I've said it before and I'll say it again: aliens are as much a part of the mythology covered in Indy 4 and as relevant to reality (or even more so) than the crazy Christian and I think vaguely Indian mythology covered in the first 3. A magic face-melting box is just as or less likely as a race of super-aliens and they are both relevant to the idea of Indy hunting priceless historical artifacts.

I think the reason it seems less believable is that we're already familiar with the Christian myths, because we've all probably been exposed to lots of people who believe that stuff, but less exposure to people who believe the crystal skull stuff doesn't make it any less legitimate, and I'd say they're both on par with Scientology, for example, except that Scientology makes you pay them to be saved, but that's another issue all together.

That said, I did prefer the first three, particularly the ones that deal with Christian artifacts simply because I know more of the history and always enjoy Nazis getting shot. Nothing about Indy 4 sticks out in my mind as particularly awful, but perhaps this is because I've blocked out everything Shia LeBeouf did just like I had to for Kate Capshaw and Jonathan Ke Quan. All in all, it certainly wasn't a worse movie from a cinematographic standpoint (which shocks me a bit as I fully expected the Godfather 3 effect, and in full force) and the things I take issue with (like the ending) tend not to be the same as the things most take issue with (zomg aliens).

Yeah, it's a little ridiculous and over the top, but it's Indiana Jones. That's the whole idea. I'm not going to let my idolization of the first three (Raiders and Last Crusade more so of course) prevent me from enjoying the fourth.

I fully expect a good text-lashing but I've heard it all before and I just don't really see the whole aliens thing as less realistic than the fountain of youth. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go back to worrying that they'll ruin 4 FAST, 4 FURIOUS by making it not completely horrible, though I hope these concerns are unfounded.

mhlaxp

Just be grateful that Lucas and Spielberg did their best work years ago, 'cuz if they started out like they've become today (and for the life of me I can't figure it out and it must just be dumb luck like Tarrantino and Resevoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction) we wouldn't at least have that to look back on and remember the good 'ol days. As far as Indy goes . . . each odd number one has been great and the evens so-so to it sucks, so since Ford wants a five and Spielberg did III to make up for II we should be ok as long as a 66 + year old Dr. Jones will be starring in Indiana Jones and the Hidden Proctology Exam. I love the guy and he's my all-time favorite actor I hope they can all make up for the mess that I blame Lucas for.

aboriginal

Wow. Bitter much?

3series

You know why they're going to keep raping our favorites (effing animated star wars??!) is because we keep paying to see them...

Indy and the Goddamned X-Files grossed $318 million in ticket sales folks. Please don't buy that dvd...

cpthook

Is there a DVD version that comes in a nuke-proof mini-fridge?

In case you haven't heard George Lucas is mulling over taking a dump on Indiana Jones again. Working title: "Indiana Jones and Mutt Williams and the Death of my Childhood"

madara

Wow what the hell is wrong with you guys? I mean yeah it wasn't as great as The Last Crusade (my favorite one) but it was still better than Temple of Doom...that girl pissed me off despite her hotness and the movie was overall very cheesy...I mean seriously, he grabs her with a whip?...Stewie was right, lady only here cuz she's humping director

daftrok

@OMG! Ponies!: *sniff* I think all of humanity got raped with this one.

Elaine Chow

Man lucas and spielberg raped the shit out of indiana jones. The DA is gonna put them away forever i hope.

snakepliskin

THEY RAPED HIM!!!!

cotr

Now now, Elaine. Indy got raped - not you.

OMG! Ponies!

That movie.. I can't let myself remember it
THEY RAPED INDY!

mferrari

@daftrok: The comments may have more to do with tonight's South Park than how people actually feel about the movie... just maybe.

drew.catt

@rabidkeebler: I think this is too much of a coincidence. I think theyve just been brooding over the film all summer.

snakepliskin

If Indy was bad, what's a very good movie? Come on, bring it (I'm sure I can say it was bad too).

Earthslide

@zetacrossfire: you obviously did not see the part where lucas and spielberg rape indy over the pinball machine while the DA could only helplessly watch.

snakepliskin

I know that South Park can release some pretty topical stuff, but do you think they planned this episode to go out on the release of the Indiana Jones DVDs?

rabidkeebler

am i the only person who liked the new indy over the old?

