it will probably still feel more like a classic Indiana Jones movie than Dial of Destiny will, just for the fact that it had Lucas and Spielberg attached to it.
It's saddening to see how many people hate this movie. It's definitely not as good as the first three but it's still really entertaining and interesting to watch.
The fact that George actually thought he could creatively object to a celebrated writer like Frank Darabont, and by proxy Spielberg, is further proof that late stage George Lucas completely lost touch with reality during and after the prequels.
@@IndyDefense Neither at this point. I’m glad George helped create some cool stuff when he was younger, but his later years track record wasn’t any better than Disney.
@@TheJ_G bro , Lucas was always crazy, the man that slept with carrie fisher to let her be into a movie , only to totally botch the dialogue... is a dumb son of a bitch. forget what i said , lets ask ourselves a question... how George is even considered a part of the best of the best to begin with ? hes a medicore producer , with nothing purely good in his ideas.... a teenager could make better decisions that him.
Actually, it was Harrisson Ford that pushed for Lucas to make a fourth Indy movie. And then Lucas talked Spielberg (who was resistent at first) into making it. And this was actually revealed by Kathleen Kennedy herself 15 years ago in the film's biography. Though keep in mind that these events revolve around the film we actually got though, not the first attempt.
I would’ve loved to see the Darabont Script and I’m sure it would’ve been better than the Crystal Skull but im still really happy with the Crystal Skull we got. I mean it has everything a good Indiana Jones movie has. Creepy Crawleys, a giant tough guy he has to fight, a love interest, a good macguffin, and so on. Crystal Skull is definitely in my top 4 Indy films
I wish they had swung for the fences and written in short round to be the new Indy. Short round was a mini version of Indy in temple. Ke huy Quan just won an Oscar for a comedy/action film. He could've come back as a Jackie Chan/Indiana Jones/ James bond super hero that was put through school by Indiana Jones and becomes a government super spy that moonlights as a museum curator himself in honor of Marcus Brody who he interned with through school. Indy keeps calling him short round the whole film for some reason. Hijinks ensue, the day is saved and in one of the final shots as they're wrapping up Indy's hat falls off, short round picks it up, and Indy says "Keep it kid. I've had enough of adventure and I just want to relax." Short round raises the hat to his head and right as he's about to put it on he stops and says "sorry Indy, it's not my style." And hands it back. Marion is waiting at the car and as they say their pleasantries, from around the corner a government messenger arrives and says "Dr. Jones your aid is requested by the president on an urgent matter. You have to come with me right now." Indy goes to put on his hat and follow and the messenger stops him and says "I'm sorry sir, this request is for the other Dr. Jones." And he looks at short round. Indy has a moment of disbelief, looks at short round and proudly smiles. Short round kisses Marion on the cheek, hugs Indy, gives him a final squeeze on the shoulder and says "Now is the time for love, Dr Jones." Indy looks at Marion, smiles, then turns to short round and says "Give em hell kid." the new Dr Jones waves to Indy and Marion as the plane takes off. He turns from the window, puts on his gear, and we hear the theme music rise as the words on the screen show "Indiana Jones will return..." Fade to black on the theme. Roll credits.
Personally, I always felt a 4th Indiana Jones movie should be the inverse of 'Last Crusade'. Indy finds out he & Marion share a daughter, who happens to be an archaeologist thief/cat burglar hired by a communist spy. Once Indy learns about this, he goes off to find & rescue his daughter - not from Russians, since she is quite resourceful, but from herself who - unlike his father, is more on the morally gray side - looking for that fortune & glory her father desired once upon a time. During the early 00's, I wrote a rather brief treatment for such a story. Marion & Henry, Sr would be in it, mainly caneos. The main villain would be Indy's daughter's stepfather - Marion's husband - who works for the CIA, hires his stepdaughter (who thinks they're biologically father & daughter) & ends up being a communist spy. The movie's mcguffin would've been the Spear of Destiny - once owned by Rasputin & Tzar Nicholas II, had the power to heal any wound. This spec script was written way before the spear got used in the game. 😢 Interestingly enough, Indy's daughter would've been set up as the likely protagonist in a future/continuation of the series, where she'd be the archaeologist getting in all sorts of trouble - think a more adventure-serial version of Lara Croft - w/father Indiana Jones making brief appearances as a museum curator.
Everyone's talking about how disappointing it is we didn't get Darbont's version, but at the pace AI is moving, it won't be long before we can just make City of the Gods ourselves.
Same here, I walked out the theater happy and didn't really hear complaints till the South Park episode. That's when everyone decided the film sucked. Was it perfect? No, but I maintain that this film is a tie or plain better than Temple of Doom (and I enjoy watching that too).
I love the clip of the Frank Darabont interview and how he trips over his words. My guess is that his thought process was something like this: Well, let's see, I don't wanna call George a total narcissist but something akin to a father holding his screaming wife and children in the family Subaru hostage because he just wont stop and ask for directions. I would have preferred that script too. To be honest, I feel that the thing with the refrigerator was the least of the problems with this film. This film was divided between two separate stories. The coming of age story could not establish itself appropriately. This film should have been about Mutt becoming an adult. The size and scale of the main quest ought to have been something that he could solve. An aged Indiana Jones swoops in to become the father he never was and assist Mutt. It should not have been about Jones. The other story was the main adventure story, which was muddled because it turns into a bizarre sci-fi plot. The villains do not get enough screen time. Lastly, I think the title was terrible. It did not fit the scope of this film because there was too little time to establish the aliens.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the symmetry of Marion begging Indy not to look at the skull, in Darabont's script. It's like poetry, it rhymes. That said, I genuinely think Crystal Skull is marginally better than the Darabont script. Drabaont nailed a few character moments, and the ending was heaps better, but by-and-large I think the Darabont script comes off feeling like a fan fiction more than an original Indy adventure.
This movie was really bad but I agree it either been better with the other script. Great video as always, just one minor detail. When you mentioned Indy unloading his entire clip at 6:39 should’ve been magazine instead. Clips are used to quickly load rifle magazines but pistol magazines are loaded one round at a time unless you have a speed loader but not a clip.
Thanks! In the script he’s holding a rifle but I used a clip of him holding a pistol because I was too lazy to go digging for a clip of him with a rifle lol.
@@BulletsandblockbustersAhh okay makes sense now. Sorry for the late response. I never saw your response notification until now when I came across this video again.👍
Crystal Skull is always a frustrating film for me. It’s brilliant in some ways but then starts to fall apart in others. Some scenes still make me just wonder what they were thinking. We got so used to practical effects on the others that a lot of the CGI just felt wrong. The alien storyline was ok, but I’m just wondering if it would have been so much better if we never actually saw them, all in shadows, like Close Encounters. They generated no real fear to me. I’m hoping the final film will be better, it looks good, I just hope that it doesn’t fall victim like some other films to (god I hate the expression) wokeness. 😂 If Mission Impossible, Marvel et al can do great movies with strong characters of both sexes without hitting you over the head with it then so can an Indy film. I mean look at the original, a strong female character who stood her ground. Unfortunately as mentioned in the video, they softened her up too much I think.
