Nah, just another example of a movie that was held to impossible standards. The PT is not nearly as bad as people make it out to be, and neither is KOTCS.
Could they both have been better? Of course. But at face value, they aren't bad films. Just too many expectations.
All of these movies fail on the same points: badly thought out storylines based on overly complex backgrounds. They fail to bring across the ideas that Lucas was so overly fixated on (a dictator coming to power by controlling all the strings, using democracy and technocrats to gain total power - aliens as the founders/inspirators of human civilisation) because these complex backgrounds have little to do with the protagonists.
PT: is about Anakin... but everyone seems to be so in awe with the coming to power of Palpy, and so is George, that for some reason no one seems to realise that the movies are not ABOUT Palpy... And the motivations of Anakin are badly developed and his character is very unsympathetic... that is a big storytelling PHAIL.
KOTCS: aliens, psych ops... blah-dee-blah... the crystal skull was to be the McGuffin, like the Ark, the Shankara stones and the Grail... But a huge difference is: in KOTCS they seemed to forget what a McGuffin was for: a device that gets the actions going but isn't in itself very important to explain what it's about.
The Ark: still remains a mysterious source of power 'that needs to be researched', the Shankara Stones, well, the village flowers but how it works we don't know nor need to know, the Grail can't even leave the premises and its power is also not explained...
In KOTCS: no... now it's all about these Crystal Skulls, what they are, what they can do, how they can be used to dominate the world, that they are alien skulls, belonging to a race that infused civilisation in us and live in an underground saucer... That misunderstanding of the FUNCTION of a McGuffin is a major PHAIL!! Apart from the ridiculous CGI additions like gophers, swinging monkees and substitute young Indy, ants, that really stretched the credibility of this film, not to mention complete waste of actors like John Hurt, Cate Blanchett and Ray Winstone.
But Spielberg could have done a better job on INDY 4. Or Koepp could have written a better script. Or option 3, Lucas could have come up with a better story line. But I think that's rather absurd to say because he didn't draft out scene after scene, only created the idea on which the movie should revolve around. There's nothing wrong with doing aliens. It's been done by several other filmmakers and that was ok? ROTLA had ghost....
Either way Lucas didn't write or direct. He had creative imput, but it's funny that no matter what position he had in that film, he still would have gotten the blame. Lucas could have been a Key Grip on that film and he would have gotten blamed. lol
Raimi got the blame for Spider-Man 3 instead of the producers who shoved 8 billion villians down his throat, sacrificing what could have been a good movie in exchange for cashing in on action figures.
Anyone can come up with a story line, but it's up to the writing and directing to give that movie the "tone" that makes it enoyable. KOTCS lacked the same tone as the first 3 just in the way it looked and was shot.
It was also Steven's decision to shoot using Green-Screen instead of on location so he could be close to his family. That too isn't George's fault, but it reflects in the film.
Considering War of the Worlds (2005) wasn't that great, neither was AI or Minority Report....maybe it's just ok to admit that Stevie could have done a better job with INDY 4.
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I like George.
Last edited by Sith Master X on Jul 11th, 2011 at 05:57 AM
True, although I do think Minority Report was excellent. Spielberg has his little pitfalls, like his insistence on family bliss.
However... the Darabont script treated the crystal skull much more like a McGuffin should be used and it was George who rejected it (Spielberg en Ford loved it). So the changes in what made it turn into KOTCS were indeed due to George. Spielberg went along with it, he let himself be persuaded by Lucas, that was his mistake. But don't underestimate the power and influence of the Dark S... err.... George Lucas.
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
Jul 9th, 2011 01:29 AM
