Holy Smokes!

[Quickening]

Oh wow! That’s very interesting. I think Short Round’s ethnic exclamation of “holy smokes” is definitely the most remembered. Just of late I noticed that River Phoenix also utters it after the near rhino horn castration. I was completely unaware of Sallah speaking the line though. Sitting here attempting to remember. Is it right after the flying wing explodes, more specifically Indy and Marion hiding under the tent?

Yeah.

"Holy smokes my friends I'm... I'm so pleased you're not dead!"

 

[Benraianajones]

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Crystal Skull broke the classic Indy formula a few times unfortunately. The returning of a female lead for starters. It was established that no former female would ever reappear, keeping it akin to James Bond. It’s unknown as to whether they forgot about this rule or they just blatantly ignored it. Then tying him down by marriage…you can’t get much more anti-Indiana Jones then a wedding.

The opening of Crystal Skull wouldn’t really classify as a subplot. I’d much rather have had a introductory more in the vain of the former. Every film opens with some side quest in which Indiana Jones is off searching for some ‘fortune and glory’ relic. Somewhat sad that this was seemingly forgotten.

The lacking of gore and violence being another thing that makes this film stand out from the rest. Even Last Crusade looks graphic by comparison. I fully expected to see some soviets sliced to smithereens by the jungle cutter. I completely assumed Indiana Jones would fill commies with lead. Alas…Steven’s more recent censorship reined supreme. He’s really devolving into a soccer mom. God help him if suddenly Indy’s revolver in Raiders becomes a walkie-talkie.

Then you have the obligatory creepy creature scene. I rather enjoyed the ants, particularly the second viewing. I’ve always been fascinated by them and cannot purposely kill one to this very day. However…bugs have been done. I couldn’t help but feel as if we were treading water. I personally was partial toward piranhas. Something deadly and creepy whilst being original and simultaneously evoking nostalgic feelings. I’d have preferred them, but I must admit that the ants fit the 50’s B-Movie theme far better.

Finally the Aliens truly conflict with the previous McGuffins. All of the previous relics go unexplained and carry a level of anonymity. God clearly exists in the Indy universe, as does mysticism and black magic. Aliens are the exact opposite of that theme. They don’t derive from real archeology when realistically speaking, differentiating them from the former once again. To me it’s no wonder why they didn’t sit well with many. It just makes sense. You don’t go into an Indiana Jones film expecting little green men.

With all that said, I still enjoyed the film, but these are among a few reasons as to why I feel it doesn’t stand up to the originals. It's undeniably different from the past movies. That doesn't mean it's bad, just...(what I would deem) disappointing.

Yes! It was said the female would always be different. I think, Marion was included to try and ground Indy:CS down to feel more like the originals, aware the movie would feel different with its 50s B movie feel. I also think CS feels very final, and they wanted a collection of references to the past Indy films as they "wrapped it up". You know, Willie's photo in Indy's house, Henry Jone's (and the Keep of the Grail theme) , the ark, Marion's theme, even the jungle chase has a bit of the music from Raider's truck chase, and I am sure a small part is from the Crusade tank chase). Not especially a bad thing, but I think they had this in mind when adding the references.

As for the gun, we see a bazooka..but where is the revolver! He could have at least shot a tyre out I admit...we did see him shoot someone...by accidently on purose - but in the foot. Ford apparently isn't too fond on guns recently, and it may be possible he also wasn't too fond of gun usage in KOTCS, and wanted alternative means to defeat enemies? As for you saying
LC seems more gory than this, well yeah. In a way I liked how LC kind of held off the gore factor til the end with Donovan, we hadn't seen anyting like his rapid aging before hand in the movie, so when he drank from the grail and that scene was sprang on you - it was quite a scary surprise!

I would have like pirahnas too...I did enjoy the ants. In fact, instead of ants and 3 large waterfalls, why not give us, ants - then 2 small waterfalls (the waters here packed with pirahnas) - and the final waterfall could have been the large drop. As it stands, the 3 waterfalls part feels a bit "empty". Or even, they drop down 2 small waterfalls (but still large for fun) - but the final one could have been huge, like the movie...but they have to make a break thru the pirahna infested waters to land, so they could then walk down the side of the cliff to reach the bottom of the final waterfall? On a sidenote: what happened to that really nice waterfall shot from the trailer? It wasn't in the movie? Nor the shot of the crashing waves, viewed from above... Imagine the terror and tension of seeing them evading flesh eating fish? I saw Jurassic Park 2 the other day, and I recalled the tension I had as a kid, and fear, of when the girl in the trailer lands on the glass as it starting cracking, where was this in CS?

It is true, I did enjoy the movie, I will enjoy it in future, but I am still aware what could have been done to improve...

 

[Indy&HanFan]

i had never noticed the holy smokes thing. i don't recall hearing it in kotcs.