Prett spot on with my consensus of the overall film. Should’ve used more practical effects and it would’ve felt closer to home. One of the main things that bugged me was how long it took for them to make another movie. If it was bound to happen I feel like the mid to late 90s, early 2000s would’ve been better and CGI wasn’t gripping cinema by he throat at that time.
@@Bulletsandblockbusters Thank you for filling me in. With all due respect to Spielbergs decision, screw modern audiences. Real fans appreciate the hard work of having practical effects. Like Raimis Spider-Man didn’t use much CGI at all, only at the end when Doc Ock drowns in water. To me those movies look way better than the Amazing Spider-Man and Disneys Spider-Man.
The monkey scene destroyed all credibility for that film. I nearly walked out. I brought a teenager with me and she was disgusted and it ruined the franchise for her- I’ll never forget that. This crap actually turned off a new fan right in front of me. Indiana Jones was this do-good world explorer warrior and he just died in her eyes that day, he was pathetic to her. I hate that movie.
For Indy5 it would have been great to see him in a gritty 70s horror film trying to save a lost kingdom Angkor Wat, Cambodia from a cult of blood thirsty Khmer Rouge. But we know modern Disney would have made Pol Pot the good guy.
One of the drafts was being written by the third film’s scribe, Jeffrey Boam. It featured all the same traits, the Soviets looking for aliens for potential psychic properties. It was supposed to film in 1996, but they put it on ice when _Independence Day_ came out and they didn’t want to be the follow up act. Jeffrey Boam’s last film ended up being _The Phantom,_ he died four years later in 2002. George also intended for Indy to have a daughter, not a son (keeping it in continuity with the bookends of the TV show). It was Spielberg who had it changed to a son, since he had just done a Father/Daughter relationship in _The Lost World: Jurassic Park_
Honestly i love Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And sure its not a perfect movie but its a fun movie with a great ending. I just hope that Dial Of Destiny is going to be good
In seeing how Frank Darabont’s script unfolded, I can certainly see how his adaptations of two Stephen King novels were so good. This was the movie they SHOULD have made, not the movie we got. Unfortunately the whole Mac thing, the Mutt thing and the Spalco thing - they did not really work. Here’s hoping Indy’s swansong is on par with the The Last Crusade at least. And it would be good to see Short Round in a cameo.
The Oxley thing didn't work either, and that is the film's biggest problem. Connery needed to be in it, so the audience would immediately have a connection with the character.
Kingdom of the crystal skull isn't the greatest movie ever, but I do like it more than temple of doom. I don't think the idea idea of aliens existing being too ridiculous given that God literally manifests in the first film, as well as magic existing
It might be a low bar, but the ONE thing I was kind of looking forward to was seeing Indy in an unrelated adventure in the opening scene like in the first 3 films. It was all about the Crystal Skull.
@@haalandfilms1695 it came as a surprise to many viewers is what I'm referring to, many people didn't think they would actually show the alien, I mean interdimensional being
I agree. The reason Temple of Doom works is because they have them fall out of the plane on the raft early on, and show Mola Ram pull the heart out of the guy, first thing. So, later when Indy gets possessed, or when he's speaking words to ignite the stones, you've already got yourself to the "I'll buy anything for fun," stage. Crystal Skull asks you to take the big leap at the very end. And, rather than being cool, the Tarzan moment, car bouncing off the tree, and the fridge scenes are just stupid.
@@damonappel what do you mean the big leap at the very end? They show an alien at the very start of the film, they show the crystal skull that affects magentism and Jones survives a Nuke. and ur saying they're asking u to take a leap at the End of the film? also what do u expect from This specific genre? the Jones movies has always done ridiculous stuff. Maybe it's even literally the norm of these kinds of movies
I read the Frank Darabont script, and in my opinion it was worse than the finished film. -Mac isn't in the script, but there's a similar character: Indy's Russian friend Yuri Makovsky, who turns out to be a Russian spy. -After losing his teaching job, Indy gets drunk, enters the late Marcus Brody's museum, and tries to steal the golden idol from the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark. -Indy prepares to flee after an assassin sent by the Russians tried to kill him. Unaware of the attempt on Indy's life, Indy's father berates and slaps Indy, accusing Indy of always running away and telling Indy "It appears there's a reason you're named after the dog." -At one point Indy says, "The monkey pooped on my chest." -There are giant mutant animals in the jungle surrounding the lost city: a yard long dragonfly, hummingbirds the size of hawks, a snake with a head bigger than a horse's, and nine-inch long ants. -Indy is swallowed by the giant snake. He cuts his way out of the snake with a machete. -One of the villains is the president of Peru, who gets turned into a frog by an alien. -Another villain is a Nazi doctor, who is killed by a phantom Adolf Hitler conjured by an alien. -The script has too many characters. Besides Indy, Marion, Belasko, Oxley, Yuri, the president of Peru, and the Nazi doctor, there's also Belasko's right-hand-man, a treacherous Peruvian guide, a U.S. State Department section chief, a Japanese map expert, a Swedish psychic, and a Swiss anthropologist. -Instead of going down three waterfalls, Indy and his companions survive going down four waterfalls, and they do it in an ordinary truck instead of an amphibious vehicle. -Indy's father drunkenly sings "Fly Me to the Moon" at Indy and Marion's wedding reception and Oxley makes silverware dance with the power of his mind.
Yeah, there's a lot of bonkers stuff too. Indy getting swallowed by a snake would probably be talked about just as poorly as the nuke the fridge moment.
It doesn't matter what script was used, the fans who grew up with Indiana Jones are now all adults now and have already seen too many variations of stories, twists and plots and nothing would ever be fresh or original like it was when we're kids. The only thing that would change is the name of the movie that everyone complains about.
As a long time Star Wars fan ( 1977 ) I remember that NO ONE really criticized George Lucas harshly until the Phantom Menace. He was beloved universally. It was a great time to be a fan of Lucas, Star Wars and Indy ( even though I loved the Prequels and everything that led up to them also The Clone Wars. ) 🤨
@@Bulletsandblockbusters I will always love George Lucas. I personally don't see him as a "villain." If people don't like his work fine but he's given us STAR WARS, Indiana Jones, The Clone Wars Industrial Light and Magic ( that does the effects for all the Marvel movies ) Lucas Arts with classic video games, Pixar, Skywalker Sound, THX, and helped influence generations of film fans, directors and employed thousands of people.
If they would’ve changed the Nuke scene by having the fridge just be under debris instead of flying out of the town and would’ve completely cut the vine swing scene, city of gods would’ve been a perfect ending to the Indiana Jones Saga.
I dunno. The original idea seems more layered. I also didn’t mind the aliens. They kinda make sense in that by the 50’s we’ve moved away from lore involving the supernatural. By that time aliens, UFO’s have taken place of the occult. So thematically and from a pop culture standpoint, it made sense. Truth be told I didn’t enjoyed the movie with the exceptions of a few scenes. Heck I wished they went with the Darabont script after I heard about it.
The crystal skull is actually ok as a movie.. Not the best one but certainly not bad. Crystal skulls and ancient aliens are common elements in the pseudoarcheology field these movies take inspiration from. It had several problems with certain digital excessess but nothing so exagerated as some believe.And no, Mutt's character is not bad either. I've seen worst young/child characters than that.
