Dr. Jones and the Skull Kingdom Mystery

March 19, 2011
*This rating was given before reviews were required*

February 7, 2011

I won’t give an in deph analysis because the guys above have covered most of it.

WOW, that’s all I can say, I have seen the theatrical around 3-4 times so I know it pretty well, but only when I watched the delted scenes did I remember some of what was cut. As a whole I think it flows very well, the only noticeable flaws is Spalko’s right hand man dissapearing without a real explanation but it never crossed my mind until they arrived at the temple.

Excellent handling of Mutt during the fencing, tbe obvious CG plants to the groin and the improbable outstretched legs always made me groan, now they’re gone! unfortunately the getting caught in the vines seems slightly disjointed but eh… what can you do?

This is definitely preferred for me over the original cut as a lot of the cheese is gone, and now feels closer to the original trilogy.

January 18, 2011

First off, I’m commenting on it after watching the MP4.

I enjoyed the edit. But my first impressions were of the poor quality of the picture in the MP4. It wasn’t great considering it was a 1.5 gig file. But I’m sure the Dvd is much better.

I’ll briefly comment on what I liked and didn’t like.

001 – The opening shots were fine, but they just didn’t feel very Indy, and neither was the music. It all felt a bit too dark and didn’t really fit. Sorry, just my opinion.

006 – I liked the fact that you removed the opening sequence with the hot-rodders. It proves it works without it. I noticed though, that the titles crossed over into the black bars, but you mentioned in the forum’s that that was a rendering mistake.

011 – I’m not sure I like the removal of the Russian Punching Indy.

015 – I liked the shorter version of the Hanger sequence, gets to the point much quicker and the excised footage isn’t missed. Not showing inside the box was a good idea too.

022 – I didn’t like the removal of this line as it was a nice little acting moment from Ray Winstone. The scene worked without it, but I feel the film needs as many good acting moments as possible.

026 – I think everyone would agree removing the prairie dogs is a good thing.

028 – I think shortening the blast sequence makes the cut to the fridge much too sudden. And I felt there was still a bit to much tumbling and crashing. I’ve been doing my own Indy 4 edit (aren’t we all) and I also felt the scene could have used music, so nice addition.

029 – I actually love that shot of the mushroom cloud, so I missed it here.

031 – Less of the Government goons works well. I could never take THE JANITOR (from Scrubs) seriously in the part.

034 – I enjoyed the diner scene more than usual. But that line about bringing a knife to a gunfight is still there. I hate that line, it’s been used so many times in film.

036 – 038 – I thought I would miss the fight in the graveyard, but I was surprised how much better thing feel without it. The film seems to flow a lot better here, so that was a very good choice. Must have been a hard choice though, to remove the entire sequence.

047 – Good job improving the sand pit. That scene has to be one of the dumbest scene in all the Indy films. It would be better removed completely.

049 – I agree with removing a lot of the jungle fight atop the moving vehicles, as they were too over-the-top.

050 – By cutting the monkeys, it makes it very hard to get Mutt back to Spalko’s car. But you did a not-too-bad job of it.

054 – The ants never really bothered me. But seeing the film without them works really well. I thought we would miss the demise of the big Russian, but we can assume he’s been left back with what’s left of the convoy. Overall this cut really moves the film along nicely.

057 – The falling three times scene wasn’t in itself a bad idea, I think it’s just the way they did it that was poor. It was far too jokey, like most of the film. I think you did a good job it.

063 – I really liked this. Well done!

067 – Removing the craft and then the falling rocks worked for me. I didn’t think it would, but it did. There was a flash frame here, but I’m sure you’ve already fixed that.

Overall I really enjoyed it. A few of the major sequences cut, but not missed, and a lot of smaller cuts made that tighten the whole thing up and move the film along at a much better pace.

Congratulations.

January 17, 2011
*This rating was given before reviews were required*

I enjoyed several aspects of this edit. The alternate opening works well, the handling of Spalko's introduction and the warehouse scene is great, improvements to pacing, character moments and story points throughout are handled well. I was almost surprised while watching this that I wasn't hating this film anymore! And i love that you removed the alien ship at the end.

Some issues I had:
- Doomtown and Shia/Monkeys remain in this edit. They are ultimately deal breakers for me.
- The colour correction is not great in my opinion - The reds were quite oversaturated in the version I watched.

Overall, a great effort that proved to me that Indy 4 was worth another go.