10 Highly Questionable Actions Committed By George Lucas
2. The Story From Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
Out of all the Indiana Jones movies, The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull has arguably the worst story and you can send a Thank You card to George Lucas for that. Fresh out of ideas after making the third Indiana Jones movie, George was stumped with where to take the story. Eventually, after several years of brainstorming, George Lucas came up with the idea to move the series forward into the 1950s and give it a tone more akin to the science fiction films of that era. What could be better than aliens crossing over into the world of Indiana Jones?
As you would expect, Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg were not very pleased with this idea when it was first presented to them in the early 90s. The problem is mostly related to the fact that Indiana Jones was a character born out of the adventure serials that played in the 1930s. Therefore, the first 3 Indiana Jones movies had a style and tone that firmly placed them in line with that era. The 1950s sci-fi movies have their own distinguishable features with stories that operate very differently than pure adventure serials. With that said, it is certainly possible to cross the two provided that you make the science fiction elements feel real and vital in the world of Indiana Jones, which requires a bit of restraint.
George Lucas is not known for restraint. Instead, he went overboard with the story, focusing on crystal alien skulls that could provide psychic powers, which the Russians desperately wanted. At a certain point (SPOILER ALERT) the aliens actually show up in the movie and we see a damn UFO rise up and leave. Its jarring because it never really feels like it belongs in the world of Indiana Jones. If George could have found a different way to incorporate these sci-fi themes, it could have been successful but as it is currently, it is a ridiculous and muddled mess.
Oh yeah, we also had Shia LaBeouf swinging on vines like a monkey. Just take a few minutes to process what I said there.