ScissorPuppy

Aliens and the Nuked Fridge have been around since a 1992 treatment Darabont had NOTHING to do with. The first of many screenplays using this was Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men from mars, which was written around 1993-1996. A draft of the script had been online since the late 90's. I'm surprised more people don't know about this.

ScissorPuppy

Here is info on one of the first versions of Indy 4, from the mid 90's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana...m_Mars_(script)



http://www.theindyexperience.com/fil..._4_scripts.php

Shannon Nutt

The Fridge stuff wasn't in the Chris Columbus' "Monkey King" script (also pretty bad, BTW) from the 90's -the only thing I remember in that script that made it into INDY IV was the "Mac" character.

I haven't read the Jeb Stuart script.

EDIT: I just skimmed the Stuart script - the fridge scene is in there too, although much later in the movie. Yep, looks like this was a Lucas idea that he insisted Darabont keep.

BTW, Stuart's script has much more of the 1950's Sci-Fi B-Movie "feel" to it than even the final version of INDY IV. Much more "saucer action" at the end of this one.

Sheesh - with these three scripts to work from, it's no wonder Koepp couldn't put together a better screenplay. It's also no wonder why INDY IV took 20 years to make - those are some painful reads. Still, Darabont's is, I believe, the corniest of the three...at least Columbus and Stuart try to take Indy seriously. Darabont's is filled with all this silly "one liners" and "cute" references.

fumanstan

At this rate, I'm surprised there wasn't a big giant mechanical spider and a fight with polar bears in the arctic.

RichC2

I dunno how I feel about that, Darabont does have stilted dialog in his movies, but at the same time, a lot of 50s scifi pics had really corny dialogue... faithful or just bad?

I enjoyed the movie, but it isn't all the memorable. I'm over it, next?

lawyer goodwill

I'm having trouble tracking the current Lucas-bashing. Lemme see - we are just assuming Lucas insisted on keeping the frig scene, but it has been reported numerous times that he nixed Darabont's now unpopular treatment of a script - the same script that Amistad's Steven Spielberg and Hollywood Homicide's Harrison Ford fell in love with.

So Lucas is bad for Indy right, but not that bad? What about the posters who seemed quite certain about the grandness of Darabont's script several pages ago in this thread.

Oh that's right, raped childhood and such ...

bunkaroo

If you're trying to suggest Amistad is a bad film, keep trying.

There's no doubt Ford has picked some real clunkers in the past 10 years, but Spielberg has managed to retain and grow his directorial skills while Lucas seems to have regressed if anything.

And I make these comments again reiterating that I am a fan of the SW prequels. However IMO the quality gap between Indy IV and the first three is much wider than the SW OT and PT quality gap.

Jason Bovberg

Nah. Lucas's dunderheaded, misguided SW prequels betrayed a universe. The Indy sequels, all silly and wholly separate from the original Raiders, have all been mostly standalone (increasingly ridiculous) adventures and therefore easier to swallow. But still mostly dumb.

lawyer goodwill

What, no defense of Hollywood Homicides?

I actually liked Amistad more than a lot of other recent Spielberg films, but I thought it "read" funnier than most of those. My point is that I personally don't think Spielberg and Ford have been at the top of their game, or at least the best judges of material in recent years.

Certainly, a majority on this forum would say the same thing about Lucas, but that is why we all use words like "personally" and "in my opinion."

big whoppa

Does Lucas have a Indy cartoon in the works too?

lawyer goodwill

I wish ... I would prefer something Thunderbird-esque in style!

big whoppa

I'd be game for that!

Rizor

I'd actually love to see a pulpy animated series that could recall the original concept art for Raiders.

http://www.theraider.net/films/raide...ngof/mo_02.jpg
http://www.theraider.net/films/raide...ngof/mo_03.jpg
http://www.theraider.net/films/raide...ngof/mo_04.jpg
http://www.theraider.net/films/raide...ngof/mo_11.jpg

riley_dude

Well said! Couldn't have said it better myself.

lawyer goodwill

I would, too. Through animation, Indy's adventures could span the globe and mix the supernatural at the stroke of a pen - or a computer keyboard.

Giles

so I finally saw this tonight, at the Uptown and while I thought the whole premise and execution of the film felt a tad too goofy in places, I still enjoyed it, but wasn't blown away.

Michael Corvin

Finally saw it tonight. Packed house. Liked it, not loved it. I'll have to see it again to determine that. Would probably rank it the same as everyone else. Just above Temple but behind Ark & Crusade. I have the same complaints as everyone else, fridge/tarzan/aliens, but it was still a damn fun ride. I was surprised that the CGI didn't look near as bad as in the trailers. The jeep scene followed by the ants was spectacular.

I couldn't agree more. I see that Darabont is getting some shit on his take. I haven't read it but to my understanding we have him to thank for getting Marion into the script. I think he at least deserves that. I think she stole the movie. My absolute favorite moment of the film was the look of a giddy schoolgirl she had when Indy told her that the problem with all the other women he's been with was that they weren't her. It's those little character moments that make the film. I'd almost say they compensate for some of the absolute ridiculousness in the film.

Also loved the nod to Han Solo's famous line, "I've got a bad feeling about this." Subtle and cool. Also liked the nod to the 'Saucer men' title.

B.A.

Spot on.

I finally saw it today, too, w/ my dad, brother and my brother-in-law. All four of us enjoyed it.

***1/2 out of five.

I had lowered my expectations so much that it was much better than I thought it would be. There were a couple of scenes that I could have done w/out, particularly the aforementioned monkey/vine swinging, but overall I was more than happy. I watched the first three over the weekend in preparation, so it was nice to see a few nods to the earlier films/casts. Some of the dialogue between Indy and Marion seemed a bit forced, not to mention that Karen Allen seemed a bit rusty to begin with.

Darknite39

dpz301

i finally got to this last friday also and i agree, she seemed a little off. other that a fridge scene and some over the top ending, i really enjoyed the film. it wasn't that these scenes killed it either, it just seemed like it went a little too far.

rennervision

My thought is that it comes no where near the quality of Spielberg and Lucas' early work in the series, so it's a major disappointment. However, I don't think it hurts the series like the Star Wars prequels did, and I can even appreciate the fact that it provides closure for the characters.

All nitpicking aside, I get the sense that the story thinks it's clever when the audience is always three steps ahead of it. And, frankly, it's just plain poor. However, I can imagine it would have worked better as the third Indiana Jones movie when everyone involved was still at the top of their game. Last Crusade always felt like a shameless retread of Raiders to me. Crystal Skull at least tries to be an original sequel just like Temple of Doom tried something different.

I feel if Crystal Skull was made 20 years ago and included Sean Connery, it would have been a worthy addition to the series.

Red Dog

Finally saw it this weekend. I was definitely underwhelmed. Perhaps Spielberg and Lucas should be permanently banned from revisiting any of their franchises.

whoopdido

Couldn't give two craps about Lucas and his junk, but I wouldn't mind seeing some of Stevie's old stuff revisited. A new Jurassic Park movie as long as he directs might be cool. Maybe a bigger budget remake of Duel. No matter what he does, please, for the love of God, leave Jaws alone though.

GrouchoFan

I wonder if the Crystal Skull aliens built that temple in the opening scene of Raiders. A booby-trap set off by a broken beam of light seems a little too sophisticated for the Hovitos to come up with on their own.

Just some idle speculation in the summer heat...

Original Desmond

Just saw this on dvd and hmmmm, not terrible but rather disappointing

i thought Harrison still pulled off an older Indy quite well. I'm over Shia Leboef, he is being overexposed.

The story was just lacklustre