Black Magic is the supernatural part of an Indiana Jones-Movie. There is nothing wrong with it.
But nuke the fridge is not supernaturaland that's the point.
The main-problem is: Most action-scenes in "Skull" are implausible. As we all know "Indiana Jones" means real stunts and beleievable action-scenes:
"Indy 1 - 3": Many-many real stunts, many-many believebale action-scenes, some over-the top-action-scenes in "Temple" but never as implausible as the "Skull"-actions-scenes.
"Skull": only a few real stunts. Most action-scenes are implausible. Nuke the fridge, you can't jump with a car on a rubber tree, Mutt is Tarzan, the three Waterfalls... and-and-and...
But... hey... let's see what the makers think about it:
1)
Source: Complete Making of Book / page 244
The first thing Steven said was he didn't want this look like a slick action-adventure movie with digital backgrounds and effects or stunts that you couldn't do in reality," Kennedy says. "Part of an Indiana Jones story is that you want to believe that Indy - and consequently Harrison Ford - is doing his own stunts..."
2)
Vanity Fair-Interview
GL is talking about the great REAL Stunts in the "Bourne"-Movies and then...
"... but when you get to the next level, whether it's Tomb Raider or the Die Hard series, where you've got one guy with one pistol up against 50 guys with machine guns, or he jumps in a jet and starts chasing down a freeway, you say, I'm not sure I can really buy this. Mission Impossible's like that. They do things where you could not survive in the real world. In Indiana Jones, we stay just this side of it."
3)
You also produced the Bourne films. Did the success of that franchise influence your approach on Crystal Skull?
Marshall: There?s been so many films that have tried to copy the Indiana Jones franchise and most of them have failed, except for the Bourne films. I think the reason people like Bourne is that he?s a credible, believable hero, much like Indiana Jones. Jason Bourne does some amazing things but that?s because he?s been so well trained in martial arts and different forms of killing so it?s not totally unbelievable, like the Mission Impossible films.
We looked at the Bourne films, and we thought that maybe Indiana Jones could do some more dangerous things in this film, and still have that seem BELIEVEABLE. The key is you have to believe that Indiana Jones can do the things he does and not say ?There?s no way he could?ve survived that situation!?, so you walk a fine line. What sets the Indiana Jones films apart is that you can?t just call them action movies. They?re supernatural mysteries with elements of action and comedy and, in this film, some science fiction.
4)
"I think Tom Cruise proved that people are getting bored with that kind of stuff," Lucas said when asked about over the top action sequences. "What they want to see is something different. And 'Indiana Jones,' if nothing else, is always different."
5)
Marshall about "Indy I - III":
"One of the things I enjoy about these movies is that they do recall the old cliffhanger serials of the thirties and forties," said Marshall. "We didn't have computer effects in those days, we couldn?t easily erase things and I think one of the unfortunate by-products of the computer age is that it makes filmmakers lazy. You become more creative when you have to hide ramps with a tree rather than erase it later as you can today."
"In Raiders, that's a real ball rolling behind him so Harrison really is in some danger running in front of that; these are real situations and that adds to the excitement and the creative energy on the set."
Marshall about a part 4 in 2003
We're not done with the script on Indy 4 but I think we're going to try and rely, like the first two movies, on realism and not try to do too many things with the computer.
Marshall:
When you start getting into computers you get fantastical situations like in The Matrix or movies like that. We don't want that, we want exciting heroism, we want seat-of-your-pants, skin-of-your-teeth action. We didn't have all the money in the world on the first films and we want to keep that B-Movie feel. We want to make Indy 4 like we made the first three."
6)
George Lucas / Empire Magazine
"A lot of people think Indiana Jones is so outrageous, it is believable. That was the thing what we did that James Bond didn't do - especially in that middle period where they weren't very interesting"
7)
"Indiana Jones redifined the classic American hero as someone who did not have a backbone made of steel and skin made of Teflon. The idea that our intrepid archaelogist could actually do himself bodily injury made him accessible."