I love the part where the aliens offer to fulfill a whish. If I had to choose, I'd ask for a clean, free, sustainable and non-destructive source of energy. Much like the one that Telsa supposedly discovered (there might be something to that), for I believe all wars are waged over resources - and energy is the ultimate resource.
Nuclear fusion is the closest energy source that fits your requirements. Whilst there are experimental fusion reactors which have proven the theory, we're not at the point where we can scale up the technology to create reactors which can meet domestic energy demands. That's still a few decades away.
I still like Crystal Skull because I'm a slut for Indiana Jones and I just don't think the film sucks as much as they lead it on to be. I also grew up with this film along the other three so I'm just nostalgic for them. That being said nothing beats The Last Crusade, although we shall see what The Dial of Destiny brings us!
Well I don't think Aliens are that much of an issue, Indy has witnessed people ripping out hearts, Ghosts melting people's faces off, Donovan aging rapidly and later he went back in time and met Archimedes. This man does unrealistic stuff everyday.
Even though many dislike it, I love Crystal Skull. While my favorite movie in the series is Temple of Doom, I think Crystal Skull was worthy of the originals. I think the actual Crystal Skull sounds better than the Darebont script. But I really wish they didn't do The Dial of Destiny.
Shia is not one of the weak points of Crystal Skull. He's fine. Good even. But he can't save a terrible story and script. You know who's terrible in Crystal Skull? Cate Blanchett.
What is the clip at 2:03 from? It's a recreation of the Mac Brazel pic from the Roswell Incident, but I don't recall a modern adaptation of the story. Great video!
My god, Darabont's original Script sounded bloody FANTASTIC!!!! A lot less "bathos" and cringe moments. And also a lot more of a cohesive and meaningful story overall. Welp..... maybe some day A.I. can put this to reality of what could have been.
ALL of the CGI effects in "Crystal Skull" looked god awful when the movie came out and still does.... The Indy movie with the worst VFX. But as of the moment of writing this comment i haven't seen the Disney Indiana Jones movie yet.
Man, I love the 4th film! 🔥 Love how all the other films have religious magic and everyone says “seems legit” though when there’s a UFO everyone looses their shit 🤣 righto
What disappointed me the most about Crystal Skill was that Ford himself was clearly ready for action. He looked great and if he and Spielberg had been given a script worthy of the character and director, it really could have been something special. Instead, we got space aliens and Shia LaBeouf swinging from vines. I'm trying to keep an open mind about Dial. Maybe it'll be great. But I can't help but think it'll be fan service and a lot of "meh." Hope I'm wrong.
This film should get a re-edit "special edition". Cut the nuked fridge and the vine swinging scenes, and limit the John Hurt character somehow. I agree that once Connery said no, then the script should have been re-written to not need Hurt's character. Also re-do the effects and editing for the climax so the "alien" angle is more mysterious and cryptic and less in your face. Those things would all make this a much better movie without having to reshoot...if anything it would be cutting 10 minutes or so from the run-time.
While Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny are not as good as the first three, they are still a lot of fun. I watched them recently with an older family member who loved the originals (which she saw at the cinema) and she loved the latest two. Not as good, but still great fun.
My vision for an "aged Indiana Jones" movie was a movie like "The Verdict" (Paul Newman) in which nobody believes him anymore about the Area 51 secrets. and consider him just another conspiracy theorist. His challenge is to prove the aliens exist, but in the end he realizes that the people can not handle this truth and buries the proof.
Indiana Jones was inspired far more by the movie serial adventurers of the 1940s than James Bond. LOL Frankly my only issue with Crystal Skull is the mis-cast Shia. In fact Indy should've had a daughter instead of a son anyway, since we already met her in the bookends of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. (But, of course, Lucas screwed with that, too, and wants to retcon and have us forget that we already met 'Old Indy', his daughter, and grandkids. Just let it go, George!) That being said, I would've loved to have seen them turn the search for Atlantis video game into an actual movie script. The Indiana Jones novel where he explored the secrets of Stonehenge also would've made a great film. Either of those likely would've been a stronger story than Crystal Skull was. But, just for the record, I don't have any more issue with interdimensional beings than I do in a Nazi-killing Ark of the Covenant, magic stones that grow crops and empower ripping a man's heart out while he stays alive, or a Holy Grail that allows a knight to live 600 years and build absurdly unrealistic traps inside a cave. ;-)
Well at the very basic level Indiana Jones was 'inspired' by James Bond. Spielberg wanted to film a James Bond film but couldn't get the rights or didn't know how. So he went to Lucas and Lucas said "I got a better idea". I personally would've liked to have seen Indiana Jones And The Spear of Destiny made in the 90s.
Just reinforces the fact that Lucas is sometimes his own worst enemy
I can concur. As a writer, one of the hardest things we struggle with is letting go of our first idea that we believe we struck gold with.
Yes!! Unfortunately...
He's such an incomplete and inconsistent filmmaker. He can be SO good in some areas while being absolutely amateurishly bad in others. He's got a very inventive and creative mind, but is VERY bad at recognizing when something crosses the line from imaginative to bad.
@@brianmulholland2467 I agree, unfortunately. And the problem is their were too many people that said yes to his ideas. As far as I can tell, the only ones I can think of that challenged him and said no to his ideas at times were Gary Kurtz and even Steven Spielberg. Even he wasn't totally on board with Crystal Skulls ideas.
This movie definitely should’ve been made about 8-9 years earlier
We definitely dodged a bullet with Saucer Men from Mars, but City of the Gods definitely would’ve been a big upgrade from Crystal Skull
Dial of Destiny is a terrible title too. Indiana Jones and the Twist of Fate was right there.
no bullets were dodged with Crystal Skull. Every bullet hit.
You did not like Crystal skull?
@@Ben-pd2bx I like to assume the dial will have an actual name or mythological title so that the film title isn’t so on the nose
@@coopsauce112 It appears to be based upon the Antikythera mechanism. I understand why they didn't go with that, but Dial of Destiny is terrible. If the last two installments had been "Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods" and "Indiana Jones and the Twist of Fate" I'd have liked that a hell of a lot better than what we got.
I read the Darabont script years ago and it broke my heart that it wasn't the movie we got.
I’d love to read it. How did you get to?
@@looking_glass8736 just Google it. A pdf is really easy to find. Good luck and enjoy.
I'm honestly grateful we didn't... as much as KotCS isn't my favorite, that script was full of things that felt worse.
@@RappingNinja Totally.. Indy literally gets swallowed by a big snake and he cuts himself out.. 🤷♂
@@MrNinetyFivePercent Dont see Indy 4 as a pure adventure movie but more as a 50s scifi one. And dont put it together with 1-3. Read the script from Darabont as a unique story then you will enjoy it.
The "nuke the fridge" was actually a great idea. It just happened in the wrong place. If it had happened during the film's climax, the audience would have embraced it because you can get away with a lot more during the film's climax than you can in the opening moments.
When I heard "Indiana Jones & The City of the Gods" I thought it was going to be something more akin to that one old game where he goes to Babylon because the Russians were digging there in search of something even bigger than the atomic bomb. It even makes sense with the whole idea that we shouldn't have access to such destructive power.
Still much finer than the mess we ultimately had.
Lucas was always at his best when he had people around him prepared to say "No, that's crazy" and stick to their guns.
