kongisking said:
I continue to find it bizarre, this dislike of series, that have a clear element of the supernatural, increasing the scale and nature of such fantastical elements in sequels. I've known people who badmouthed the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels for going full-hog with supernatural stuff. Same goes for Crystal Skull, where people seem to think a psychic skull that hypnotizes you into bringing it home so it can rejoin its brethren is somehow 'too much'. Which begs the question: what on Earth is the line for these folks?
A supernatural element has no line. Because the supernatural doesn't have a strict limitation on what it can appear as. The supernatural can be anything, from ghosts to demons to magic objects to ancient curses or monsters. As long as it makes sense for that story and is interesting, why limit your storytelling possibilities? You can argue that the crystal skull wasn't as mythic as the Ark or the Holy Grail, fine, but saying its somehow 'too much' for this series? Pfffffttttt.
Your friends are correct. They intuit that something is somehow "wrong" about Crystal Skull, that is different than the other movies, but perhaps they aren't great at articulating those thoughts to you or even themselves.
However, as frequent movie-goers, they can tell when something is off even if they can't explain in detail exactly why the feel that way. And, especially when compared with the other movies, "Crystal Skull" definitely feels off kilter, "wrong" somehow, even if we aren't exactly sure why.
"What is TOO much" is only part of it. What it is really about is rules. Movies need to make sense, they need to feel logical. Yes, even movies with a supernatural or fantastical element. Heck, ESPECIALLY then.
Sure, we can suspend our disbelief, but you have to earn it. You can't just throw anything at us, willy nilly, and expect us to believe it.
You have to create rules and then you have to follow those rules.
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" is a masterclass in that kind of filmmaker. Because the Indiana Jones movies exist, for the most part, in "our world" (as opposed to outer space, Middle Earth, etc.) it is all the more important to frame the supernatural elements in a context that makes sense. And is internally logical and consistent.
"Raiders" plays very strictly by its own rules. In the beginning of the movie, in arguably the best scene of pure exposition in movie history, Indiana Jones lays out all of the information we need to know to watch the rest of the movie. About the Ark, about its history, about how to go about finding it and, finally, most importantly, about the Ark's powers.
So when we finally see the Ark unleash holy hell in the last act of the movie, we are suitably awed and excited (even horrified), but we don't feel like the movie is playing by a different set of rules all of a sudden. We were prepared for it. The movie is fulfilling its promise to us, but it isn't cheating us.
The exact same thing holds true in "Last Crusade." We're told about the object and its powers and we see the object performing its duties exactly as promised. Nothing confusing about it. When we are given the "rules" of magic, we can accept it. It is not "plot hole" it isn't really even "suspension of disbelief." It's a movie creating a consistent universe and staying within its own boundaries.
"Temple of Doom" is just a little more problematic. All we are told is that the stones have vaguely defined "magical properties", but we don't know how they actually work or manifest. However, since the supernatural element is actually pretty muted at the end (all the rocks do is get really hot), we can accept it. Magical properties? Okay sure. They get really hot. Probably do some other stuff, maybe, but that's all we need.
If the stones had suddenly transformed everyone into gerbils or transported the villains to the far side of the moon, we'd rightfully feel cheated. "Whoa, I was not expecting THAT!" But the leap is fairly minor, so we can go along with it.
Now it comes to Crystal Skull. The problem isn't that it's dealing with a wonky object few people have heard of before. The problem isn't that the object doesn't come from an established religion.
The problem is that, throughout the entire movie, we have no friggin' clue what the skull is, what it is supposed to do, how it go there, etc. etc. The movie itself seems to have vague, contradictory ideas, as well.
Sometimes the skull is magnetic. Why? Who knows? Is it ALWAYS magnetic? Nope. The skull kind of also has telepathy. Okay. That would be fine if we were told that all along. Or if that was the ONLY power. Or if we knew WHY the skull was acting that way.
The skull can be used to open a door to the hidden location where the skull itself came from and was, um, stolen, I guess. So how could they have made a door activated by the skull when the skull wasn't supposed to have been stolen? Are all the alien skeletons from different aliens or are they all just "one" being - since they go together at the end. Why are there TWO different species of aliens? Why does the movie refer to OTHER kinds of crystal skulls.
The mythology, simply, is a mess. It's not consistent. It doesn't work. We never really "get" what the goal of the movie is supposed to be. There are some elements which kinda work and would be okay if the movie trimmed away all the extra nonsense and focused on them.
But, instead of one very efficient, intriguing and foreboding scene of exposition like in "Raiders", we get scene after scene of the characters discussing the skull, the weird path it took, what it might be all about. There's nothing to latch onto, it's clumsy, it's sloppy, it's confusing.
It feels like "too much." it doesn't work on the same level as the straightforward simplicity of the other films. Like, AT ALL.
So we leave the movie confused and bewildered. "That wasn't like the other Indy features. I guess it was all that weird supernatural crap." Which is right, but it's only part of the story.
We can accept all kinds of crazy crap in the Indy universe or in fantasy movies in general. But the filmmakers have to play fair with us.
If we're told Captain America was given a serum to make him into a kickass super soldier, great. In the "real world", it's a ridiculous, absurd notion. But if the movie plays by its own rules, we allow it and embrace it. However, if Captain America starts shooting lightning out of his butt in the final act or can suddenly teleport, we're going to feel jerked around.