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Indiana Jones: Film Novelizations #4
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
“The name is Jones. Indiana Jones.”
He’s back. Everyone’s favorite globe-trotting, tomb-raiding, wisecracking archaeologist is finally at it again–hurtling headfirst into high adventure and relying on his wits, his fists, and his trusty bullwhip to get him out of deep trouble. But the man in the jaunty brown fedora and battered leather jacket is no ordinary digger in the dirt. From the fabled lost Ark of the Covenant to the legendary Holy Grail, he’s salvaged the world’s most amazing artifacts, while beating the baddest villains and defying the most breathtaking odds.
Now it’s 1957, the atomic age is in full swing, and McCarthy-era paranoia has the nation on edge. But for Indiana Jones, the Cold War really heats up when his latest expedition is crashed by a ruthless squad of Russian soldiers. Commanded by a sword-wielding colonel who’s as sinister as she is stunning, the menacing Reds drag an unwilling Indy along as they brazenly invade American soil, massacre U.S. soldiers, and plunder a top-secret government warehouse. Their objective: a relic even more precious–and powerful–than the mythic Ark, capable of unlocking secrets beyond human comprehension.
Fast thinking and some high-speed maneuvers help Jones turn the tables, and a one-in-a-million escape narrowly saves him from certain death. But when he’s tarred as a suspected spy and fired by his university, Indy thinks it may be time to hang up his hat.
Fate, however, has other plans. Suddenly the road to retirement takes a sharp detour when a colleague’s kidnapping leads Jones into the depths of the Amazon jungle on a desperate rescue mission. With a hot-headed teenage biker as his unlikely wing man and his vengeful new Russian nemesis waiting for a rematch, Indy’s back in the game–playing for a prize all the wonders of the world could never rival.
He’s back. Everyone’s favorite globe-trotting, tomb-raiding, wisecracking archaeologist is finally at it again–hurtling headfirst into high adventure and relying on his wits, his fists, and his trusty bullwhip to get him out of deep trouble. But the man in the jaunty brown fedora and battered leather jacket is no ordinary digger in the dirt. From the fabled lost Ark of the Covenant to the legendary Holy Grail, he’s salvaged the world’s most amazing artifacts, while beating the baddest villains and defying the most breathtaking odds.
Now it’s 1957, the atomic age is in full swing, and McCarthy-era paranoia has the nation on edge. But for Indiana Jones, the Cold War really heats up when his latest expedition is crashed by a ruthless squad of Russian soldiers. Commanded by a sword-wielding colonel who’s as sinister as she is stunning, the menacing Reds drag an unwilling Indy along as they brazenly invade American soil, massacre U.S. soldiers, and plunder a top-secret government warehouse. Their objective: a relic even more precious–and powerful–than the mythic Ark, capable of unlocking secrets beyond human comprehension.
Fast thinking and some high-speed maneuvers help Jones turn the tables, and a one-in-a-million escape narrowly saves him from certain death. But when he’s tarred as a suspected spy and fired by his university, Indy thinks it may be time to hang up his hat.
Fate, however, has other plans. Suddenly the road to retirement takes a sharp detour when a colleague’s kidnapping leads Jones into the depths of the Amazon jungle on a desperate rescue mission. With a hot-headed teenage biker as his unlikely wing man and his vengeful new Russian nemesis waiting for a rematch, Indy’s back in the game–playing for a prize all the wonders of the world could never rival.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
About the author
James Rollins
90 books13.6k followersJames Rollins is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers. His writing has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold more than 20 million books. The New York Times says, “Rollins is what you might wind up with if you tossed Michael Crichton and Dan Brown into a particle accelerator together.” NPR calls his work, “Adventurous and enormously engrossing.” Rollins unveils unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets matched with stunning suspense. As a veterinarian, he had a practice in Sacramento for over a decade and still volunteers at local shelters. Nowadays, Rollins shares his home up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with two furry companions, Echo and Charlie. He also enjoys scuba diving, spelunking, kayaking, and hiking. Of course, he loves to travel and experience new places around the world, which often inspire his next globe-trotting adventure.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
June 7, 2009
This book had a couple serious obstacles to overcome right from the start. Serious enough that asking "why did you read this, Bram?" is not only fair, but fully expected. First, it's a movie tie-in that's an adaptation of a made-for-film story. Presumably (and one could certainly say obviously), this story is better told on celluloid. Second, it's easily the weakest of the Indiana Jones stories that have been made into movies. And considering that Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade, which I love with a fierce and irrational passion, are an outrageous horror-comedy-bizarro dream and tepid rehash of Raiders, respectively, this must have been difficult to arrange, even for The Neck himself. I actually enjoy the Crystal Skull a good bit, but I am still stunned by some of the weirdly inexplicable choices that the Beards made this time around ("Nuking the Fridge" and "Tarzan Cartoon Sequence" being only the most noticeable of these). I'm not going to get into a discussion of plot, acting, and execution here, but there were certainly some poor choices and missed opportunities.
So why would I read this book? For starters, Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite movie, and I was pretty damn excited (and nervous) about a new Indiana Jones installation last summer. I intentionally, winkingly let myself get swept up in the hype. I wasn't disappointed or terribly impressed with the final outcome, but I figured I could turn to the book to get the only things it had to offer a story like this: additional scenes, of which it has only a scant few, and insight into the psychologies of the main characters. Now for those who have seen the movie this may seem impossible, but it (the movie) has more psychological insight, based purely off of C+ grade facial expressions, than the novelization. This was, understandably, a bit of a disappointment and the main reason I initially set this one down months and months ago.
I'll be gentle: this book is not good. The writing fluctuates from barely passable to truly awful. Take a look at this gem of a passage, wedged in between a (well-filmed) high-speed jungle sword fight:
They now seemed evenly matched.
Until...
As she turned and straightened, the top two buttons of her tunic popped open.
Mutt's attention faltered...just for a split second. His gaze dropped for a fraction of a heartbeat. He was a guy, after all.
Spalko took advantage, smashing a fist at him...
If that doesn't make every fiber of your being groan, I'm not sure what will. I don't think this snippet was in the movie (at least explicitly), and for that I can forgive George all the Ewoks, Gungans, Pecks, Greedo-shooting-firsts, and young Anakins in the world.
