Maybe a little of what Joss Whedon and the Doctor Who teams have been doing, clever little bits of dialogue and nods to older episodes.
The Ark showed up unexpectedly, but was left hanging - nothing came of it. I would have preferred Indy to have accidentally uncovered it while running from the Russians in the warehouse, and then frantically covered it back up. Or even just an Ark-shaped stencil on the side of one of the crates during a pan across the warehouse would have been fine.
Something with a rope bridge, harking back to Temple of Doom. A Raiders-like giant stone ball, but with a twist. Fights where Indy looked to be really in trouble, or scenes that looked like they were going in one direction but were then sharply undermined by some antihero phrase or action.
I think part of the reason it was that bland was that I heard that various scripts for Indy 4 had been floating around since just after Last Crusade, and it had taken this long to come up with something that both Ford and the direction/production people would agree to shoot. There was probably so much surprise at the green light that there was something of a stampede to crank it out before someone changed their mind or Ford aged into a mummy. That wouldn't have left a lot of room for massaging a stock script into something truly memorable.
As it was, HF nearly phoned in his performance, and the production didn't capture the more lighthearted spirit of something like Raiders, where there was humour in Indy being in as much danger from getting himself too deep into something as from the bad guys.
If they were going to play Indy in Crystal Skull as the super-experienced adventurer, there should have been a much greater contrast between his and Mudd's reactions to assorted deathtraps etc - he should have been saving the kid's ass every couple of minutes, strolling through hails of arrows, and then accidentally setting off something major that he miscalculated - because it's Indy, and part of the humour is that no matter how good his preparation, the world still bites him occasionally. Usually when he's most confident.
I *did* notice that Indy very casually strolled into/through areas that in previous films, he would have to creep into/through or decipher some cyptic puzzle, due to the nature of the booby traps which peppered every room/entrance etc. I mentioned that to the DH, and he'd noticed that, too.
Oh, and I agree wholeheartedly about the Tarzan/George of the Jungle-esque vine swing. Totally groan-worthy.
But, hey - it *is* Indiana Jones. One expects to suspend disbelief when watching Indy...
The Ark showed up unexpectedly, but was left hanging - nothing came of it. I would have preferred Indy to have accidentally uncovered it while running from the Russians in the warehouse, and then frantically covered it back up. Or even just an Ark-shaped stencil on the side of one of the crates during a pan across the warehouse would have been fine.
Something with a rope bridge, harking back to Temple of Doom. A Raiders-like giant stone ball, but with a twist. Fights where Indy looked to be really in trouble, or scenes that looked like they were going in one direction but were then sharply undermined by some antihero phrase or action.
I think part of the reason it was that bland was that I heard that various scripts for Indy 4 had been floating around since just after Last Crusade, and it had taken this long to come up with something that both Ford and the direction/production people would agree to shoot. There was probably so much surprise at the green light that there was something of a stampede to crank it out before someone changed their mind or Ford aged into a mummy. That wouldn't have left a lot of room for massaging a stock script into something truly memorable.
As it was, HF nearly phoned in his performance, and the production didn't capture the more lighthearted spirit of something like Raiders, where there was humour in Indy being in as much danger from getting himself too deep into something as from the bad guys.
If they were going to play Indy in Crystal Skull as the super-experienced adventurer, there should have been a much greater contrast between his and Mudd's reactions to assorted deathtraps etc - he should have been saving the kid's ass every couple of minutes, strolling through hails of arrows, and then accidentally setting off something major that he miscalculated - because it's Indy, and part of the humour is that no matter how good his preparation, the world still bites him occasionally. Usually when he's most confident.
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Oh, and I agree wholeheartedly about the Tarzan/George of the Jungle-esque vine swing. Totally groan-worthy.
But, hey - it *is* Indiana Jones. One expects to suspend disbelief when watching Indy...
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