That’s a great run that ended with “Crystal Skull,” but in a new interview with Empire, Spielberg sounds pretty serene about the “Indiana Jones” fourquel. Personally, I dig Spielberg’s “Bleak” period, from 2001′s totally weird Kubrick mash-up “A.I.” through a brilliant post-9/11 Tom Cruise duet up to the incisive thriller “Munich.” Do you prefer the “Classic” era, from 1975 (“Jaws”) to 1982 (“E.T.”)? Or perhaps the underrated “Weird” period, from 1984 (“Temple of Doom”) to 1991 (“Hook”), which also includes Spielberg’s work as the producer of “Gremlins,” “The Goonies,” and “Back to the Future”? Some people dig the “Revival” period, when he made the “important” trilogy (“Schindler’s List,” “Amistad,” “Saving Private Ryan”) and mixed in a couple “Jurassic Park” movies, why not? You don’t just pick out your favorite Spielberg film you pick out your favorite Spielberg phase. Spielberg has been producing great, complex, entertaining Hollywood fare for 40 years now. (See also: Renée Zellweger, Sylvester Stallone, everyone who has ever starred in a superhero movie besides Christian Bale, the cast of “Fast Five,” the cast of “Twilight.”)īut “Crystal Skull” was directed by Steven Spielberg, who has almost certainly earned the right to strike out every now and then. But then there should be a balance between farce and reality and unfortunately, this fourth installment fails to strike that balance.“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is not a very good movie.Īctually, it’s less of a movie than a horrific catalogue of everything that is miserable and boring in modern Hollywood: The urge to sequelize into infinity, the paycheck-gravitas of great British actors, the redefinition of “plot” as “a series of digitalized set-pieces signifying nothing,” the notion of Shia LaBeouf as an action hero, the notion that Russians still make interesting villains, the limits of Cate Blanchett’s greatness, but, most of all, the TV-ification of movie stardom, whereby every movie star is only really a star when they’re sleepwalking through reheated incarnations of their most iconic roles. Certainly, defenders of the film may point out that the first three installments often featured the hero escaping near-death experiences, much like James Bond and another reason being that it is a fantasy which makes almost anything possible. According to some fans, other scenes and mistakes could have been overlooked, but this very one was the height of ridiculousness. However, none of them have been convincing enough to alleviate fans' absolute shock upon seeing this scene. There have been some theories explaining how this daring adventurer must have acquired superhuman abilities in order to survive the incident. Miraculously, he emerges from the fridge, unscathed. To escape the explosion, he hides in a fridge and is subsequently blown away into the slopes of the desert. For those who don’t remember this infamous scene, here’s a recap: the scene comes at the beginning of the film and follows this beloved hero as he mistakenly walks into a nuclear testing ground. The nuclear explosion scene serves as a prime example of this franchise's decline. The term "Nuke the Fridge" was coined to describe a franchise's descent into producing films of the lowest quality, and it owes its origin to the 2008 Indiana Jones installment. With its poor use of CGI, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull certainly makes it to the list of movies that overused CGI. From the trucks to the ants, prairie dogs, and aliens, it seemed as though CGI dominated every aspect. The nuclear blast sequence and Indy's son swinging through the jungle with monkeys were notable examples of poor CGI usage within the film. Sometimes, Indiana Jones films appear to be campy or chaotic, but the 2008 installment manage to over-do it with scenes that felt excessively cartoonish. Yes, CGI is often used to enhance a movie, create special effects, artificial backdrops, or more believable action sequences, however, the utilization of CGI in this particular film left many viewers feeling disappointed, as it appeared cheap and artificial. So, why was the use of CGI in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull so heavily criticized? Not for everyone of course, as the franchise has garnered praise for its inclusion of practical effects in the past. However, their approach went awry as they added an excessive amount of spice, leaving some viewers utterly disappointed. Computer Generated Imagery is simply the application of computer graphics to improve images in various forms of arts and media, and, of course, Lucas and Spielberg probably believed it would be an excellent tool to spice up the adventurous and fantastical elements Indiana Jones is known for.
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