Ants! Why did it have to be ants?

The CGI ants were cool with me.

I would have liked to have seen them use a Stan Winston-built alien for the ending though.

The CGI Alien looked too much like all the other animated aliens out there.

Dovchenko said:

Seems like a really off-the-mark observation to me.

Melting Nazis
Ripping hearts out and eating live snakes

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Or Donovan's demise...yeah, some of these criticisms ring a little hollow for this series. One minute the film isn't gory enough, the next, the ants are too grotesque.

I thought the ants were just enough to make your skin crawl a little- much like the insects in TOD. I don't really get the criticism that they weren't "scary", due to their cgi nature. Did anyone really think that the insects or rats were scary? To me, the rats were probably the weakest creepy-crawlie, because they were neither threatening nor particularly repulsive.

The ants were terrific. Much better than the bugs on that Willie dummy in ToD.

I Loved the Ants. They were perfect: Creepy, dangerous and well-done CGI. And Dovbchencko's dead is not gorier than ''The incredible face-melting Nazi'' or the ''Unbeliavle ripping hearts horned hat indian guy''.

The ants were better than the rats.

eroc said:

The ants were better than the rats.

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Let me just say that if CGI was available for the rats, I'd be afraid of the result.

The rats were the only creepy-crawlies that didn't pose a deadly threat. The snakes and ants were life-threatening for obvious reasons, and the bugs were indirectly deadly as they were preventing Willie from saving Indy and Short Round. The rats are my least favorite, and I think the ants rank right up there with the snakes.

It's a psychological threat as we know Henry Jones was intolerant of them just as Indy is of snakes and insects invoke a similar reaction, poisonous or harmless.

Agent Spalko said:

It's a psychological threat as we know Henry Jones was intolerant of them just as Indy is of snakes and insects invoke a similar reaction, poisonous or harmless.

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True, but we don't learn of Henry's distaste for rats until after the whole rat sequence. Although, now, with it being common knowlege here, it still is that psychological threat you spoke of.

The CGI was good, but there just wasn't anything visceral about them to me...the tarantulas and snakes in Raiders, the bugs in Temple of Doom, even the rats in Crusade all gave you a legitimate chill down your spine because they were REAL. You knew they were and it magnified the creep factor.

I think the ants were another tribute to an old Charlton Heston movie. (he's in Peru, I think it's called Naked Jungle)

The ants were good, though did look unmistakably CGI. When the ants cover the Colonel's face I squirmed in my seat: it fit with the demises of characters in the other films.

Piranhas: Now I think that was a missed opportunity. Oh well, can't do everything.

Since Mutt was bit by a scorpion, does this mean that if the series continues that will be a new running gag akin to Indy's fear of snakes?

IndyAJA77 said:

Since Mutt was bit by a scorpion, does this mean that if the series continues that will be a new running gag akin to Indy's fear of snakes?

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That would be cool!

Henry Jones Sr. = rats
Henry Jones Jr. = snakes
Henry Jones III = scorpians

Dovchenko said:

Does anyone else believe the scene where Dovchenko is killed by the ants is sooo grotesque that it does not fit with other Indy movies like the pervious poster said.

Seems like a really off-the-mark observation to me.

Melting Nazis
Ripping hearts out and eating live snakes

Come on!!!

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I don't know what you may think, but... I've first seen the Indiana Jones trilogy when I was something like a 5 year-old kid. And I was NEVER EVER minimally disturbed by ANYTHING that was shown in those films. ANYTHING. Face melting?? The heart ripping scene in "Temple of Doom"?? The accelerate aging effect on Walter Donovan?? ... bah...

Again, I don't know what's your position about this... but I really think that showing a close-up of hundreds of killer ants entering in the mouth, in the nose, even in the eyes of a person is quite, let's say, too much for an Indiana Jones movie.
Maybe it could have been cool for a low budget horror flick. NOT for Indiana Jones. I think it's nothing but an awful scene. A friend of mine covered his eyes during the killing of Dovchenko. He could be lame, I don't know and, personally, don't even care. But he is my same age, an adult, and he happened to find that scene MUCH DISTURBING. Much more than anything else that was ever shown in the original trilogy.

As far as I'm concerned, I can only say that the scene with the ants is a big, big failure. This is only my opinion, I know. But I didn't find it fun to watch, nor I found it scary. It is NOT scary. So it doesn't even reach its goal, which is clearly that of frighten spectators. It's CLEARLY a scene that was conceived with the intent of frighten people. It's only annoying, not frightening. It simply fails.
The homologous scenes with snakes in "Raiders", bugs in "Temple" and rats in "Crusade", were NOT conceived to be scary. Not at all. They were meant to be funny. There are many funny gags during those scenes. The global feeling you get is that of funny situations, drama mixed with good comedy. Think about it.

Grizzlor said:

The ants were terrific. Much better than the bugs on that Willie dummy in ToD.

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Uhm... I'm dubious about that. In any case, since "Temple of Doom" came first, I'm still feeling like bashing the ants for their complete un-originality.

You seriously found the ant scene that disturbing? Eh. I don't think it has anything on the darker moments in RAIDERS or TEMPLE, and while it has a bit of a grotesque edge to it, it's still cartoony enough that it's not really anything too extreme.

Heck, I wish the scene *had* been more extreme than it was. Kind of like the whole movie, honestly. RAIDERS feels like a snuff film when measured against KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL.

The Creepy Crawlies!!

I love the creepy crawlies in the films!

when I watched them as a kid I was grossed out but I still laughed and loved them and couldn't turn my head.

But im still unsure what the Indy IV crawly scene was?

Was it the ants? Because the 1 on 1 fight was on at the same time?
And the ants weren't actually ants they were digital.

Me and my brother were guessing and guessing through the whole movie but when it ended and i thought about i couldnt help but feeling let down?

What do you guys think?

Did the ant scene let u down? Or did i miss something crucial?

What I didn't like about the ant scene was:

-The ants weren't real
-They made an ant tower instead of climbing up the tree

Audriana Jones said:

I love the creepy crawlies in the films!

when I watched them as a kid I was grossed out but I still laughed and loved them and couldn't turn my head.

But im still unsure what the Indy IV crawly scene was?

Was it the ants? Because the 1 on 1 fight was on at the same time?
And the ants weren't actually ants they were digital.

Me and my brother were guessing and guessing through the whole movie but when it ended and i thought about i couldnt help but feeling let down?

What do you guys think?

Did the ant scene let u down? Or did i miss something crucial?

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There definitely was NOT the same level of creepy-crawlie-ness as in the other films. The snakes in Raiders were awesome, the bugs in ToD made we wiggle in my seat, and the rats in LC freaked me out.

I was hoping after Mutt was stung by the scorpian, he would turn around and be completely covered with smaller scorpians ala Satipo in Raiders.

Dovchenko said:

I was hoping after Mutt was stung by the scorpian, he would turn around and be completely covered with smaller scorpians ala Satipo in Raiders.

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Haha, that would have been great