Actually, that last sentence is completely false.
So why would I read this book? For starters, Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite movie, and I was pretty damn excited (and nervous) about a new Indiana Jones installation last summer. I intentionally, winkingly let myself get swept up in the hype. I wasn't disappointed or terribly impressed with the final outcome, but I figured I could turn to the book to get the only things it had to offer a story like this: additional scenes, of which it has only a scant few, and insight into the psychologies of the main characters. Now for those who have seen the movie this may seem impossible, but it (the movie) has more psychological insight, based purely off of C+ grade facial expressions, than the novelization. This was, understandably, a bit of a disappointment and the main reason I initially set this one down months and months ago.
I'll be gentle: this book is not good. The writing fluctuates from barely passable to truly awful. Take a look at this gem of a passage, wedged in between a (well-filmed) high-speed jungle sword fight:
They now seemed evenly matched.
Until...
As she turned and straightened, the top two buttons of her tunic popped open.
Mutt's attention faltered...just for a split second. His gaze dropped for a fraction of a heartbeat. He was a guy, after all.
Spalko took advantage, smashing a fist at him...
If that doesn't make every fiber of your being groan, I'm not sure what will. I don't think this snippet was in the movie (at least explicitly), and for that I can forgive George all the Ewoks, Gungans, Pecks, Greedo-shooting-firsts, and young Anakins in the world.
Actually, that last sentence is completely false.
November 7, 2012
With all the criticism and hate that this new addition to the Indiana Jones franchise got, I feel like somewhat of a loner when I say I loved both this movie and the book. In my personal opinion it's a great addition and a thrilling story. I loved reading it, and was enthralled at every turn of a page.
It starts off with a scene that's not in the movie, with Indy deep in ancient ruins in a South American rain forest with his old British friend George "Mac" McHale. Indy falls into an underground river in the ruins, and is expelled above-ground to find his way back to his camp. When he returns, he finds his camp has been ambushed, and the soldiers who ambushed them have Mac captured. This brings us to the beginning of the movie, where Indy and Mac are held captive by Russian soldiers and taken to "Hangar 51" to find some secret artifact for the Russian Colonel-Doctor Irina Spalko. As the story unfolds and the plot thickens, Indy ventures from the desert of the Western US, and back down to South America, all the while being held captive or chased by Communist Russian soldiers with riches and power in mind.
It starts off with a scene that's not in the movie, with Indy deep in ancient ruins in a South American rain forest with his old British friend George "Mac" McHale. Indy falls into an underground river in the ruins, and is expelled above-ground to find his way back to his camp. When he returns, he finds his camp has been ambushed, and the soldiers who ambushed them have Mac captured. This brings us to the beginning of the movie, where Indy and Mac are held captive by Russian soldiers and taken to "Hangar 51" to find some secret artifact for the Russian Colonel-Doctor Irina Spalko. As the story unfolds and the plot thickens, Indy ventures from the desert of the Western US, and back down to South America, all the while being held captive or chased by Communist Russian soldiers with riches and power in mind.
August 11, 2022
A little fun before we get started:
Colonel Dovchenko should've paid more attention to this.
Solid four stars. The worst movie in this series ended up being the best book. Please don't get me wrong; I like the movie even though that seems to be a faux pas whenever I bring it up, but it still comes in fourth place behind all the others, both with my personal ranking and overall production quality. As for the book outranking the others, all of the credit for that goes to James Rollins. Novelizations are the red-headed step children of the book world, but this one is perilously close to being actual literature. In fact, it was good enough that I'm wishy-washy on putting this on my "liked movie better" shelf, but I think in the end the movie still wins out... barely. Isn't it like a rule or something that novelizations aren't allowed to be better than the movies upon which they're based? If nothing else, John Williams' score gets this on the aforementioned shelf, especially with the Call of the Crystal theme. Click on the link and give it a listen. This has been stuck in my head for the past few days, and why shouldn't it be stuck in yours too?
I gritted my teeth going into this one because James Rollins was on my "I don't think he's supposed to be a good writer" list. I can't for the life of me tell you how he got there, though. I've never read any of his stuff until now, and I think I'm confusing him with James Patterson whom I've also never read, but I've heard several things about him that make me hesitant to pick him up.
As for the movie, I understand it's in vogue to hate it, but I never did. I was entertained the first time I saw it as well as with every subsequent viewing probably because I knew I wasn't supposed to take it too seriously. It's an Indiana Jones film, for Pete's sake. I have no problem with the refrigerator scene which seems to make most people apoplectic; I think it fits in fine with the other silly things that are found in all of the films. The aliens and the flying saucer are just fine too, as far as I'm concerned. I do draw the line at Mutt swinging through the trees with the monkeys, though.
God, make it stop.
While I wish that bit had been left out, there's one thing in the book, and I suppose in the original screenplay upon which it was based, that I wish had been left in. During the scene on the college campus where Mutt and Indy on a motorcycle are being chased by Ruskies in a sedan, they interrupt a football game and go tearing across the field. The quarterback throws a pass which Indy catches, and the crowd goes wild. He shifts on the bike and snaps "the ball in a hard spiral - straight through the sedan's window and smack into the side of the driver's head" which allows Indy and Mutt to outpace them once again when the sedan swerves off. That would've been a perfect Indy moment just like the motorcycle jousting scene in Last Crusade.
Since talking about the things that work is no fun, I'll mention some of the shortcomings in both the book and the movie. First is Marion's character which changes between Raiders of the Lost Ark and this installment, at least that's how I felt about the movie. However, she's much more Mariony in the book, and I'm not sure why they couldn't make that work in the film. In the film, she's more passive in spite of the arguments she has with Indy, especially towards the end. I think this is more due to Steven Spielberg's direction than to Karen Allen's performance, but I'll get into that more in a moment. In the book she's more active and feisty which is the way she's supposed to be, but they did make some changes to her history with Indy which was spelled out in the Raiders novelization.
According to this book, when Indy first finds Marion in the jungle, he reminisces and "still pictured her eyes when they'd first met, when she'd been a young woman, staring at him with such fire and amusement from the back row of his graduate class." He remembers "her mischievous smile as she pulled him into a closet at the university library for the first time... the smoky scent of her hair outside the burned-out Raven Saloon in Nepal... the taste of her lips when they'd first kissed... and at the end the angry, wounded disappointment in her eyes after what was to be their final fight. During their brief but fiery time together, Marion had proved to be equal parts passion and fury," etc., etc.
