Review Detail
7.5 16 10
(Updated: September 12, 2012)
Enjoyment
8.0
Review by L8wrtr — September 1, 2010 @ 1:42 am
Indy 4. Redeemed? Kind of.
We all hated Indy 4, and for good reason. It was excessive in the wrong areas, incoherent in others and full of WTF moments. But worst of all, Indy rarely acts like Indy.
Raiders of the Krystal Skull was the first FanEdit that I watched from this site (not counting Revisited and the Phantom Editor’s work which i had seen before coming to FE) but I had already read of Jorge’s reputation so I selected a movie I knew was in need of help to see what could be done with a movie that had reached this impressive level of inaneness.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
Technical
Watched on a 52″ Plasma, the image was great. No obvious artifacting or compression and audio sounded fine. No monkeying with the levels. Jorge’s foley work during the motorcycle chase was simply 1st class. I noticed the improved music choice instantly. This however was soured somewhat by the dubbed Russian. The effect was too deep and the level too loud. Every time it happened I was taken out of the moment.
Editing/Story
For the most part, Jorge was merciless with the editor’s virtual blade, and in a bloated mess like Indy 4, this is a good thing. I was disappointed that Doomtown remained but to be fair, Jorge has cleaned it up tremendously well, to the point even that it is almost tolerable, but ultimately it is a pointless story point which only exists to deliver that amazing shot of Indy standing under a mushroom cloud. As Q2′s edit demonstrated, the sequence is entirely unnecessary.
Fortunately I was then immediately rewarded with the loss of the ‘Indy is a Red’ subplot which never paid off in the normally deft hands of Spielberg. Losing the Red subplot also meant losing Broadbent’s admirable performance which was intended to fill the void left by Denholm Elliot’s passing. Sadly it added nothing to the film. I was sad to see him go, but the result is worth it. The up-down aspect continued when I saw that the motorcycle chase sequence went through the library.
But at that point my disappointments ceased and the quality of Jorge’s edits really took force. From that point on through to the climax I was able to focus on what little story there is.
Jorge increased the pacing and intensity. The edit focuses on action, but not just action, but PLAUSIBLE action. I can’t count how many times I realized, many minutes after the fact that some idiotic thing had been removed. Equally as important, Jorge cut out an impressive amount of the stupid and juvenile jokes and dialog. The result is that once the journey starts, the movie begins to feel somewhat like an Indy film. Indy still makes some un-Indy choices, you can’t get away from the fact that he was terribly written, but Jorge manages to contain the damage.
The edit holds tight right up to the finale. I greatly admire Jorge’s intention here. It is Bold with a capital B. But as with most of the reviewers, it just felt flat for me. It’s not worse than the original ending, but I’m not sure I’d say it was an improvement either.
Overall Enjoyment
Raiders of the Krystal Skull makes an interesting contrast against Q2′s edit of the same film. They both shine where the other falls short and it is a tough say which I prefer because they both demonstrate different qualities. Like Q2′s edit, this is overall an improvement over the original and in some areas it’s staggeringly better, but it loses big points for me with the inclusion of Doom town (which is handled well, but remains pointless) and the odd ending.
Overall Score
8/10
Indy 4. Redeemed? Kind of.
We all hated Indy 4, and for good reason. It was excessive in the wrong areas, incoherent in others and full of WTF moments. But worst of all, Indy rarely acts like Indy.
Raiders of the Krystal Skull was the first FanEdit that I watched from this site (not counting Revisited and the Phantom Editor’s work which i had seen before coming to FE) but I had already read of Jorge’s reputation so I selected a movie I knew was in need of help to see what could be done with a movie that had reached this impressive level of inaneness.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
Technical
Watched on a 52″ Plasma, the image was great. No obvious artifacting or compression and audio sounded fine. No monkeying with the levels. Jorge’s foley work during the motorcycle chase was simply 1st class. I noticed the improved music choice instantly. This however was soured somewhat by the dubbed Russian. The effect was too deep and the level too loud. Every time it happened I was taken out of the moment.
Editing/Story
For the most part, Jorge was merciless with the editor’s virtual blade, and in a bloated mess like Indy 4, this is a good thing. I was disappointed that Doomtown remained but to be fair, Jorge has cleaned it up tremendously well, to the point even that it is almost tolerable, but ultimately it is a pointless story point which only exists to deliver that amazing shot of Indy standing under a mushroom cloud. As Q2′s edit demonstrated, the sequence is entirely unnecessary.
Fortunately I was then immediately rewarded with the loss of the ‘Indy is a Red’ subplot which never paid off in the normally deft hands of Spielberg. Losing the Red subplot also meant losing Broadbent’s admirable performance which was intended to fill the void left by Denholm Elliot’s passing. Sadly it added nothing to the film. I was sad to see him go, but the result is worth it. The up-down aspect continued when I saw that the motorcycle chase sequence went through the library.
But at that point my disappointments ceased and the quality of Jorge’s edits really took force. From that point on through to the climax I was able to focus on what little story there is.
Jorge increased the pacing and intensity. The edit focuses on action, but not just action, but PLAUSIBLE action. I can’t count how many times I realized, many minutes after the fact that some idiotic thing had been removed. Equally as important, Jorge cut out an impressive amount of the stupid and juvenile jokes and dialog. The result is that once the journey starts, the movie begins to feel somewhat like an Indy film. Indy still makes some un-Indy choices, you can’t get away from the fact that he was terribly written, but Jorge manages to contain the damage.
The edit holds tight right up to the finale. I greatly admire Jorge’s intention here. It is Bold with a capital B. But as with most of the reviewers, it just felt flat for me. It’s not worse than the original ending, but I’m not sure I’d say it was an improvement either.
Overall Enjoyment
Raiders of the Krystal Skull makes an interesting contrast against Q2′s edit of the same film. They both shine where the other falls short and it is a tough say which I prefer because they both demonstrate different qualities. Like Q2′s edit, this is overall an improvement over the original and in some areas it’s staggeringly better, but it loses big points for me with the inclusion of Doom town (which is handled well, but remains pointless) and the odd ending.
Overall Score
8/10
L