Yes, Darabont's script was way better than the one we got, and had a much better title - bad George!
And this is why I had no problem inititally with George Lucas being out of the loop on Disney's STAR WARS.
I'm looking at you Rick 'Its so Dense' McCallum.
@@LB74 And yet they still mucked those up on a grand scale.
This is what happened on Phantom Menace
In this same vein, we all owe Marcia Lucas a huge debt for her work on New Hope and Empire.
The biggest flaw for me was the lack of Sean Connery. John Hurt's character was clearly meant to be Indy's father, but they had to recast the role/introduce a new father figure for Indy, and it needed to be Henry, not a guy we had never met before. This crucial part of the story would only work if we had seen that character before his mind had deteriorated. It's Mutt and Indy's entire motivation to go on this advemture.
Connery was asked to return but said no.
Or Marcus Brody would have been a great pick, but sadly the actor had already died by then
Amazingly, Oxley was in multiple scripts and was never written to be Henry Sr. Sean Connery’s role was always written as something much smaller in the scripts where he appears - he never went on the adventure with Indy and his grandchild. But maybe that makes SOME sense - You can’t have Henry Jones Sr having poured his entire life into one ancient artifact hunt and then say he ALSO poured his life into another ancient artifact hunt. Dude’s only got the one life, Lol
John Hurts Oxley had no sense in the final movie. He was doing nothing and was not important for the progress, Im sure a lot of things had been cutted for the final movie.
Yes indeed, Darabont's script actually sounded like a more plausible and doable ending with a story to it. Would have rather seen that film than the one we actually got!
So true. Skull was just disappointing. Still wondering why Lucas was obsessed with Aliens.
plausible? hahah. He watched a guy watch his heart being removed? STFU
Yes it was still classic Indy characterization AND it had some of the alien elements Lucas wanted. Spielberg loved it, he shouldve went with his gut and known Lucas had lost his touch. Shouldve been evident to him after the prequels, idk why he was still taking his guidance like Lucas was his mentor or something
@@sergeantbigmac you dont know much. Speilberg loved the prequels. He almost Directed ROTS. He and many other Directors, Zemeckis, Howard were approached to Direct THE Phantom menace but all told Lucas, 'it's your baby, you need to direct it.'
In 1996. Darabont was asked HIS opinion the TPM screenplay. His thoughts, suggestions... Darabont said, "I WOULDNT CHANGE A THING".
Stop the mindless bashing. You dont know shit.
The film is fun. Not perfect but fun. Rocket sled, nuke the fridge, all fun
Frank Darabont's script was really good. Too bad they changed it. Also, the "nuke the fridge" moment is from the first draft of Back to the Future where Marty hid in a fridge during a nuke blast to time travel home!!
Between Indy and the Walking Dead, people just need to let Darabont do his thing 😂
@@DoBap_ was just saying that yesterday.
@@DoBap_ The problem is it sounded like what Darabont wanted to do wasn't The Walking Dead.
You're kind of right. The time machine itself was the fridge in the early drafts.
Also, whenever I see someone say "nuke the fridge" I get a little thrill. I added that term to urbandictionary a few days after the movie came out in 2008. It was the product of a conversation on the imdb message boards. A few days later my entry was their word of the day, a short while later Time Magzine made it a word of the year. It's amazing to me that fifteen years later I still hear it. Glad to have made a contribution to the Indiana Jones lore, even if it takes the form of loving mockery.
@@Ben-pd2bx if you are legit on this by all means all the credit in the world. Its one of the only phrases to threaten to dethrone “jump the shark” that shit will live on eternally. If you are full of it i cannot verify one way or the other so well done on picking an obscure brag.
The more and more I learn about George Lucas, the more and more it seems like he’s his own worst enemy. For the original trilogy, he had people keeping his ideas in check, but after that he was giving free rein to do whatever he wanted. Had we gotten city of the gods, I think it would’ve made for a far superior Indiana Jones 4
Yeah but he’s not a terrible director! He made the Prequel story didn’t he
@jamestolbert1856 Are you kidding? Lucas is a terrible director. The Prequel trilogy has some of the most stiff, bland, uninspired acting ever; not to mention the cinematography and blocking mostly consisting of people just walking from one end of the green screen set to the other.
Lucas works best as a producer/story writer. Not as a director/screenwriter.
@@TVJUNK85 he’s a good director and his cinematography is great! I love his stories and the editing
@@jamestolbert1856 Bruh. His editing is infamously poor as well. A New Hope was saved by his editor; his version was severely overbloated
@@TVJUNK85
People have been criticising George Lucas now since 1999 after they were butthurt from The Phantom Menace. 😃
Lucas really needed more people to challenge his decisions around him in the 2000's considering this movie and the prequel trilogy.
You could say spielberg did challenge him in the beginning
Ya it seems like anytime he got challenged though he would pick up his ball and go home. So everyone probably stopped trying
Why? This exact line of thought led to Star Wars dying without Lucas' influence.
@@cheerleadersonsafari the fans are to blame for it
I think they did he just ignored them lol
I've chewed over what I would have done for Indy 4. This is my basic bullet points
1. Still a search for El Dorado/Akator, it ties into Indy's past and the Percy Fawcett Lost City of Z quest and a Spanish Conquistador, heck I even considered the reason Indiana Jones was after the Golden Idol at the beginning of Raiders was because it connected to Akator as a possible "key" the Spanish Conquistador used/the one adventure/treasure that got away.
2. The reasons the Russians want Akator is they're flat broke from WW2 and all that wealth would be an enormous boon to funding their space program/war machine
3. Marion is the one who calls Indy to the quest because Oxley sent her to get Indiana Jones. Also no kid of Indiana jones but Indiana Jones and Marion seeing they had their treasure in each other the whole time.
4. The Crystal Skull isn't an obviously alien skull but a human shaped skull that has properties similar to what it had in the movie.
5. The Crystal Skull was once a real human skull turned crystal because Alien technology/whatever the twist about Akator's Gold is ala a metaphor about atomic energy. But no aliens actually show up.
Yessssssssssss. And I wish Ke Huay Quan had been utilized in some way but with an updated nickname. When I walked out of that theatre, disappointed af, I looked him up and was bummed to find out he wasn’t acting anymore. Boy was I wrong. Wtf is wrong with these guys? Don’t they listen to fans? Why use Shia when Ke was out there somewhere dying to take up the role again? He was much younger then and about the same age as ‘Mutt’! Argghhh!!!
Are you going to watch the new one?
I’m so torn.
And they STILL didn’t bring back Short Round!
This would have been 100 times better
@@cruzin54321 as a peruvian i was heavily dissapointed. Seeing the mexican mariachis in Nazca made the whole theater laugh here in Lima. Also the story was lame in some parts and lost some of the Indy feeling of previous movies. We were really excited as lots of peruvian landscapes and history was promised to be featured but we received a scrambled mixture of mexican/peruvian/ aliens(?) thing.
Late to the party, but I think the novelization does include Spalko's skull turning into crystal as a result of the alien uploading the information into her mind. It also sounds vaguely similar to what happens to the Nazis in Fate of Atlantis who use the "God-maker" machine.