The "brief... time together" makes it sound like Marion was a twenty-something student when they first met, they did their Raiders deal, and that was all they knew of each other. It glosses over the fact that she was 15 years old (not my definition of a "young woman") and the daughter of one of Indy's colleagues while Indy was 28 years old at the time and almost like a son to said colleague. To put it bluntly, Indy was a dog. The Raiders stuff would happen about 10 years later. So, good try, Mr. Rollins, with your valiant but vain attempt to whitewash the origin of their relationship into something less icky, but those of us with memories can see right through it.
Another place where this falls short is some of the dialogue. It ain't great, and this is true in both the book and the movie. Of course, George Lucas was involved, so that shouldn't be too big of a surprise. The characters were all fine and true to form, but I think this worked better in the book than it did in the movie. The cast just didn't seem to click as well as in the other installments. All of them are good actors/actresses, and their lines are delivered well, but some of their exchanges came across a tad stilted. I don't know if that particular issue can be laid at Spielberg's feet, but even some of his work didn't meet the expectations I set for him either. One scene I remember towards the end where they're trying to escape Akator sticks out. Everyone is running in the scene before. They get to the part where some wheels and gears are closing in on the walkway and breaking it all to hell, but they're just standing there looking at it. Then they start to run again, and you can almost imagine the director shouting "action" right before they take off. Some scenes just didn't gel into each other as well as usual.
Speaking of Akator, a lot of the backstory on that confused me, and the book made it even more confusing. As near as I have it figured (and I could easily be wrong), about 7,000 years ago, 13 aliens who had a hive mind (brains that were individual but connected psychically) landed among the Ugha (ancient Incans) who thought of them as Gods. They taught the Ugha many new and advanced things, and they built the city of Akator. Meanwhile, the aliens also went around the world and collected this and that from other civilizations as they developed. Eventually they died (but not really), sat in some chairs downstairs in the temple, and just chilled for some unknown reason. Somewhere in the 1500s, Orellana arrived with six other men. They killed several Ughas, robbed the place, took one of the skulls, and eventually went crazy. Orellana murdered his men before he himself expired while trying to return the skull, and some other natives buried them with it.
Later Jones and company show up to return the skull. It's pretty clear there's only one way to the lower chamber, and once you open the way, it doesn't shut itself again. This means it should've been open for Indy when he got there since Orellana had been there before him. Sure, the aliens could've shut it, but they were deadish. It turns out the aliens could've left at any time, but they insisted on waiting for their brother's skull to be returned. First off, the skull detached from its body causes enough trouble by itself, and any human in the chamber is no match for the mental tom-fuckery all 13 aliens can cause even when they're "dead," so how did Orellana even get the skull if they didn't want him to have it? As soon as he showed up, and began tugging on it, wouldn't the hive mind unite and send him into the great beyond like it did for Spalko and the other Soviets? And since the ancient equivalent of an alien retina scan is required to get into the chamber, how did Orellana even get inside? Was there a backdoor like there was to the Well of Souls in Raiders? If so, why have a face scanner? I guess it's possible they were all alive and just wandering around in the front garden when he showed up, and he killed one of them, then the rest went downstairs to "die" after putting their brother in his chair, but I ain't buying that at all, so I'm not sure why I brought it up. I'm on board with the skull being lost for 500 years, but why did the aliens need to leave once it was returned? They could've left any time in the 7,000 years they were here even when they were "dead" with all 13 of them chilling in the basement. Were they planning to just rest until about 1600 AD or so, then leave for an appointment, and the reason they departed so hastily as soon as they got the skull back was because they were now late?
No, it doesn't. What am I missing? It's either something so simple and obvious that I'll smack myself once I find out (like I did after finding out that a literal scarlet letter was carved into Dimmesdale's chest in The Scarlet Letter after I had read the thing three times... Like I've pointed out in other reviews: reading comprehension isn't always my strong suit). Or, Lucas and company really dropped the ball on this with some major plot holes.
In spite of all my bitching above, I really enjoyed both the movie and the novelization, and if you can suspend your disbelief on a few matters, you can enjoy it too.
And here's a little more fun to finish up:
I bet the Ugha were advanced enough to have one of these.
The links below go to my other reviews for this series, and I'll corral them here since it's as good a place as any.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Colonel Dovchenko should've paid more attention to this.
Solid four stars. The worst movie in this series ended up being the best book. Please don't get me wrong; I like the movie even though that seems to be a faux pas whenever I bring it up, but it still comes in fourth place behind all the others, both with my personal ranking and overall production quality. As for the book outranking the others, all of the credit for that goes to James Rollins. Novelizations are the red-headed step children of the book world, but this one is perilously close to being actual literature. In fact, it was good enough that I'm wishy-washy on putting this on my "liked movie better" shelf, but I think in the end the movie still wins out... barely. Isn't it like a rule or something that novelizations aren't allowed to be better than the movies upon which they're based? If nothing else, John Williams' score gets this on the aforementioned shelf, especially with the Call of the Crystal theme. Click on the link and give it a listen. This has been stuck in my head for the past few days, and why shouldn't it be stuck in yours too?
I gritted my teeth going into this one because James Rollins was on my "I don't think he's supposed to be a good writer" list. I can't for the life of me tell you how he got there, though. I've never read any of his stuff until now, and I think I'm confusing him with James Patterson whom I've also never read, but I've heard several things about him that make me hesitant to pick him up.
As for the movie, I understand it's in vogue to hate it, but I never did. I was entertained the first time I saw it as well as with every subsequent viewing probably because I knew I wasn't supposed to take it too seriously. It's an Indiana Jones film, for Pete's sake. I have no problem with the refrigerator scene which seems to make most people apoplectic; I think it fits in fine with the other silly things that are found in all of the films. The aliens and the flying saucer are just fine too, as far as I'm concerned. I do draw the line at Mutt swinging through the trees with the monkeys, though.
God, make it stop.
