Dr. Jones and the Skull Kingdom Mystery
Updated
User reviews
20 reviews
Overall rating
8.0
Audio/Video Quality
7.8(5)
Audio Editing
9.0(5)
Visual Editing
8.6(5)
Narrative
6.6(5)
Enjoyment
8.0(20)
(Updated: September 02, 2012)
Enjoyment
8.0
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.
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.
S
(Updated: September 02, 2012)
Enjoyment
9.0
January 17, 2011
**** POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD ****
I was surprised to see that this edit appeared. I had somehow missed the thread in the Forum for this FE. As such, I did not read any information, the cut list or Wraith’s intention for the edit: I went into this edit “blind”. In other words, I had no expectations and no knowledge of what I was going to see.
I have only watched the original version of this movie twice: when it came out in the theaters and when I received it on DVD as a gift (and even then, I fast-forward through a lot of it). It has been a very long time since I watched Indy 4.
STORY/PLOT/REVISIONS:
I do not want to re-hash the long list of cuts from the Cut list, so I am only going to highlight some of the areas of the edit.
Before I proceed further, I want to comment that I could tell from the very beginning of the edit, that a great deal of thought, time, work and skill went into the creation of this FE. Indy 4 is not an easy project to tackle.
I thoroughly enjoyed the “Trinity and Beyond” opening and the use of William Stromberg’s score from it – I am a big fan of these documentaries and Stromberg’s scores. Not just because of that bias of mine, but because of the great choice to use this footage, narration and music as an opener that it definitely sets up the tone of the movie as occurring during the height of the Cold war and the “Red Scare” in America. Wraith skillfully transitions from the B&W documentary footage (no widescreen) to the color and widescreen of the actual movie. Excellent!
I like that this edit begins at the point of the Soviet Army at the base (no more stupid car chase with the American teenagers).
The shorter version of the warehouse scene definitely works for me completely – gone is a lot of the cheesy lines and the bloat – this scene moves along quicker than the original and, to me, is much more tightly paced.
I am very happy with how Wraith handles the meeting of Indy and Mutt – not as stereotypically antagonistic than the original and makes their bonding later in the movie much more believable.
Gone is the bloat/overall silliness of the motorcycle chase through the college (thank you for removing the entire library scene, thank you!). I never really warmed up to this scene until this edit.
The working out of the puzzle Ox leaves for Indy, the travel to and discovery of Ox’s cell moves along much, much better – less bloat/more engaging and without losing anything of the plot.
Almost every overly-long scene has been re-cut to make them tighter and more interesting – bravo on all points!
For me, there might have been one or two cheesy one-liners/looks that could have been removed – but since all the really annoying areas were taken care of, I am happy whit what remained.
One scene that I sooooooo desperately wanted to be gone is the “refrigerator scene”. I hate it in the original and I hate it here. I have thought long and hard on how it can be removed successfully without losing continuity, but I haven’t come up with any ideas that work would well or at all. So, I guess I can’t fault Wraith for leaving it in. The scene itself is not essential, but the scenes following it are: i.e. – the scene with Indy and the FBI, the scene at Indy’s school, his firing, etc etc. I am not happy with this scene and never will be. :-(
Wraith successfully and skilfully pares down the bloat of all the major scenes – all of which the originals always annoyed me.
To quote: ” … plus no mushroom cloud and LOTS more … no ants, no prairie dogs, no monkeys, no scorpions etc…” all of which are NOT missed and makes the movie that much more enjoyable/watchable/tighter.
This edit shows Indy in his best form – smart, humorous, serious, capable and adventurous. It is very tight story-line wise and makes Indy 4 an adventure. I believe that Wraith achieved his intention of making this “tonally” more in line with the way Raiders of the Lost Ark is.
All the characters have been made a bit more serious and it works.
The added FX are noticeable, but NOT in a way they seem out of place – but in the way that seem to enhance what I am watching. Good job!
(Two of the people I watched this with didn’t realize there were added FX; that really is one intention of an FE, right? To do something that changes the original but seems like the original?)
I absolutely liked how the spacecraft/inter-dimensional craft scene is handled. Gone is the scene of it lifting off. Wraith handles this well, good cuts to the water flooding the area. I had always thought that if it was an inter-dimensional craft, then why did it have to lift off and fly to leave? Again, Wraith trims down all the bloat/fat of all these scenes from entering the temple to Indy and gang escaping.
TECHNICAL:
VIDEO: First, I understand what Wraith did to the “look” of the movie and it pays off. It’s just that the overall quality of the edit suffers since it has been released as an mp4. I would have preferred a SL or DL release. I put this on a USB drive and plugged it into my LG BD590 blu-ray player and watched it on an OLED TV. Looked okay, but not great (Again, not because of the intentionally re-done look of the movie).
I did think the choice of making it look like a movie from the time of Indy 1 was a great choice and I appreciated it. Some viewers may be put off by this – because so many people are too used to the look of movies of today.