ZetaCrossfire

The last was the worse by far, probably one of the worse movies out there. It ranks way up there with it ranks up with Norbit, Catwoman, and Motior Man.

HJTravels

You and Butters...

plyhard13

@mhlaxp: yeah, except that traditionally, the adventurer type comics that Indiana Jones is based on dont really go alien hunting...they stick to jungles, deserts, cities, enemy adventurerers and/or governments, and old religions. Part of the appeal of the religious artifacts are "wow, maybe there IS something to old cultures and their beliefs, and they weren't primitive!". Aliens kind of have nothing to do with that. Aliens may be improbable, but have very little to do with old cultures compared to religions and gods, who are more prominent. Please note you dont see Indy hunting other improbable things like dwarves, elfs, and dragons...cause thats not part of that "era" or "feel"or whatever one wants to call it. Just my 2 cents.

Also, theres a difference between Indy matching wits with an ancient culture/history and with aliens who can magically lock doors etc. Frankly, the whole "the skull is the solution to every single problem" and "burn up the bad guy for no reason, even though she returned the skull and asked a grantable wish ("to know everything"? whats wrong with that?)

So that post is why I think Indy 5 is a total failure and break from the old ones, and probably why I dont have girlfriend either.

redkamel

@mferrari: Aaawwwe maaaan! Thanks for spoiling it. Some of us still haven't seen this you know.

russcrypto

@madara:
He's already quashed rumors that he'd be giving Mutt the title role, saying that for his character it'd have to be something like "Mutt Williams and the Search for Elvis". But he is trying to come up with McGuffin #5.

Purple Dave

@madara:
Isn't the nuke proof fridge 'cause back in those times fridges were lined with lead?

xashinx

I'd love to get the LEGO posters, but do they come with DVD or do you have to jump on that Blu-Ray bandwagon to get them? I despise the idea of being forced to "upgrade". It's like how all these ads keep telling me that we're switching to digital broadcast becuase "it'll look better". *coughBULLSH!Tcough* It's because, after 9/11, the wireless communications frequencies were maxed out and the people who were risking their lives attempting to save other peoples' had trouble communicating with each other. Analog signals pass through buildings better than digital ones, so the government wants to reclaim some of those frequencies for law enforcement/search-and-rescue use, and they plan to resell the leftovers to the cel-phone networks (who are also running out of capacity).

Blu-Ray isn't the giant leap forward that DVD was, and I'm already going to be spending enough just to switch my recording gear over as it is without having to buy new players for my TV and both computers. And be pressured into replacing half my DVD collection because they're "inferior".

Purple Dave

@OMG! Ponies!: Just be sure not to overdo it and shoot a bunch of people in the balls.

Lightman

Elaine, you just became my new favorite Giz editor.

Hanzo

@ZetaCrossfire: Yes.

GadgetPlay

@3series: Apparently.

GadgetPlay

@Purple Dave: Meanwhile, the people who make repeaters will kill themselves when there is no more business for them.

Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->

@ZetaCrossfire: Besides Speilberg and Lucas, yes.

Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->

Sadly, it just proved beyond a doubt that George Lucas no longer knows how to make a good movie, and that he might just be dragging Spielberg down with him. Hey, Hollywood: You looking for someone who can write a decent script? Call me, baby.

justrick

@Earthslide: Ummm... any of the three Indy movies that preceded it?

justrick

@Lightman:
you just can't go around shooting people in the dick. no matter what.

godwhacker

If I could time travel, I would kill George Lucas before the atrocities of the prequels, and we would all be sitting here remembering him as a great man instead of hating him for that Shia Lebouf monkey scene.

RacecarBoobTat

Just goes to prove you can't go home again.

EricAlder

@russcrypto: I hope your not serious??? you realize he isn't talking about the actual movie haha

superbryant

You guys are dorks. Seriously. Indy has always been an action adventure ride. Indy 4 fulfilled its duty. It was fun and full of action while not going to deep on anything of substance. Anything else you think the Indy series represents is a delusion from your childhood / young adulthood.

phijef

God I love South Park! I just can't think about what they did to him.
[msp57.photobucket.com]

theshortguy

@3series: you never saw it. did you.

skilled1

Sorry, Godfather III was released on Bluray back on 9/15/2008.

I love seeing Nerdrage at its darkest.