While I wish that bit had been left out, there's one thing in the book, and I suppose in the original screenplay upon which it was based, that I wish had been left in. During the scene on the college campus where Mutt and Indy on a motorcycle are being chased by Ruskies in a sedan, they interrupt a football game and go tearing across the field. The quarterback throws a pass which Indy catches, and the crowd goes wild. He shifts on the bike and snaps "the ball in a hard spiral - straight through the sedan's window and smack into the side of the driver's head" which allows Indy and Mutt to outpace them once again when the sedan swerves off. That would've been a perfect Indy moment just like the motorcycle jousting scene in Last Crusade.
Since talking about the things that work is no fun, I'll mention some of the shortcomings in both the book and the movie. First is Marion's character which changes between Raiders of the Lost Ark and this installment, at least that's how I felt about the movie. However, she's much more Mariony in the book, and I'm not sure why they couldn't make that work in the film. In the film, she's more passive in spite of the arguments she has with Indy, especially towards the end. I think this is more due to Steven Spielberg's direction than to Karen Allen's performance, but I'll get into that more in a moment. In the book she's more active and feisty which is the way she's supposed to be, but they did make some changes to her history with Indy which was spelled out in the Raiders novelization.
According to this book, when Indy first finds Marion in the jungle, he reminisces and "still pictured her eyes when they'd first met, when she'd been a young woman, staring at him with such fire and amusement from the back row of his graduate class." He remembers "her mischievous smile as she pulled him into a closet at the university library for the first time... the smoky scent of her hair outside the burned-out Raven Saloon in Nepal... the taste of her lips when they'd first kissed... and at the end the angry, wounded disappointment in her eyes after what was to be their final fight. During their brief but fiery time together, Marion had proved to be equal parts passion and fury," etc., etc.
The "brief... time together" makes it sound like Marion was a twenty-something student when they first met, they did their Raiders deal, and that was all they knew of each other. It glosses over the fact that she was 15 years old (not my definition of a "young woman") and the daughter of one of Indy's colleagues while Indy was 28 years old at the time and almost like a son to said colleague. To put it bluntly, Indy was a dog. The Raiders stuff would happen about 10 years later. So, good try, Mr. Rollins, with your valiant but vain attempt to whitewash the origin of their relationship into something less icky, but those of us with memories can see right through it.
Another place where this falls short is some of the dialogue. It ain't great, and this is true in both the book and the movie. Of course, George Lucas was involved, so that shouldn't be too big of a surprise. The characters were all fine and true to form, but I think this worked better in the book than it did in the movie. The cast just didn't seem to click as well as in the other installments. All of them are good actors/actresses, and their lines are delivered well, but some of their exchanges came across a tad stilted. I don't know if that particular issue can be laid at Spielberg's feet, but even some of his work didn't meet the expectations I set for him either. One scene I remember towards the end where they're trying to escape Akator sticks out. Everyone is running in the scene before. They get to the part where some wheels and gears are closing in on the walkway and breaking it all to hell, but they're just standing there looking at it. Then they start to run again, and you can almost imagine the director shouting "action" right before they take off. Some scenes just didn't gel into each other as well as usual.
Speaking of Akator, a lot of the backstory on that confused me, and the book made it even more confusing. As near as I have it figured (and I could easily be wrong), about 7,000 years ago, 13 aliens who had a hive mind (brains that were individual but connected psychically) landed among the Ugha (ancient Incans) who thought of them as Gods. They taught the Ugha many new and advanced things, and they built the city of Akator. Meanwhile, the aliens also went around the world and collected this and that from other civilizations as they developed. Eventually they died (but not really), sat in some chairs downstairs in the temple, and just chilled for some unknown reason. Somewhere in the 1500s, Orellana arrived with six other men. They killed several Ughas, robbed the place, took one of the skulls, and eventually went crazy. Orellana murdered his men before he himself expired while trying to return the skull, and some other natives buried them with it.
Later Jones and company show up to return the skull. It's pretty clear there's only one way to the lower chamber, and once you open the way, it doesn't shut itself again. This means it should've been open for Indy when he got there since Orellana had been there before him. Sure, the aliens could've shut it, but they were deadish. It turns out the aliens could've left at any time, but they insisted on waiting for their brother's skull to be returned. First off, the skull detached from its body causes enough trouble by itself, and any human in the chamber is no match for the mental tom-fuckery all 13 aliens can cause even when they're "dead," so how did Orellana even get the skull if they didn't want him to have it? As soon as he showed up, and began tugging on it, wouldn't the hive mind unite and send him into the great beyond like it did for Spalko and the other Soviets? And since the ancient equivalent of an alien retina scan is required to get into the chamber, how did Orellana even get inside? Was there a backdoor like there was to the Well of Souls in Raiders? If so, why have a face scanner? I guess it's possible they were all alive and just wandering around in the front garden when he showed up, and he killed one of them, then the rest went downstairs to "die" after putting their brother in his chair, but I ain't buying that at all, so I'm not sure why I brought it up. I'm on board with the skull being lost for 500 years, but why did the aliens need to leave once it was returned? They could've left any time in the 7,000 years they were here even when they were "dead" with all 13 of them chilling in the basement. Were they planning to just rest until about 1600 AD or so, then leave for an appointment, and the reason they departed so hastily as soon as they got the skull back was because they were now late?
No, it doesn't. What am I missing? It's either something so simple and obvious that I'll smack myself once I find out (like I did after finding out that a literal scarlet letter was carved into Dimmesdale's chest in The Scarlet Letter after I had read the thing three times... Like I've pointed out in other reviews: reading comprehension isn't always my strong suit). Or, Lucas and company really dropped the ball on this with some major plot holes.
In spite of all my bitching above, I really enjoyed both the movie and the novelization, and if you can suspend your disbelief on a few matters, you can enjoy it too.
And here's a little more fun to finish up:
I bet the Ugha were advanced enough to have one of these.
The links below go to my other reviews for this series, and I'll corral them here since it's as good a place as any.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
August 26, 2021
Solo un maestro dell’avventura come James Rollins poteva ricavare da un film così rocambolesco un romanzo altrettanto movimentato e travolgente, pieno di misteri e colpi di scena, ricostruendo ambientazione, natura, storia, archeologia e fantascienza in un mix... esplosivo!