Yes, Darabont's script is pretty amazing. It's really remarkable how every single scene in it that survived to be in CRYSTAL SKULL is executed way better in Darabont's script.
Mind you the 'snake scene' is so OTT I don't know how it would have played on screen. Indy is not afraid of snakes anymore, and he literally gets swallowed by a giant anaconda, then regurgitated, and so comes back his terror of snakes.
Indy dumping an entire mag into an alien is metal as fuck lmao
The main problem with Crystal Skull is that, no matter how good it could've been, it was never going to be ideal. When you dissect how Raiders and the character of Indy were crafted, nothing's really going to work terribly well outside of World War II. Ultimately, I think it comes down to the power fantasy that Spielberg was able to inhabit in both Raiders and Last Crusade. I think that's one fundamental reason Temple of Doom just wasn't as good overall, even if parts of it were strong, and why Last Crusade soared - despite being very, very, very similar to Raiders - simply due to the dynamic of adding Sean Connery as Indy's father.
I think it's awesome that the script for City of the Gods manages to tie the atomic test at the start of the film to the ending, thus driving home the theme of man's hubris and thirst for power and knowledge leading to his demise. The version we got was entertaining, but the ending seemed disconnected from the rest of the film, with no real connecting through-line. I'm personally fine with the aliens, since the Indiana Jones franchise has always had supernatural and mysterious elements, but the way they were written left too many plot holes and problems in my mind.
Yeah, it seemed like they carried several elements over from the previous script, but changed the context of them so that they made little sense in the fabric of the new story.
I've long held the bones of what we got were great. That a pulp hero man of action from the 30's should feel a little silly during a story set in the 50's. Where the genre motifs shifts on him from the pseudohistorical and mystical to the pseudoscientific and futuristic. Where he is both a relic of the past and out of place in the "modern" day , while also being more clear-eyed and sagacious about what is important in the grand scheme of things. Sadly didn't get much of that kind of introspection or meta awareness of the genre conventions that was always at the heart of the Indy movies.
Spielberg never wanted to make this movie, and it shows! He only did it cause Lucas and Ford wanted to. There's only a few moments that really feel good enough for Spielberg's standards. The university bike chase is one of them. It does feel like an Indy movie at that point. Indy facing the nuclear blast in the distance is also a pretty iconic image.
We can all see that Steven Spielberg obviously checked out. What else was he making at the time? He definitely put his focus into that instead.
@@cruzin54321 I remember off the top of my head he got into producing a bunch of stuff at this time. Maybe the script being in development hell for years and him being spread across producing projects just made him lose interest. His directing sortve pivoted after this into smaller scale serious stuff (ie Lincoln, Bridge of Spies) I havent heard him say much negative things about Crystal Skull but maybe it did bother him more than we think.
@@sergeantbigmac him never speaking ill of Crystal Skull yet knowing that he’s dogged Hook is just unreal. He must have current business partners that he doesn’t want to censure.
@@cruzin54321 Thats a good point and I forgot about Hook. That weird behindthescenes stuff with that and Poltergeist deserve their own videos... And youre probably right, im guessing he doesnt want to sour his past/present working relationship with his producing partners ie Kathlen Kennedy, Marshall, Lucas etc. So he just let it go and moved on. He has directed a bajillion movies so its just a costly lesson for him at this point. Mangold directing Indy 5 confirms this for me, he wants to put it behind him. Hes not just a good director but a damn good businessman too. He knows when to cut losses.
@@sergeantbigmac I have to be honest: despite the travesty that is Crystal Skull, I cannot wait to see Indy 5!!!
Short round driving them off in their wedding is the best idea ever honestly
I will say right off the bat, I was the young demographic for Crystal Skull it was my Indiana Jones, I grew up with the originals but I was just at the right age for action films and also unapologetically love Shia LaBeouf.
Crystal Skull is by no means the best Indy but I cant say any of them are bad either, Crystal Skull has its faults but I think alot of people who unfairly judge it likely haven't seen it since its original run or romanticize the original trilogy as if it also wasnt filled with unrealistic fantasy adventure gimmicks.
I don’t hate it, but Last Crusade was just such a perfect ending. It’s like Return of the Jedi, we never should’ve seen these characters again after they resolved their stories
Return of the Jedi was such a disappointing movie.
At least Kingdom of the Crystal Skull didn't destroy the original characters like the Star Wars sequels did. I will never understand the hate this movie gets.
@@FordHoard You really need help understanding what makes a bad movie, rather than focusing on it’s effect on OTHER movies.
@@MediaLoverChris02 You really need help on understanding that some people actually have a different opinion than you. I thoroughly enjoyed Crystal Skull and have done since I saw it in the cinema in 2008. And I despise the new Disney Star Wars movies. Deal with it.
@@MediaLoverChris02 You really need help identifying which movies people just have a hate bandwagon boner for. Is it agai8the law to compare two franchises that were away for a long time, and identify which one didn't fuck up the original characters and put woke trash in it?
Makes me sick seeing what we could’ve gotten before Lucas didn’t like the script around 7:00-7:45.
This version sounds so much better than what we were given.
The sad thing is that despite this movies issues, it will probably still feel more like a classic Indiana Jones movie than Dial of Destiny will, just for the fact that it had Lucas and Spielberg attached to it.
Gonna use that line: You're my fortune and glory
Crystal Skull just had too many shark jumping moments.. and the fridge wasn’t the worst offender. Cate Blanchett was amazing btw
It's saddening to see how many people hate this movie. It's definitely not as good as the first three but it's still really entertaining and interesting to watch.
The hype in the months leading up to Crystal skull is what drew my attention to the franchise in the first place. I saw it in theaters and I liked it.
@@ricardoaguirre6126 that's cool. Yeah, I'm always keen to rewatch this one.
The fact that George actually thought he could creatively object to a celebrated writer like Frank Darabont, and by proxy Spielberg, is further proof that late stage George Lucas completely lost touch with reality during and after the prequels.
Good thing Disney's in charge, right?
@@IndyDefense Complaints about George don’t equal compliments for Disney. Nobody has really been winning lately.
@@TheJ_G All I'm saying is would you rather have Lucas or Disney?
@@IndyDefense Neither at this point. I’m glad George helped create some cool stuff when he was younger, but his later years track record wasn’t any better than Disney.
@@TheJ_G bro , Lucas was always crazy, the man that slept with carrie fisher to let her be into a movie , only to totally botch the dialogue... is a dumb son of a bitch.
forget what i said , lets ask ourselves a question... how George is even considered a part of the best of the best to begin with ? hes a medicore producer , with nothing purely good in his ideas.... a teenager could make better decisions that him.
Can't believe this channel only has 1.2K subs! You got one more now buddy!
I’m happy with the Indy 4 we got and I think it’s a classic 15 years later.
First half of Crystal Skull and Shia was perfect.
After Dial of Destiny, I think we can all look back on Crystal Skull a little more fondly
That movie sucked.
Actually, it was Harrisson Ford that pushed for Lucas to make a fourth Indy movie.
And then Lucas talked Spielberg (who was resistent at first) into making it.
And this was actually revealed by Kathleen Kennedy herself 15 years ago in the film's biography.
Though keep in mind that these events revolve around the film we actually got though, not the first attempt.
Spielberg said as much himself in the same biography.