Jacks Bloated Payroll

@redkamel:
Ahem! It's Indy 4 BTW, but that's not why I commented. Ancient cultures that built the various pyramids in Egypt and South America (Incan? Mayan? Aztek? one of those) were, and probably still are, believed to have been assisted by aliens in the process. Historians and Scientists may have thoroughly debunked those kinds of things but I'm sure somebody still believes it. All the mathematics and labor involved in building those things (I think some of them are called Ziggurats or just "temples") was thought to be more advanced than was possible at the time. Hence the aliens tie-in and YES to an ancient culture living off in the jungle somewhere.

DoomGaZer

You know what? I enjoyed it. Sure there were some ridiculous parts, but I still left the theater satisfied that I'd seen another Indiana Jones movie. Hating on this movie has become so fashionable...

bluebledthesea

@xashinx: And feather pillows. And a casing tough enough to withstand the physical devastation of a nuclear explosion.

They sure don't make 'em like they used to.

Killjoy

I see the majority of you also saw the South Park show about Spielberg and Lucas raping Indiana...GOOD EPISODE!

...And yes, Indie was raped in this movie.

sdgmcdon

Best Buy has the coolest bonus for sure. Plus Reward Zone points make it a no brianer.

Also I think I am in the 2% of people who acctually liked this movie! I agree with mhlaxp in that Aliens are just as much a part of crazy mythology/treasure hunting myth as the Arc of the covenant killing Nazis, or a Crusading Knight living forever in a cave for 1,000 years. Seriously, Indiana Jones is meant to be over the top awesomeness. and that my friends is exactly what surviving a nuke blast in a refridgerator is all about.

Lavallee017

i know this has already been touched on, but yes, the original trilogy has plenty of cheesey-ness to it. Pulling a guy's still beating heart from his chest, invisible bridges, turning into skeletons. Get over it, if you haters were 8 years old, you'd love 'Crystal Skull'.

shinobi-wan

@russcrypto:
I'm not sure if I just spoiled the movie as I have not let myself see it. If you were talking about the SP episode, then I didn't really spoil too much, its still good.

mferrari

@shinobi-wan: Exactly. And if you took an eight-year old with you when you saw it, and bitched about how the movie sucked and ruined your "childhood", then shame on you for foisting your bitter opinions on them. This movie wasn't for you, and neither was Star Wars Episode One-Three. Your old, your imagination is buried under credit card debt, work stress and marriage. Boo-fucking hoo.

Metron4

I'm pretty sure the Best Buy boxset does NOT include the Bluray. Historically, their special sets have never included the hi-def versions, dating back to 300. Iron Man, too. As much as I wish they did (I would definitely prefer these awesome sets to the standalone disc), I don't think this is 100% accurate. If it is, then I'm excited!

matthewrex

@bluebledthesea: Same here. The fridge part and the swinging with the monkeys really sucked, but the movie was pretty good. The only question I have is are there any stores that are just releasing a movie version without all the extra crap?

anfauglir

Bah. Amazon for em I think and whatever Giz, the movie was good. Sack it up.

illegalprelude

I don't understand why everybody throws such a fit about Indy4. Has anybody watched the first three Indy films since their childhoods? You might be surprised that under the rose-tinted goggles of childhood-nostalgia, those films are pretty corny and often make little sense. I mean, the bad guy in Temple of Doom was a Hindu who ate hearts and wore a cow skull on his head. The first and third movies involved magical God artifacts that melted the faces off of Nazis or granted immortality. How is that more believable than Aliens? The movie took place in the 50s, when everybody was apey about aliens and those crazy Soviet commies were the ultimate bad guys. It's a pulp adventure story straight from the 50s.

Indiana Jones has always been a pulp adventure story at it's core. The king of the pulp adventure stories was Doc Savage, who went on much crazier adventures that made even less sense than Aliens in pyramids (which, actually, has been part of legend for many years. Many people believed that aliens helped ancient civilizations build the pyramids of the Egyptians and the Aztecs/Mayans). Heck Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote stories about people going to Mars by just screaming the word "Mars!" Indy movies have always followed that vein of storytelling, from the very beginning. The themes were slightly different in this movie because it took place in the 50s rather than the 30s/40s and hit on the pulp themes of that decade. It's a fun romp, that's all any of the movies have ever been: fun romps that defy the laws of physics for the sake of fun. The movie had it's flaws, sure, but it certainly didn't rape the franchise, and it certainly wasn't worse than Temple of Doom.

korybing