Mi sono divertita tantissimo a seguire Indy e i suoi compagni dallo Yucatàn al Perù, alla ricerca della città d’oro di Akator, proteggendo un teschio di cristallo, inseguiti dai soliti irriducibili nemici russi. Che ci vuole? Un po’ di sabbie mobili, una corsa pazza attraverso la foresta pluviale, attaccati da gigantesche e fameliche formiche rosse, e come unica via di fuga il fiume... ma poi ci sono le cascate ed allora si vola giù... e finalmente ecco la valle dell’antica città e il suo tempio disseminato di trappole e non solo... Tanta roba!!!
Wow!!!
3,5/5 -> E niente... vado a rivedermi il film!
# LdM: Perù 🇵🇪
# Avventura
📚 Biblioteca
Mi sono divertita tantissimo a seguire Indy e i suoi compagni dallo Yucatàn al Perù, alla ricerca della città d’oro di Akator, proteggendo un teschio di cristallo, inseguiti dai soliti irriducibili nemici russi. Che ci vuole? Un po’ di sabbie mobili, una corsa pazza attraverso la foresta pluviale, attaccati da gigantesche e fameliche formiche rosse, e come unica via di fuga il fiume... ma poi ci sono le cascate ed allora si vola giù... e finalmente ecco la valle dell’antica città e il suo tempio disseminato di trappole e non solo... Tanta roba!!!
Wow!!!
3,5/5 -> E niente... vado a rivedermi il film!
# LdM: Perù 🇵🇪
# Avventura
📚 Biblioteca
March 28, 2015
In this novelization of the fourth (and by far the most inferior) Indiana Jones movie, James Rollins was given the task of making a credible novel out of this subpar story. By and large, I think Rollins comes up short. Perhaps it was because of the weak source material that he had to work with. Having never tried a movie novelization, I'm unfamiliar with the constraints placed in that situation. I can only review this as a reader and fan of the franchise.
However, there are some significant shortcomings. One is the campiness of the dialogue and some of the action. It had me rolling my eyes in spots. Jones lacks the panache he has in some of his earlier movies. The action really stretches the realm of believability. Furthermore, the introduction of aliens into the Indiana Jones storyline just doesn't work. It's like a romance movie turning into a slasher flick. It just doesn't fit the Indiana Jones motif. Just like the movie, the novel for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull just isn't that good and I would advise skipping it.
Carl Alves - author of Two For Eternity
However, there are some significant shortcomings. One is the campiness of the dialogue and some of the action. It had me rolling my eyes in spots. Jones lacks the panache he has in some of his earlier movies. The action really stretches the realm of believability. Furthermore, the introduction of aliens into the Indiana Jones storyline just doesn't work. It's like a romance movie turning into a slasher flick. It just doesn't fit the Indiana Jones motif. Just like the movie, the novel for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull just isn't that good and I would advise skipping it.
Carl Alves - author of Two For Eternity
November 17, 2008
This was pretty disappointing. I got the audio book, reasoning that it might be fun to able to listen to the movie for road trips and the like. I really enjoyed the movie, but this is one of the weakest adaptations I've read, and I've read a few. Ok, not they're usually all that great. This is competently written, but the author really fails to communicate the spirit of the film, which is what I was going for.
It starts promising, showing a scene with Oreana that wasn't in the film and a different opening sequence. I suppose it's interesting enough and sets up the relationship better between Mac and Indy.
I guess what I learned from this one is how much Harrison Ford's roughed up, aging, reliable image did for that film. The movie works because they remade Indy in the image of his hat and jacket. They fit better now than they ever did. But you won't find that Indy in this book. Save your money and just enjoy the DVD.
It starts promising, showing a scene with Oreana that wasn't in the film and a different opening sequence. I suppose it's interesting enough and sets up the relationship better between Mac and Indy.
I guess what I learned from this one is how much Harrison Ford's roughed up, aging, reliable image did for that film. The movie works because they remade Indy in the image of his hat and jacket. They fit better now than they ever did. But you won't find that Indy in this book. Save your money and just enjoy the DVD.
September 10, 2022
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? More like Indiana Jones and the forgettably ancient civilized CGI aliens that makes E.T. look like a masterpiece.
In 1957, nineteen years after the events of the previous film (Last Crusade, which took place in 1938), Indiana Jones is forced to stop a corrupt Soviet agent named Irina Spalko and her men from finding a crystal skull with telepathic powers. During this Journey, Jones is aided by his former love interest, Marion Ravenwood, her son Mutt Williams, and an old friend of his, Harold "Ox" Oxley.
My reception was mostly mixed-to-otherwise-positive. The main problem here is that the story is thin and very overused. The idea of aliens being behind ancient civilizations has already been heard several times; it's preposterous and makes for an uninteresting and unoriginal story, which heavily contrasted with the mystical style the original trilogy had. On the other hand, however, the idea of the story being set during the Cold War was a good idea for a storyline and a necessary one, as the film was going to be set in the 1950s to match with Harrison Ford's age, but it was executed poorly. Ford still makes Indy a lively character, no matter how old he is, and his performance is still great. Apart from Harrison Ford, however, the acting is somehow not that good, especially from Shia LaBeouf.
This adventure includes some references to the franchise's spin-off material, like The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles television series, and easter eggs to the previous adventures of the thirties, such as the Ark of the Covenant's cameo, and also the appearance of Hangar 51, which is retroactively revealed to be the warehouse where said thing was stored at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first of these.
The film lacks an unrelated opening sequence like the ones the first three films had (the search for the Chachapoyan Golden Idol, the fight at Club Obi Wan and Indy's attempts to recover the Cross of Coronado), instead starting the story from the very first scene; in this novel, however, there is a similar opening sequence, but it was never in the film for some reason.
There are numerous plot points such as Indy being accused of helping the Soviets are raised but dropped unceremoniously. We also then get scenes about Indiana Jones discovering that Marion gave him a son and talking about it with her and his son and those scenes aren't funny AT ALL. The bastards appear without context (a prime example is the cemetery warrior scene).
The science fiction elements don't mesh too well like the mystical ones in the previous adventures, and there are numerous errors being made such as Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa learning Quechua and Mariachi music being played in the streets of Cuzco, Peru. Yes, really.
The pacing isn't that great; in fact it's pretty slow in some scenes. The dialog is atrocious, but sometimes laughable.