He needed a new plane, didn’t he?
"heel and face turns" 😂😂 The Big Show would be proud
I would’ve loved to see the Darabont Script and I’m sure it would’ve been better than the Crystal Skull but im still really happy with the Crystal Skull we got. I mean it has everything a good Indiana Jones movie has. Creepy Crawleys, a giant tough guy he has to fight, a love interest, a good macguffin, and so on. Crystal Skull is definitely in my top 4 Indy films
Is that Sarcasm? 'In your top 4 indy films?' I think it is in everyone's top 4, where it sits firmly at number 4.
@@jasontibbetts9981 probably, I don’t remember what I was thinking while writing this.
I wish they had swung for the fences and written in short round to be the new Indy.
Short round was a mini version of Indy in temple. Ke huy Quan just won an Oscar for a comedy/action film. He could've come back as a Jackie Chan/Indiana Jones/ James bond super hero that was put through school by Indiana Jones and becomes a government super spy that moonlights as a museum curator himself in honor of Marcus Brody who he interned with through school.
Indy keeps calling him short round the whole film for some reason. Hijinks ensue, the day is saved and in one of the final shots as they're wrapping up Indy's hat falls off, short round picks it up, and Indy says "Keep it kid. I've had enough of adventure and I just want to relax." Short round raises the hat to his head and right as he's about to put it on he stops and says "sorry Indy, it's not my style." And hands it back.
Marion is waiting at the car and as they say their pleasantries, from around the corner a government messenger arrives and says "Dr. Jones your aid is requested by the president on an urgent matter. You have to come with me right now." Indy goes to put on his hat and follow and the messenger stops him and says "I'm sorry sir, this request is for the other Dr. Jones." And he looks at short round. Indy has a moment of disbelief, looks at short round and proudly smiles. Short round kisses Marion on the cheek, hugs Indy, gives him a final squeeze on the shoulder and says "Now is the time for love, Dr Jones." Indy looks at Marion, smiles, then turns to short round and says "Give em hell kid." the new Dr Jones waves to Indy and Marion as the plane takes off. He turns from the window, puts on his gear, and we hear the theme music rise as the words on the screen show "Indiana Jones will return..."
Fade to black on the theme. Roll credits.
I wish they went with the Darabont script honestly
Would be sick to have Short Round come back
Personally, I always felt a 4th Indiana Jones movie should be the inverse of 'Last Crusade'. Indy finds out he & Marion share a daughter, who happens to be an archaeologist thief/cat burglar hired by a communist spy.
Once Indy learns about this, he goes off to find & rescue his daughter - not from Russians, since she is quite resourceful, but from herself who - unlike his father, is more on the morally gray side - looking for that fortune & glory her father desired once upon a time.
During the early 00's, I wrote a rather brief treatment for such a story. Marion & Henry, Sr would be in it, mainly caneos. The main villain would be Indy's daughter's stepfather - Marion's husband - who works for the CIA, hires his stepdaughter (who thinks they're biologically father & daughter) & ends up being a communist spy.
The movie's mcguffin would've been the Spear of Destiny - once owned by Rasputin & Tzar Nicholas II, had the power to heal any wound. This spec script was written way before the spear got used in the game. 😢
Interestingly enough, Indy's daughter would've been set up as the likely protagonist in a future/continuation of the series, where she'd be the archaeologist getting in all sorts of trouble - think a more adventure-serial version of Lara Croft - w/father Indiana Jones making brief appearances as a museum curator.
Did you write the new movie?
@@ButtonMasherReal - Nope. That wasn't me. I swear.
Everyone's talking about how disappointing it is we didn't get Darbont's version, but at the pace AI is moving, it won't be long before we can just make City of the Gods ourselves.
thas what im sayin
I absolutely had, and have NO problem with Crystal Skull. I thoroughly enjoyed it 🤷🏻♂️
Same here, I walked out the theater happy and didn't really hear complaints till the South Park episode. That's when everyone decided the film sucked. Was it perfect? No, but I maintain that this film is a tie or plain better than Temple of Doom (and I enjoy watching that too).
@@sebastianjoseph2828 Maaaan, f south park
Dude, we could've had the Darabont script, but we didn't! Wtf Lucas?!
I love the clip of the Frank Darabont interview and how he trips over his words. My guess is that his thought process was something like this: Well, let's see, I don't wanna call George a total narcissist but something akin to a father holding his screaming wife and children in the family Subaru hostage because he just wont stop and ask for directions. I would have preferred that script too. To be honest, I feel that the thing with the refrigerator was the least of the problems with this film. This film was divided between two separate stories. The coming of age story could not establish itself appropriately. This film should have been about Mutt becoming an adult. The size and scale of the main quest ought to have been something that he could solve. An aged Indiana Jones swoops in to become the father he never was and assist Mutt. It should not have been about Jones. The other story was the main adventure story, which was muddled because it turns into a bizarre sci-fi plot. The villains do not get enough screen time. Lastly, I think the title was terrible. It did not fit the scope of this film because there was too little time to establish the aliens.
Even more mutt? How awful.
The creator of a work is a narcissist when he cares about the integrity of the work he created. Lol
Narcissist? Lucas is not a Narcissist... he's an artist with his own ideas. You uncreative neckbeards have no clue....
@@cheerleadersonsafari these idiots..
Uhhhg not more mutt! How horrible
I'm surprised you didn't mention the symmetry of Marion begging Indy not to look at the skull, in Darabont's script. It's like poetry, it rhymes.
That said, I genuinely think Crystal Skull is marginally better than the Darabont script. Drabaont nailed a few character moments, and the ending was heaps better, but by-and-large I think the Darabont script comes off feeling like a fan fiction more than an original Indy adventure.
This movie was really bad but I agree it either been better with the other script.
Great video as always, just one minor detail. When you mentioned Indy unloading his entire clip at 6:39 should’ve been magazine instead. Clips are used to quickly load rifle magazines but pistol magazines are loaded one round at a time unless you have a speed loader but not a clip.
Thanks! In the script he’s holding a rifle but I used a clip of him holding a pistol because I was too lazy to go digging for a clip of him with a rifle lol.
@@BulletsandblockbustersAhh okay makes sense now. Sorry for the late response. I never saw your response notification until now when I came across this video again.👍
These videos are great. I'm taking my time with them because one of my favourite things is hearing about what could have been with film and TV.
Thanks!!!!
Crystal Skull is always a frustrating film for me. It’s brilliant in some ways but then starts to fall apart in others. Some scenes still make me just wonder what they were thinking. We got so used to practical effects on the others that a lot of the CGI just felt wrong. The alien storyline was ok, but I’m just wondering if it would have been so much better if we never actually saw them, all in shadows, like Close Encounters. They generated no real fear to me. I’m hoping the final film will be better, it looks good, I just hope that it doesn’t fall victim like some other films to (god I hate the expression) wokeness. 😂 If Mission Impossible, Marvel et al can do great movies with strong characters of both sexes without hitting you over the head with it then so can an Indy film. I mean look at the original, a strong female character who stood her ground. Unfortunately as mentioned in the video, they softened her up too much I think.
