10 Films That Don't Live Up To Great Premises

5. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

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Paramount Pictures

Even with expectations adjusted to factor in lead Harrison Ford's age and George Lucas' standing in Hollywood as the anti-King Midas, even retroactively ruining beloved work, there was not much of a chance Crystal Skull made it to the screen unscathed. But there was hope. After all, Ford had survived several plane crashes he caused, so he clearly had the energy. And Spielberg still had some creative control, as he did with the first trilogy, nixing Lucas' worst impulses such as "Indiana Jones in a haunted castle".

It turned out, however, that Spielberg was too tired to argue and, even though he later admitted he thought the deus ex machina of interdimensional beings was stupid, he mostly shrugged on set and sighed, "Whatever George."

As a result, we got Shia LeBouef in a greaser jacket swinging with monkeys and not-aliens invading Cate Blanchett. Somehow, it was cornier and weaker than the retroactively maligned Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

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Contributor
Contributor

Kenny Hedges is carbon-based. So I suppose a simple top 5 in no order will do: Halloween, Crimes and Misdemeanors, L.A. Confidential, Billy Liar, Blow Out He has his own website - thefilmreal.com - and is always looking for new writers with differing views to broaden the discussion.