As for the characters, losing out on beloved characters such as Henry Jones Sr. and Marcus Brody (both of them had been deceased at the time this film was set, according to The Ultimate Indiana Jones Guide), while adding less satisfying ones such as Mac, Charles Stanforth and Antonin Dovchenko. These characters often feel like cheap replacements of the classic ones, like Mac who replaces Sallah, Charles who replaces Brody and Dovchenko who replaces Pat Roach's classic burly henchmen of the previous adventures like the mechanic, the slavemaster, and the waiter. Ukranian-born Irina Spalko is a bizarre and a forgettable villain who lacks the usual coldly menacing charisma of the villains from the previous adventures. Her weapon of choice is a sword (a pointless use), which was made for the character to be awesome but FAILED.
We see a lot of ridiculous scenes and even some nonsensical stuff. Examples of these include Russians who manage to infiltrate the United States during the Cold War (if this happened in real life, it would have triggered a Third World War; yes, really), Indy failing a whip-jump at the beginning of the movie; Indy, Mutt and Marion talking about "family affairs" while being imprisoned by the Soviets; Mac being a "triple agent" (because he keeps on switching sides among Spalko, Jones and, finally, himself) and Mutt using a huge and long snake to help Indiana Jones escape a sand pit, and of course, there's the infamous scene (one of my favorite scenes) in which Indy survives a nuclear explosion...by hiding in a REFRIGERATOR! The scene with the Dorylus ants and the red giants ants is very laughable and disturbing, even for the franchise's standards and the creatures are similar to the scarabs from the recent version of The Mummy (ya know, the one with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz). In fact, the scene in which Dovchenko is devoured by the ants with many entering through his mouth to slowly suffocate him to death is really spooky and so laughably bad and can make you feel nauseous and nightmarish. The action scenes, however, are okay, I suppose.
The ending, which features a somewhat entertaining gag, is very corny with Indy and Marion's wedding, especially at the end of the movie made it seem like Mutt was going to become the new main character of the series by putting on Indiana Jones’ iconic fedora, which never happened.
Like the first three, the cinematography is great, but it relies too heavily on CGI, and Spielberg's direction is a bit weak, just like with Temple of Doom.
At least this adventure didn't kill the Indiana Jones franchise. If it did, the fifth would have not been made. Also, this movie spawned the phrase "Nuke the fridge", the movie equivalent of "Jump the Shark". That phrase was developed after the scene where Indiana hides himself in the refrigerator to survive the explosion.
I rewrote this movie where Indy fights against the Russian Mafia instead. Feel free to tell me what you think in the comments.
And that is all I have to really say about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
In 1957, nineteen years after the events of the previous film (Last Crusade, which took place in 1938), Indiana Jones is forced to stop a corrupt Soviet agent named Irina Spalko and her men from finding a crystal skull with telepathic powers. During this Journey, Jones is aided by his former love interest, Marion Ravenwood, her son Mutt Williams, and an old friend of his, Harold "Ox" Oxley.
My reception was mostly mixed-to-otherwise-positive. The main problem here is that the story is thin and very overused. The idea of aliens being behind ancient civilizations has already been heard several times; it's preposterous and makes for an uninteresting and unoriginal story, which heavily contrasted with the mystical style the original trilogy had. On the other hand, however, the idea of the story being set during the Cold War was a good idea for a storyline and a necessary one, as the film was going to be set in the 1950s to match with Harrison Ford's age, but it was executed poorly. Ford still makes Indy a lively character, no matter how old he is, and his performance is still great. Apart from Harrison Ford, however, the acting is somehow not that good, especially from Shia LaBeouf.
This adventure includes some references to the franchise's spin-off material, like The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles television series, and easter eggs to the previous adventures of the thirties, such as the Ark of the Covenant's cameo, and also the appearance of Hangar 51, which is retroactively revealed to be the warehouse where said thing was stored at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first of these.
The film lacks an unrelated opening sequence like the ones the first three films had (the search for the Chachapoyan Golden Idol, the fight at Club Obi Wan and Indy's attempts to recover the Cross of Coronado), instead starting the story from the very first scene; in this novel, however, there is a similar opening sequence, but it was never in the film for some reason.
There are numerous plot points such as Indy being accused of helping the Soviets are raised but dropped unceremoniously. We also then get scenes about Indiana Jones discovering that Marion gave him a son and talking about it with her and his son and those scenes aren't funny AT ALL. The bastards appear without context (a prime example is the cemetery warrior scene).
The science fiction elements don't mesh too well like the mystical ones in the previous adventures, and there are numerous errors being made such as Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa learning Quechua and Mariachi music being played in the streets of Cuzco, Peru. Yes, really.
The pacing isn't that great; in fact it's pretty slow in some scenes. The dialog is atrocious, but sometimes laughable.
As for the characters, losing out on beloved characters such as Henry Jones Sr. and Marcus Brody (both of them had been deceased at the time this film was set, according to The Ultimate Indiana Jones Guide), while adding less satisfying ones such as Mac, Charles Stanforth and Antonin Dovchenko. These characters often feel like cheap replacements of the classic ones, like Mac who replaces Sallah, Charles who replaces Brody and Dovchenko who replaces Pat Roach's classic burly henchmen of the previous adventures like the mechanic, the slavemaster, and the waiter. Ukranian-born Irina Spalko is a bizarre and a forgettable villain who lacks the usual coldly menacing charisma of the villains from the previous adventures. Her weapon of choice is a sword (a pointless use), which was made for the character to be awesome but FAILED.
We see a lot of ridiculous scenes and even some nonsensical stuff. Examples of these include Russians who manage to infiltrate the United States during the Cold War (if this happened in real life, it would have triggered a Third World War; yes, really), Indy failing a whip-jump at the beginning of the movie; Indy, Mutt and Marion talking about "family affairs" while being imprisoned by the Soviets; Mac being a "triple agent" (because he keeps on switching sides among Spalko, Jones and, finally, himself) and Mutt using a huge and long snake to help Indiana Jones escape a sand pit, and of course, there's the infamous scene (one of my favorite scenes) in which Indy survives a nuclear explosion...by hiding in a REFRIGERATOR! The scene with the Dorylus ants and the red giants ants is very laughable and disturbing, even for the franchise's standards and the creatures are similar to the scarabs from the recent version of The Mummy (ya know, the one with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz). In fact, the scene in which Dovchenko is devoured by the ants with many entering through his mouth to slowly suffocate him to death is really spooky and so laughably bad and can make you feel nauseous and nightmarish. The action scenes, however, are okay, I suppose.
