Dr. Jones and the Skull Kingdom Mystery

It's been a minute since I requested this edit, and I finally got around to watching it. Thanks to Wraith for sending me a copy!

Overall, this edit is a decent effort to streamline the black sheep of the Indiana Jones franchise, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Wraith's talents are on a good display here. Aside from from some frame and audio hiccups, where scenes and transitions were cut, this is edited very well. Idiotic scenes, like the big darn ants and Monkey Mutt were cut out quite nicely and seamlessly. There's only one big thing I can think of that felt off is the waterfall sequence. The camera moving from there to here to over here was quite jarring.

The alternate intro, where Mt. Paramount faded into a nuclear test site memorial was clever, and I liked the idea of showing an old nuclear warfare television message, but it certainly didn't feel Indy like, and nuclear warfare is touched on in the film, but it's not brought up a whole lot, so maybe another thing would've been better. I like what Man Behind the Mask did in Riddles of the Lost Gods, in which he has a scene from The Fountain, where he presents Jackman's character as De Orellana. It sets up the main point of the film surprisingly well in terms of subject matter. The narrative overall is better in this edit, but there were still things that should've been cut. "yOu DoN't KnOw HiM!," "for an old man, you ain't bad in a fight," most of Mac's lines and stuff about him being a fake triple agent, and some of the argument in the Russian army truck, and some other things detracted from the film.

Like I said, this is a decent Crystal Skull edit, and I believe it to be one worth watching at least once.

October 12, 2011

This was one of the first fan edits I watched, as, like most people, this film was a disappointment to me when it came out. There were parts here that I thought worked really well and others where I missed the original. I thought the opening was great and set the tone perfectly. I only remember one hard cut, when the government guys are interrogating Indy – otherwise the editing was unnoticeable to me. The mushroom cloud never bothered me, so I missed that, and I quite liked the ants in the original. Everything else, though, was great. Marion is so much better in this edit now. She was embarrassing in the original. All the really stupid parts were mercifully axed, and I was so glad to see that we don’t get any flying alien ship. Well worth the download.

October 3, 2011

Decent edit – other KOTCS edits have done better, but this one is a definite improvement over the original.

A/V Quality – 7/10 – Nothing remarkable.

Editing – 9/10 – Cuts were fairly seamless for the most part.

Narrative – 7/10 – More could have been cut – i.e., the fridge nuking – but at least the monkeys are gone…

Entertainment – 7/10 – Like I said, it’s an improvement, but it could have gone further. Not my go-to version of Indy 4, but a respectable edit.

April 18, 2011
*This rating was given before reviews were required*

March 19, 2011

I finally got a chance to watch this the other night. Indy IV is a movie I really despised, and have attempted to block out of my memory. I even tried to fanedit it myself a year ago, but I gave up on it and moved on. Wraith has done some fantastic edits, so I was very curious to see what he came up with.

Wraith’s version is definitely and improvement on the original, and a much more enjoyable experience, but I still didn’t find the improvements enough to make it a film I actually wanted to watch.

First thing right off the bat I didn’t like was the new opening sequence. Opening the movie with the Atom bombs as the focus was definitely well done, but it feels so unnecessary to me, just like the sequence it sets up. The whole opening of the movie just sets up one (pointless and stupid) moment that has nothing to do with the plot. It’s sort of like having a great joke with a really lame and unsatisfying punch line. Also, any edit of Indy IV I feel like should immediately remove the Nuke-Town scene, but that’s probably just a personal preference. This whole sequence is still preferable to the little rat thing and “Hound Dog” in the original though.

I feel there’s still too many silly moments that remain, but the best part of this edit is how the action is handled. The cuts and trims to every action scene are stellar, and really make a big impact. The motorcycle chase is handled very well, but I was most impressed with the cutting of the jungle chase. The pacing of it is now almost perfect, and it’s very exciting. The removal of the Big Damn Ants scene was also very well handled, though that’s a scene that never particularly bothered me.

Overall, I did think this edit was an improvement over the original, but it’s still just not enough to make the movie anywhere near satisfying. It was a valiant attempt, and I’m honestly not sure that it can even be done.

This edit: 7/10
Original: 2/10

I recommend it if for some strange reason you have a hankering to watch Crystal Skull again, and want to avoid vomiting that evening.