Prett spot on with my consensus of the overall film. Should’ve used more practical effects and it would’ve felt closer to home. One of the main things that bugged me was how long it took for them to make another movie. If it was bound to happen I feel like the mid to late 90s, early 2000s would’ve been better and CGI wasn’t gripping cinema by he throat at that time.
Spielberg almost used matte paintings and more practical effects but then changed his mind because he thought modern audiences wouldn’t accept it
@@Bulletsandblockbusters Thank you for filling me in. With all due respect to Spielbergs decision, screw modern audiences. Real fans appreciate the hard work of having practical effects. Like Raimis Spider-Man didn’t use much CGI at all, only at the end when Doc Ock drowns in water. To me those movies look way better than the Amazing Spider-Man and Disneys Spider-Man.
The monkey scene destroyed all credibility for that film. I nearly walked out. I brought a teenager with me and she was disgusted and it ruined the franchise for her- I’ll never forget that. This crap actually turned off a new fan right in front of me. Indiana Jones was this do-good world explorer warrior and he just died in her eyes that day, he was pathetic to her. I hate that movie.
Agreed!
Darn it George! We were this close, we were this close to being proud to call Indy 4 an installment
So a main plot point in the Darabont script is that aliens who have interstellar travel have not yet discovered nuclear fission?
For Indy5 it would have been great to see him in a gritty 70s horror film trying to save a lost kingdom Angkor Wat, Cambodia from a cult of blood thirsty Khmer Rouge. But we know modern Disney would have made Pol Pot the good guy.
Winstone was bloody good as the side ally/enemy/turned ally/turned villain/turned decent final act of remorse. Lol.
One of the drafts was being written by the third film’s scribe, Jeffrey Boam. It featured all the same traits, the Soviets looking for aliens for potential psychic properties.
It was supposed to film in 1996, but they put it on ice when _Independence Day_ came out and they didn’t want to be the follow up act. Jeffrey Boam’s last film ended up being _The Phantom,_ he died four years later in 2002.
George also intended for Indy to have a daughter, not a son (keeping it in continuity with the bookends of the TV show). It was Spielberg who had it changed to a son, since he had just done a Father/Daughter relationship in _The Lost World: Jurassic Park_
💯
Honestly i love Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And sure its not a perfect movie but its a fun movie with a great ending. I just hope that Dial Of Destiny is going to be good
In seeing how Frank Darabont’s script unfolded, I can certainly see how his adaptations of two Stephen King novels were so good. This was the movie they SHOULD have made, not the movie we got. Unfortunately the whole Mac thing, the Mutt thing and the Spalco thing - they did not really work.
Here’s hoping Indy’s swansong is on par with the The Last Crusade at least. And it would be good to see Short Round in a cameo.
The Oxley thing didn't work either, and that is the film's biggest problem. Connery needed to be in it, so the audience would immediately have a connection with the character.
Kingdom of the crystal skull isn't the greatest movie ever, but I do like it more than temple of doom. I don't think the idea idea of aliens existing being too ridiculous given that God literally manifests in the first film, as well as magic existing
City of the Gods sounds like a great movie
I definitely wanna see your what could've been video for the Dark Knight Rises
It might be a low bar, but the ONE thing I was kind of looking forward to was seeing Indy in an unrelated adventure in the opening scene like in the first 3 films. It was all about the Crystal Skull.
At the very least the original idea commits to the alien instead of the tadaa type way it happened in the actual movie
what do u mean tadaa?
Indy literally goes to area 51, and they unveil an alien
@@haalandfilms1695 it came as a surprise to many viewers is what I'm referring to, many people didn't think they would actually show the alien, I mean interdimensional being
I agree. The reason Temple of Doom works is because they have them fall out of the plane on the raft early on, and show Mola Ram pull the heart out of the guy, first thing. So, later when Indy gets possessed, or when he's speaking words to ignite the stones, you've already got yourself to the "I'll buy anything for fun," stage.
Crystal Skull asks you to take the big leap at the very end. And, rather than being cool, the Tarzan moment, car bouncing off the tree, and the fridge scenes are just stupid.
@@damonappel what do you mean the big leap at the very end?
They show an alien at the very start of the film, they show the crystal skull that affects magentism and Jones survives a Nuke.
and ur saying they're asking u to take a leap at the End of the film?
also what do u expect from This specific genre? the Jones movies has always done ridiculous stuff. Maybe it's even literally the norm of these kinds of movies
I read the Frank Darabont script, and in my opinion it was worse than the finished film.
-Mac isn't in the script, but there's a similar character: Indy's Russian friend Yuri Makovsky, who turns out to be a Russian spy.
-After losing his teaching job, Indy gets drunk, enters the late Marcus Brody's museum, and tries to steal the golden idol from the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
-Indy prepares to flee after an assassin sent by the Russians tried to kill him. Unaware of the attempt on Indy's life, Indy's father berates and slaps Indy, accusing Indy of always running away and telling Indy "It appears there's a reason you're named after the dog."
-At one point Indy says, "The monkey pooped on my chest."
-There are giant mutant animals in the jungle surrounding the lost city: a yard long dragonfly, hummingbirds the size of hawks, a snake with a head bigger than a horse's, and nine-inch long ants.
-Indy is swallowed by the giant snake. He cuts his way out of the snake with a machete.
-One of the villains is the president of Peru, who gets turned into a frog by an alien.
-Another villain is a Nazi doctor, who is killed by a phantom Adolf Hitler conjured by an alien.
-The script has too many characters. Besides Indy, Marion, Belasko, Oxley, Yuri, the president of Peru, and the Nazi doctor, there's also Belasko's right-hand-man, a treacherous Peruvian guide, a U.S. State Department section chief, a Japanese map expert, a Swedish psychic, and a Swiss anthropologist.
-Instead of going down three waterfalls, Indy and his companions survive going down four waterfalls, and they do it in an ordinary truck instead of an amphibious vehicle.
-Indy's father drunkenly sings "Fly Me to the Moon" at Indy and Marion's wedding reception and Oxley makes silverware dance with the power of his mind.
Yeah, there's a lot of bonkers stuff too. Indy getting swallowed by a snake would probably be talked about just as poorly as the nuke the fridge moment.
There had been so many good books in the Indiana Jones Universe.... so many missed opportunities
It doesn't matter what script was used, the fans who grew up with Indiana Jones are now all adults now and have already seen too many variations of stories, twists and plots and nothing would ever be fresh or original like it was when we're kids. The only thing that would change is the name of the movie that everyone complains about.
As a long time Star Wars fan ( 1977 ) I remember that NO ONE really criticized George Lucas harshly until the Phantom Menace. He was beloved universally. It was a great time to be a fan of Lucas, Star Wars and Indy ( even though I loved the Prequels and everything that led up to them also The Clone Wars. ) 🤨
Die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain
@@Bulletsandblockbusters
I will always love George Lucas. I personally don't see him as a "villain." If people don't like his work fine but he's given us STAR WARS, Indiana Jones, The Clone Wars Industrial Light and Magic ( that does the effects for all the Marvel movies ) Lucas Arts with classic video games, Pixar, Skywalker Sound, THX, and helped influence generations of film fans, directors and employed thousands of people.
I agree. His contributions are enormous.
If they would’ve changed the Nuke scene by having the fridge just be under debris instead of flying out of the town and would’ve completely cut the vine swing scene, city of gods would’ve been a perfect ending to the Indiana Jones Saga.