AUDIO: I guess this is where the edit comes up short for me. Maybe because it is an mp4, but I had to turn up the volume on my amp much higher than I ever usually have to, to really get a good listen of the movie. The audio is very consistent – i.e. the dialogue/music/sound effects are all even – the overall volume is very low. I watch a lot of video as an mp4 through my TV and/or my blu-ray player and I don’t see this with those movies. However, all of a sudden, near the time the group is about to enter the inter-dimensional temple/craft, the audio seemed to double in strength – causing me to turn down the volume to a lower level (still higher than I usually do, however). If I am the only one experiencing this, please let me know – I will retract this part of my review.
EDITS/CUTS/MISCELLANEOUS:
Overall, great cuts, no hard audio edits that I noticed and no what I call “flashing”. it’s a term I use to explain when an cut in a scene has been made, but one or two frames might be left form the cut and causes a quick “flash” when the cut/transition happens. (Not sure if this is a correct term/phenomenon, but I have seen it occur in other FEs). There are a couple of very minor hard scene cuts but I forgive them as they almost occur that way in the original DVD (I went back to compare). The one I most noticed is when Irina Spalko is about to reconnect the skull back onto the skeleton – a couple of very abrupt scene cuts happen – no a huge deal, but it is noticeable.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
This is my go-to version of Indy 4, hands down. I watched this with some friends of mine, while our wives were out doing there thing, and all 4 of us were amazed that we were over an hour into it before we knew. Despite some things remaining in this edit that I would have liked to see gone, minor things, it is an outstanding edit and well worth the time!
**** POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD ****
I was surprised to see that this edit appeared. I had somehow missed the thread in the Forum for this FE. As such, I did not read any information, the cut list or Wraith’s intention for the edit: I went into this edit “blind”. In other words, I had no expectations and no knowledge of what I was going to see.
I have only watched the original version of this movie twice: when it came out in the theaters and when I received it on DVD as a gift (and even then, I fast-forward through a lot of it). It has been a very long time since I watched Indy 4.
STORY/PLOT/REVISIONS:
I do not want to re-hash the long list of cuts from the Cut list, so I am only going to highlight some of the areas of the edit.
Before I proceed further, I want to comment that I could tell from the very beginning of the edit, that a great deal of thought, time, work and skill went into the creation of this FE. Indy 4 is not an easy project to tackle.
I thoroughly enjoyed the “Trinity and Beyond” opening and the use of William Stromberg’s score from it – I am a big fan of these documentaries and Stromberg’s scores. Not just because of that bias of mine, but because of the great choice to use this footage, narration and music as an opener that it definitely sets up the tone of the movie as occurring during the height of the Cold war and the “Red Scare” in America. Wraith skillfully transitions from the B&W documentary footage (no widescreen) to the color and widescreen of the actual movie. Excellent!
I like that this edit begins at the point of the Soviet Army at the base (no more stupid car chase with the American teenagers).
The shorter version of the warehouse scene definitely works for me completely – gone is a lot of the cheesy lines and the bloat – this scene moves along quicker than the original and, to me, is much more tightly paced.
I am very happy with how Wraith handles the meeting of Indy and Mutt – not as stereotypically antagonistic than the original and makes their bonding later in the movie much more believable.
Gone is the bloat/overall silliness of the motorcycle chase through the college (thank you for removing the entire library scene, thank you!). I never really warmed up to this scene until this edit.
The working out of the puzzle Ox leaves for Indy, the travel to and discovery of Ox’s cell moves along much, much better – less bloat/more engaging and without losing anything of the plot.
Almost every overly-long scene has been re-cut to make them tighter and more interesting – bravo on all points!
For me, there might have been one or two cheesy one-liners/looks that could have been removed – but since all the really annoying areas were taken care of, I am happy whit what remained.
One scene that I sooooooo desperately wanted to be gone is the “refrigerator scene”. I hate it in the original and I hate it here. I have thought long and hard on how it can be removed successfully without losing continuity, but I haven’t come up with any ideas that work would well or at all. So, I guess I can’t fault Wraith for leaving it in. The scene itself is not essential, but the scenes following it are: i.e. – the scene with Indy and the FBI, the scene at Indy’s school, his firing, etc etc. I am not happy with this scene and never will be. :-(
Wraith successfully and skilfully pares down the bloat of all the major scenes – all of which the originals always annoyed me.
To quote: ” … plus no mushroom cloud and LOTS more … no ants, no prairie dogs, no monkeys, no scorpions etc…” all of which are NOT missed and makes the movie that much more enjoyable/watchable/tighter.
This edit shows Indy in his best form – smart, humorous, serious, capable and adventurous. It is very tight story-line wise and makes Indy 4 an adventure. I believe that Wraith achieved his intention of making this “tonally” more in line with the way Raiders of the Lost Ark is.
All the characters have been made a bit more serious and it works.
The added FX are noticeable, but NOT in a way they seem out of place – but in the way that seem to enhance what I am watching. Good job!
(Two of the people I watched this with didn’t realize there were added FX; that really is one intention of an FE, right? To do something that changes the original but seems like the original?)
