Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Covenant Edition

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Many small improvements, without any grating omissions or transitions. This was my go-to version until I saw Q2's edit.
TM2YC's edit remains a convincing improvement on the original.

some things are be left alone, and the Indiana jones trilogy is perhaps the best example. after a long period the fourth film for me like many was a disappointment. though my own personal expectations weren't too high after seeing what George Lucas did with the star wars prequels. and so as with the star wars prequels many faneditors have tired to give the fourth Indiana jones film a make over

TM2YC edit is solid attempt in trying to improve the film, gone is the nuke town to which coined the phrase 'nuke the fridge'. to be honest i didn't mind this sequence it gave us a iconic image of indy standing near the mushroom cloud and is no more plausible to other events that have taken place within the series. that being said the removal here is done well and moves the story along at a quicker pace.

one of the main issues with the original film was the character of mac and his continued flipping from one side to the other. this character is poorly written and i don't feel it's a good performance from the normally solid ray winstone. the editing is done really well though his character has little to do towards the end of the film. it is also obvious that it's his hand that pointing the gun at the end but a editor can only work with what he has.

the only thing that stood out as being awkward was the car/cliff jump. the editing here seemed to imply that the cliff wasn't so high and wasn't that great a risk. also the pit/snake scene perhaps should have been left alone. it's a terrible scene to begin with and only serves to remind us of Indiana's fever of snakes. i feel with some edits perhaps editors try and change to much and sometimes some things should just be left alone (no matter how bad they maybe)

but looking at the cut-list there are a lot of changes made all of which are done to a very high standard. overall i enjoyed this version more than the original but it's still a average film within a excellent film series.

A very cool Indiana Jones edit.

Having in mind to make a Indy 4 fanedit myself I wanted to check an edit that removes so much exposition scenes. The pace is indeed excellent while keeping the good elements. It definitely was a good idea.
I found some tiny continuity "problems" with some of the cuts, specialy during the first part, but in the end they more or less all are good use of the "lesser of two evils" principal.
I would have kept the Russians killing the US soldiers at the beginning though. Now, maybe they have false pass and can get to the restricted area, but I think the movie somehow needs the Russians killing people.
Video quality of the DVD is good. Although even if the color correction is nice, some faces are a little white looking to me now, maybe just a bit more saturation would have been cool, just my taste.
I did not notice any jarring audio transitions. All pretty smooth.
Can't rate the enjoyment more than 8 cause there are still some things that I can't enjoy in this Indy 4 version. But 8 is pretty strong for this movie anyway, lol.
I also liked the way the monkeys scene was done. Does not bother me as much as the original.
(But one thing that I don't like in the original is still there: Indy's car is way ahead Spalko after Mutt met the monkeys, while before that Indy was way behind. And I understand she wants to get them off the cliff but since she have the skull at that moment and had the lead of the chase one minute earlier, it just looks odd to see her chasing Indy. Just a pev peeve of mine concerning the original.)

I recommand this edit if you want a better paced Indy 4, that feels more like an adventure ride rather than people explaning what this is all about (and confusing the audience even more by the way!)

A nice watch for Indy's fans.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has always been one of those movies where I've not followed the popular opinion, since I never HATED the movie but was merely disappointed by it. IMO, the biggest flaw with the Theatrical cut was that while a great idea for an adventure movie, it just didn't feel like the sort of adventure Indy would actually be on. Topping it off, Indy felt more like a sidekick in his own movie! You spent a good chunk of the time wondering why he was there at all. So, needless to say, I've been waiting a long time for a fanedit that really thoroughly addressed the problems with this movie.

IMO, the Covenant Edition is that fanedit.

The movie is now brisk and exciting! It not only feels like an Indiana Jones movie now, Indy is now unquestionably the hero and the protagonist just as much as in previous films. The over-the-top goofiness is gone, the annoying McCarthy/Cold War subplot is gone, and the straight Sci-Fi elements have been HEAVILY redacted. Overall, this is a GREAT cut of this movie and has permanently replaced the Theatrical cut in my collection

Now, I do have some issues with this cut, but in general I think they're nitpicks:

- The most minor one first, and something that won't be a problem for anyone else, but I never like when editors alter the title of the movie's title card. Again, super minor.

- I'll need to look at it again, but movie feels like it starts VERY abruptly. Looking at the cut list, I think this is because you cut the CGI gopher at the start and, as a result, the Elvis song cuts in wrong. It feels like something is missing. Again, maybe I'm wrong and you did do this, but I'd recommend at least keeping the audio for that shot and playing it behind the Paramount logo.

- I love how you tie up the Nevada sequence! That said, it again feels VERY abrupt transitioning from there to the train platform and Mutt's introduction. We don't get any sort of establishment for Indy back in the city at all. Perhaps it works on multiple viewings, but the first impression is that we need something there.

Otherwise, great job! ^_^