It would've been nice if in the 90s they did Indiana Jones And The Spear of Destiny.
It would’ve been awsome if In the 90s the made an Indy second trilogy like Star Wars with different directors this time
I dunno. The original idea seems more layered. I also didn’t mind the aliens. They kinda make sense in that by the 50’s we’ve moved away from lore involving the supernatural. By that time aliens, UFO’s have taken place of the occult. So thematically and from a pop culture standpoint, it made sense. Truth be told I didn’t enjoyed the movie with the exceptions of a few scenes.
Heck I wished they went with the Darabont script after I heard about it.
The crystal skull is actually ok as a movie.. Not the best one but certainly not bad. Crystal skulls and ancient aliens are common elements in the pseudoarcheology field these movies take inspiration from. It had several problems with certain digital excessess but nothing so exagerated as some believe.And no, Mutt's character is not bad either. I've seen worst young/child characters than that.
3:22 it’s got a mothership bigger than my mother 😂😂😂
I love the part where the aliens offer to fulfill a whish. If I had to choose, I'd ask for a clean, free, sustainable and non-destructive source of energy. Much like the one that Telsa supposedly discovered (there might be something to that), for I believe all wars are waged over resources - and energy is the ultimate resource.
Nuclear fusion is the closest energy source that fits your requirements. Whilst there are experimental fusion reactors which have proven the theory, we're not at the point where we can scale up the technology to create reactors which can meet domestic energy demands. That's still a few decades away.
I still like Crystal Skull because I'm a slut for Indiana Jones and I just don't think the film sucks as much as they lead it on to be. I also grew up with this film along the other three so I'm just nostalgic for them. That being said nothing beats The Last Crusade, although we shall see what The Dial of Destiny brings us!
I hope it’s good 🤞🏻
Well I don't think Aliens are that much of an issue, Indy has witnessed people ripping out hearts, Ghosts melting people's faces off, Donovan aging rapidly and later he went back in time and met Archimedes. This man does unrealistic stuff everyday.
Even though many dislike it, I love Crystal Skull. While my favorite movie in the series is Temple of Doom, I think Crystal Skull was worthy of the originals. I think the actual Crystal Skull sounds better than the Darebont script. But I really wish they didn't do The Dial of Destiny.
Shia is not one of the weak points of Crystal Skull. He's fine. Good even. But he can't save a terrible story and script. You know who's terrible in Crystal Skull? Cate Blanchett.
They should have done Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny.
Word
What is the clip at 2:03 from? It's a recreation of the Mac Brazel pic from the Roswell Incident, but I don't recall a modern adaptation of the story.
Great video!
An episode of a history channel show I believe about the Roswell cover up. And thanks!
You should do the video on the alternate Indy 3, that being The Monkey King. It was bonkers crazy lol
I’m going to! :)
When the guy that wrote Shawshank hands you a script, you make that shit.
Amen
My god, Darabont's original Script sounded bloody FANTASTIC!!!! A lot less "bathos" and cringe moments. And also a lot more of a cohesive and meaningful story overall. Welp..... maybe some day A.I. can put this to reality of what could have been.
I unapologetically love
Crystal Skull
City of the Gods is the Indy film we needed
If only they had wrangled a real prairie dog instead of a cgi one in the opening logo transition the movie would have been a masterpiece.
ALL of the CGI effects in "Crystal Skull" looked god awful when the movie came out and still does.... The Indy movie with the worst VFX. But as of the moment of writing this comment i haven't seen the Disney Indiana Jones movie yet.
So the lesson is, don’t let George Lucas do a movie with you
Man, I love the 4th film! 🔥 Love how all the other films have religious magic and everyone says “seems legit” though when there’s a UFO everyone looses their shit 🤣 righto
It sucks!!!!! And you are clearly a troll!!
X-Files really did get everyone into alien sci fi again lol
Easily better than the Crystal Skull movie that we got, what could have been.
City of the Gods. That would have been a worthy chapter.
What disappointed me the most about Crystal Skill was that Ford himself was clearly ready for action. He looked great and if he and Spielberg had been given a script worthy of the character and director, it really could have been something special. Instead, we got space aliens and Shia LaBeouf swinging from vines. I'm trying to keep an open mind about Dial. Maybe it'll be great. But I can't help but think it'll be fan service and a lot of "meh." Hope I'm wrong.
This film should get a re-edit "special edition". Cut the nuked fridge and the vine swinging scenes, and limit the John Hurt character somehow. I agree that once Connery said no, then the script should have been re-written to not need Hurt's character. Also re-do the effects and editing for the climax so the "alien" angle is more mysterious and cryptic and less in your face. Those things would all make this a much better movie without having to reshoot...if anything it would be cutting 10 minutes or so from the run-time.
I've always said it: Somebody needs to make "Crystal Skull - The Phantom Cut"
Somewhere Gary Kurtz is hearing this and laughing while saying, "I told you so."
While Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny are not as good as the first three, they are still a lot of fun. I watched them recently with an older family member who loved the originals (which she saw at the cinema) and she loved the latest two. Not as good, but still great fun.
My vision for an "aged Indiana Jones" movie was a movie like "The Verdict" (Paul Newman) in which nobody believes him anymore about the Area 51 secrets. and consider him just another conspiracy theorist. His challenge is to prove the aliens exist, but in the end he realizes that the people can not handle this truth and buries the proof.
I don't need 'what could have been.' I'm more than happy with what was.
City of gods would have been awesome!
As a one sentence pitch "Indiana Jones but Close Encounters" does sound like a better movie than what we got. Not the details of it, but in concept.
To be honest... i'd rather i had seen a movie version of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
Indiana Jones was inspired far more by the movie serial adventurers of the 1940s than James Bond. LOL
Frankly my only issue with Crystal Skull is the mis-cast Shia. In fact Indy should've had a daughter instead of a son anyway, since we already met her in the bookends of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. (But, of course, Lucas screwed with that, too, and wants to retcon and have us forget that we already met 'Old Indy', his daughter, and grandkids. Just let it go, George!)
That being said, I would've loved to have seen them turn the search for Atlantis video game into an actual movie script. The Indiana Jones novel where he explored the secrets of Stonehenge also would've made a great film. Either of those likely would've been a stronger story than Crystal Skull was. But, just for the record, I don't have any more issue with interdimensional beings than I do in a Nazi-killing Ark of the Covenant, magic stones that grow crops and empower ripping a man's heart out while he stays alive, or a Holy Grail that allows a knight to live 600 years and build absurdly unrealistic traps inside a cave. ;-)
Well at the very basic level Indiana Jones was 'inspired' by James Bond. Spielberg wanted to film a James Bond film but couldn't get the rights or didn't know how. So he went to Lucas and Lucas said "I got a better idea". I personally would've liked to have seen Indiana Jones And The Spear of Destiny made in the 90s.
Fingers crossed that Dial of Destiny doesn't repeat any of these mistakes.
Meh. Franchise alredy ruined. It's like making a good dessert after serving raw chicken for main course. Not interested in more food after that one.
😅
Two best parts about Indiana Jones film series:
1. Fighting Nazis
2. Stop Nazis from gaining supernatural mcguffins.