The ending, which features a somewhat entertaining gag, is very corny with Indy and Marion's wedding, especially at the end of the movie made it seem like Mutt was going to become the new main character of the series by putting on Indiana Jones’ iconic fedora, which never happened.
Like the first three, the cinematography is great, but it relies too heavily on CGI, and Spielberg's direction is a bit weak, just like with Temple of Doom.
At least this adventure didn't kill the Indiana Jones franchise. If it did, the fifth would have not been made. Also, this movie spawned the phrase "Nuke the fridge", the movie equivalent of "Jump the Shark". That phrase was developed after the scene where Indiana hides himself in the refrigerator to survive the explosion.
I rewrote this movie where Indy fights against the Russian Mafia instead. Feel free to tell me what you think in the comments.
And that is all I have to really say about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 27, 2017
I liked the book better than the movie, which I saw when it came out in 2008. I think that was because I could read the book (comparatively) S-L-O-W-L-Y, over a few days, taking time to absorb what was happening in each chapter, instead of having all that action crammed into just a little over two hours.
(Later) Just watched the movie again. I must have fallen asleep in the theater the first time, because there was very little of it that seemed familiar, except the beginning and the ending. After the second viewing, and the book, my opinion of the movie has improved.
(Later) Just watched the movie again. I must have fallen asleep in the theater the first time, because there was very little of it that seemed familiar, except the beginning and the ending. After the second viewing, and the book, my opinion of the movie has improved.
January 24, 2008
Yeah, I am a dork! But these Indy books are a fun, relaxing read :)
June 23, 2008
An ok book. James Rollins is a good writer, however as well as it followed the movie, I was hoping for more information,more character development.
May 15, 2017
Please note: The four-star rating is reflective of the quality of the novelization itself, not the story (by George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson), which James Rollins had limited latitude to alter in his adaptation of David Koepp's (admittedly flawed) screenplay; it's an assessment relative to the other books in this series, all of which I have recently reread. Oddly, the weakest of the four Indiana Jones movies (by a mile) makes for the best of its novels, as Rollins succeeds in making the action come alive on the page in a way that eluded the previous three adaptations.
Through his vivid descriptions of subterranean chambers and jungle landscapes, Rollins actually manages to capture the very element so crucial to the vicarious pleasure of an Indiana Jones adventure that is confoundingly missing from the movie: the thrill of discovery. He makes you feel as if you are on the quest with Indy and company, crawling through cobwebbed passageways and plummeting over vertiginous waterfalls. One of several problems with the Crystal Skull movie is that it feels aesthetically different from the original trilogy to a distracting degree, with its oversaturated cinematography, computer-generated effects, and enclosed jungle sets clearly shot on soundstages (not on location like the previous entries); the joy of the book, then, is that removed from those visual aberrations, one is free to envision a depiction more stylistically compatible with the originals.
That said, however, the page also lays bare certain flaws the movie actually masked to a degree: Mutt's characterization, for instance, is paper-thin, something that wasn't quite so readily apparent behind the legerdemain of Shia Labeouf's quirky performance. Mutt is just sort of a dime-store greaser with an attitude -- a vain, wannabe tough guy that more often than not jumps at shadows (more Potsie than Fonzie), as if the sitcom-level incongruity of those characteristics was supposed to be charming.
Characterization is actually a huge problem with this story (again: not Rollins' fault). For instance, George "Mac" McHale is hands-down the worst major character to appear in any Indy story: He's nothing more than a one-note shapeshifter, with all the depth and psychological complexity of a cartoon villain. Mac betrays Indy so many times over the course of the story that you wonder A) why Indy is so stupid to keep falling for it, and B) how these two ever established a long-running friendship to begin with. Mac actually makes the movie virtually unwatchable for me; he's seriously that bad, and Ray Winstone's annoying-as-hell performance (not that he had much to work with) doesn't help matters: You want to punch him every time he bellows, "Jonesy!"
Oxley, too, is problematic. Steven Spielberg hired an amazing actor to play this role -- John Hurt -- then gave him nothing to do but look starry-eyed and repeat the same line of dialogue ("Henry Jones Junior!") ad infinitum. On the page, this character somehow seems even more useless and underdeveloped.
Spalko, alas, isn't an antagonist worthy of the tradition established by previous baddies René Belloq, Mola Ram, and Walter Donovan. The filmmakers seem to intimate, early in the story, that she possesses some sort of psychic powers, but -- oddly and inexplicably -- it's never really developed. (At least her death makes more sense in the book than it did in the movie.) There could have been something to this character -- the series' first female villain, and a Russian, at that! -- but like all the other new players in this installment, she's undercooked.
And the problem isn't limited merely to first-time characters: Marion Ravenwood, for instance, is almost entirely unrecognizable from her two-fisted depiction in Raiders. Look, I get that Crystal Skull takes place twenty-one years later, and that she's not the same woman she once was (she's certainly permitted, even expected, to grow and change), but this iteration of Marion isn't given much to do except go along on the adventure with a stupid grin on her face, and occasionally express forced animosity toward Indy. (There's zero emotional nuance to their relationship this time around, in stark contrast with all the loaded subtext that defined their shared history in Raiders.)
So much of the fun of the previous three stories was the playful comic interaction the various sidekicks inspired as they complemented and clashed with Indy (Marion and Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Willie and Shorty in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Elsa and Henry in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), but Crystal Skull's characters are stiflingly one-dimensional. As such, all of the dialogue is very on-the-nose, stripped of the wit and undertones of the prior entries (particularly Last Crusade); it fell flat on-screen, and it doesn't fare any better on the page. Characters here simply say what needs to be said, exactly as they think/feel it, and the attempts at comic banter just don't take.
Now, Harrison Ford acquits himself admirably in the movie, and it's nice to see an older Indiana Jones. The problem, I would say, is that because Spielberg and Lucas were so intent on proving that Indy in his fifties is just as spry and capable as he was in his thirties, they miss an opportunity to explore how age has affected him and, thusly, get under his skin a little deeper. He should be a little slower, or a little less confident, or at least wistful about the fact that the best of his adventurous days are behind him (like the direction they took Captain Kirk in the Star Trek movie series), but they more or less treat this story like it picks up a year or two after the last one, in which Indy hasn't so much as missed a step.
