Indy 4 was going great till they got to South America. Then it just got utter shite. The main problem was that our heroes never seemed to be in any real danger, they just seemed to sail through anything that got thrown at them. Too many sidekicks as well. I'd have just had Indy on his own battling whatever he had to battle.
Indy 4 is perhaps the weakest of the four, despite the objectionable content in Temple Of Doom and the too-cavalier-about-danger-we're-just-having-fun attitude present in The Last Crusade. But it's not a bad film at all, either. There's just a fan cult (with some media members as allies) that is bent on hating George Lucas every waking moment of his life. Asking them to give it up at this point, is like asking IRA splinter factions to put down their guns.
That's a bit blunt. I think we have given lots of very good cinematographic and storytelling arguments what is wrong with these movies. A lot of critique is pointed mainly at the movies and the way they work. George's attitude of saying: they're my movies and I make them the way I want, does kinda clash. Indeed. But not so much because of the Lucas bashing per se (although that is fun from time to time 😉 ). Our main gripe is the way these movies don't work and Lucas seems to think he's been making masterpieces in the past 14 years... And frankly, he is not.
I've made a short list of directors who hit a peak and then lost it - couldn't ever put together that combination of box office or critical hit, even separately. Directors like:
Michael Cimino (career ruined after Heaven's Gate)
Willaim Freidkin (career stalled since To Live & Die In L.A.)
Rob Reiner ( nosedived since the mid-1990's)
Francis Ford Coppola (hasn't scaled the heights since Apocalypse Now)
George Lucas doesn't qualify for the list, because box office for his franchises has remained huge (though he had no significant successes for ten years, between 1989 and 1999.) And critically he's done all right, if you look at the weight of reviews on sites like Rotten Tomatoes. But it's perception of him that's ruled everything; most of the print media & large groups of fandom have a critical story about him in their minds and they won't shake it, whatever he does. It's more fashionable to bash him than praise him.
I think if George had stuck to producing there would still be true love.
On the other hand, I have yet to see or hear the fan to shout at George when he or she would actually meet him. At Comic-Con or other venues, everyone cheers for him. After all, he gave us a lot... a lot of good stuff and some crap too.
I still love his works. Moreso now than ever.
I know Ive moaned a lot about JarJar etc etc, however Jar Jar was a fool, played into enabling the Darkside to rule and for balance to be restored to the force..
So in a way, No Jar Jar; no cool OT.
Thusly I'm probably gonna go see Red Tails after all... I can handle some dodgy acting/dialogue. And we've all been warned about it by Plinkett, so I expect that if Lucas has made it, that there must be something in it that will be good.
And with that understanding, even KOTCS may deserve a good rewatch..
Getting my long suffering computer sorted this week has actually put me in a really good mood, I must say. The power lead was knackered, the battery was dead, but its been sorted out now and life does seem that bit better, as I no longer have to type one-handed whilst holding the power lead. Plus those spontaneous power outs were doing things to my HDD. So all round its shaping up to be a good week. 🙂