Worst scene in the movie. I loved the movie, but there were three things I disliked (vine swining, duck going over the cliff on the tree and the waterfalls).
In some ways, it was well done. Obviously it looked fantastic. Absolutely beautifully filmed. But the drama is so poorly done its hard to believe that Spielberg was behind it. Theres absolutely no sense of danger or suspense, the characters seemed barely fazed at going over a waterfall, or surviving it. Hard to believe it was filmed by the same guy who did movies like Jaws, Duel and Jurassic Park. Maybe Lucas took over that day?
It should have been a key moment in the movie, something that really stood out, and another iconic Indy moment. But not even close.
Imagine how it could have been done - forget the three waterfall nonsense, just have one big one. The characters are in the boat being swept towards it - theres a big buildup of suspense as they see it and try to struggle a while to try to escape, before realising its futile - theres some tense moments as the boat reaches the edge and begins teetering over the edge, hanging there for a second (with a first person - roller coaster view perhaps?) and then - whoosh everything goes down into the abyss.
Or maybe have two waterfalls. As they are all lying in the boat, winded and shellshocked from having survived going over a waterfall, all of a sudden out of nowhere before they realise whats happening, they are hanging over the edge of another bigger one! And leave it at that.
I think it could have been one of those scenes that could be ranked alongside the rolling boulder or the inflatable boat. As it was, the way it was filmed and the performance by the actors convinced me that they were in about as much danger as ride on a theme park water slide.