I absolutely liked how the spacecraft/inter-dimensional craft scene is handled. Gone is the scene of it lifting off. Wraith handles this well, good cuts to the water flooding the area. I had always thought that if it was an inter-dimensional craft, then why did it have to lift off and fly to leave? Again, Wraith trims down all the bloat/fat of all these scenes from entering the temple to Indy and gang escaping.
TECHNICAL:
VIDEO: First, I understand what Wraith did to the “look” of the movie and it pays off. It’s just that the overall quality of the edit suffers since it has been released as an mp4. I would have preferred a SL or DL release. I put this on a USB drive and plugged it into my LG BD590 blu-ray player and watched it on an OLED TV. Looked okay, but not great (Again, not because of the intentionally re-done look of the movie).
I did think the choice of making it look like a movie from the time of Indy 1 was a great choice and I appreciated it. Some viewers may be put off by this – because so many people are too used to the look of movies of today.
AUDIO: I guess this is where the edit comes up short for me. Maybe because it is an mp4, but I had to turn up the volume on my amp much higher than I ever usually have to, to really get a good listen of the movie. The audio is very consistent – i.e. the dialogue/music/sound effects are all even – the overall volume is very low. I watch a lot of video as an mp4 through my TV and/or my blu-ray player and I don’t see this with those movies. However, all of a sudden, near the time the group is about to enter the inter-dimensional temple/craft, the audio seemed to double in strength – causing me to turn down the volume to a lower level (still higher than I usually do, however). If I am the only one experiencing this, please let me know – I will retract this part of my review.
EDITS/CUTS/MISCELLANEOUS:
Overall, great cuts, no hard audio edits that I noticed and no what I call “flashing”. it’s a term I use to explain when an cut in a scene has been made, but one or two frames might be left form the cut and causes a quick “flash” when the cut/transition happens. (Not sure if this is a correct term/phenomenon, but I have seen it occur in other FEs). There are a couple of very minor hard scene cuts but I forgive them as they almost occur that way in the original DVD (I went back to compare). The one I most noticed is when Irina Spalko is about to reconnect the skull back onto the skeleton – a couple of very abrupt scene cuts happen – no a huge deal, but it is noticeable.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
This is my go-to version of Indy 4, hands down. I watched this with some friends of mine, while our wives were out doing there thing, and all 4 of us were amazed that we were over an hour into it before we knew. Despite some things remaining in this edit that I would have liked to see gone, minor things, it is an outstanding edit and well worth the time!
U
(Updated: September 02, 2012)
Enjoyment
8.0
January 17, 2011
*This rating was given before reviews were required*
*This rating was given before reviews were required*
U
Overall rating
7.8
Audio/Video Quality
7.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
7.0
Enjoyment
7.0
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.
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.
N
Overall rating
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
8.0
Enjoyment
8.0
This is the first of the Indy 4 edits that I’ve watched, and I must say I was very impressed. (Possible minor spoilers ahead.)
This version of the film flows much better. The original theatrical cut was two hours, and while 2 hours shouldn’t be too long for an Indy film (that was the length of the first three films, after all), Wraith’s lean 99-minute cut removes a lot of extraneous stuff that weighed down the theatrical release.
The new opening, using 1950s atomic bomb footage, is fantastic and really helps to set the era and the mood better than the “Hound Dog” sequence did in the original film.
Indy’s talk with the FBI is mercifully much shorter.
The chase is reworked so that it has a more natural stopping point than the scene in the library. The library scene was funny, but it was an awkward place to *end* the chase. With a bit of trimming and some rearranged music, the chase flows much better now.
The chase in the forest is also reworked significantly to avoid dumb CGI monkeys and such.
There were a few things that I would have cut that Wraith chose to leave in. Irina Spalko’s attempts to use psychic powers on Indy are silly, as is Indy’s clunky dialogue at the end about “Knowledge was their gift.” But these are relatively minor things. Overall, I was satisfied.
Since this was the first Indy 4 edit I watched, I can’t really compare it with the others, but compared to the theatrical version, this is a vast improvement.
This version of the film flows much better. The original theatrical cut was two hours, and while 2 hours shouldn’t be too long for an Indy film (that was the length of the first three films, after all), Wraith’s lean 99-minute cut removes a lot of extraneous stuff that weighed down the theatrical release.
The new opening, using 1950s atomic bomb footage, is fantastic and really helps to set the era and the mood better than the “Hound Dog” sequence did in the original film.
Indy’s talk with the FBI is mercifully much shorter.
The chase is reworked so that it has a more natural stopping point than the scene in the library. The library scene was funny, but it was an awkward place to *end* the chase. With a bit of trimming and some rearranged music, the chase flows much better now.
The chase in the forest is also reworked significantly to avoid dumb CGI monkeys and such.
There were a few things that I would have cut that Wraith chose to leave in. Irina Spalko’s attempts to use psychic powers on Indy are silly, as is Indy’s clunky dialogue at the end about “Knowledge was their gift.” But these are relatively minor things. Overall, I was satisfied.
Since this was the first Indy 4 edit I watched, I can’t really compare it with the others, but compared to the theatrical version, this is a vast improvement.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
T