As such, the story really has no theme -- it isn't about anything. There's some rueful dialogue in the beginning with university dean Charles Stanforth (a Marcus Brody substitute with whom, like Mac and Oxley, the audience has no prior relationship with, and therefore no emotional investment in) about how they've reached an age where "life stops giving you things and starts taking them away," but that isn't reflected in the plot of the movie -- the quest for the crystal skull -- nor does it pay emotional dividends later when Indy realizes he's been a father all along.
Which is yet another major issue with this story: Saving the reveal that Indy and Mutt are father and son for more than half the story was a catastrophic strategic blunder. It forces us to spend the whole movie waiting for a revelation that was a surprise to no one, save perhaps Indy and Mutt themselves, and then short-shrifts the emotional consequences of that plot turn. If Spielberg and Lucas had wanted to recreate the father-son magic of The Last Crusade, the way to do it would have been this: Much like Henry and Indy, Indy and his own son, Mutt, had a falling out some years prior to the events of the story. But then Marion gets kidnapped, at which point estranged father and son have no choice but to put aside their differences and attempt to rescue her together. Except... their unresolved grievances with one another keep bumping up against them along the adventure, just like they did for Henry and Indy in the previous movie. That gives a storyteller an opportunity to tell an honest, emotionally driven story with an earned payoff at the end, versus what you have here, which is all gimmick and hollow sentiment. How could two master storytellers make such a big mistake?
The many, many plot holes aside (which I won't detail here, all of which stem from Koepp's screenplay), that was the problem with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: the human story. I have no beef whatsoever with the extraterrestrial MacGuffin; on the contrary, I think it was ingenious. The idea of moving Indy out of the Nazi era and into the Atomic Age presented a unique challenge, and transitioning him from the 1930s Saturday-matinée-serial narrative model that had previously defined the series to a 1950s sci-fi B-movie paradigm made the crystal skull the perfect real-world, pseudoarchaeological plot device.
The problem is that the screenplay is saddled with scene after expository scene trying to explain the skull and what's so fascinating about it, rather than winnowing down its extensive mythology -- cherry-picking it for parts -- the way they did with the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail. All they had to say was that it's a piece of pure quartz, carved against the grain without tool marks, which is impossible to achieve even with today's technology, let alone what was available when the famous Mitchell-Hedges skull was discovered in 1924. So if it's impossible, and yet it exists, what the hell is it -- and who made it? That's all they had to say. I think Rollins, though, does a stronger job of conveying what's compelling about it than the movie did. If they had just kept the skull's mythology more straightforward, they might have quite effectively and satisfactorily captured the thrill of discovery that is the hallmark of this wonderful series.
So, the problem with Crystal Skull is one of execution, not concept, the latter of which was fundamentally sound. And Rollins' book is married, for better or worse, to all the executional pitfalls of the screenplay. That said, though, he really does do a great job at the action and atmospherics, and if he'd had a better piece of source material to work from (like any one of the previous three Indiana Jones screenplays), this would have been, I suspect, a must-read novelization.
I will say this, though: If the novel has one shortcoming of its own, it's that Rollins didn't really use any of the extensive history of this character to flesh out the narration with some biographical detail or insight. There's virtually no reference to any of Indy's past adventures, and none of what was happening in the nineteen intervening years between Last Crusade and Crystal Skull is illuminated. I would have liked to know a little more about what Marion's been up to, or the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Henry and Marcus.
And so what if any of that was rendered noncanonical later, by way of a fifth movie or what have you? The whole point of a novelization is to tell us some of the backstory information the movie didn't have time for, and if it gets contradicted in a subsequent feature film, so be it. For a series about history and archaeology, there isn't much time spent studying Indy's storied past in this book, which is surprising given the wealth of material (three previous movies, a television series, books, comics, and videogames) to draw from. That would be the novelization's one flaw.
All things considered, it's a quick read, and if you're an Indy fan that would like to refresh yourself on the story of the fourth film without actually subjecting yourself once again to the movie, you could do worse than to pick up Rollins' adaptation.
Through his vivid descriptions of subterranean chambers and jungle landscapes, Rollins actually manages to capture the very element so crucial to the vicarious pleasure of an Indiana Jones adventure that is confoundingly missing from the movie: the thrill of discovery. He makes you feel as if you are on the quest with Indy and company, crawling through cobwebbed passageways and plummeting over vertiginous waterfalls. One of several problems with the Crystal Skull movie is that it feels aesthetically different from the original trilogy to a distracting degree, with its oversaturated cinematography, computer-generated effects, and enclosed jungle sets clearly shot on soundstages (not on location like the previous entries); the joy of the book, then, is that removed from those visual aberrations, one is free to envision a depiction more stylistically compatible with the originals.
That said, however, the page also lays bare certain flaws the movie actually masked to a degree: Mutt's characterization, for instance, is paper-thin, something that wasn't quite so readily apparent behind the legerdemain of Shia Labeouf's quirky performance. Mutt is just sort of a dime-store greaser with an attitude -- a vain, wannabe tough guy that more often than not jumps at shadows (more Potsie than Fonzie), as if the sitcom-level incongruity of those characteristics was supposed to be charming.
Characterization is actually a huge problem with this story (again: not Rollins' fault). For instance, George "Mac" McHale is hands-down the worst major character to appear in any Indy story: He's nothing more than a one-note shapeshifter, with all the depth and psychological complexity of a cartoon villain. Mac betrays Indy so many times over the course of the story that you wonder A) why Indy is so stupid to keep falling for it, and B) how these two ever established a long-running friendship to begin with. Mac actually makes the movie virtually unwatchable for me; he's seriously that bad, and Ray Winstone's annoying-as-hell performance (not that he had much to work with) doesn't help matters: You want to punch him every time he bellows, "Jonesy!"
Oxley, too, is problematic. Steven Spielberg hired an amazing actor to play this role -- John Hurt -- then gave him nothing to do but look starry-eyed and repeat the same line of dialogue ("Henry Jones Junior!") ad infinitum. On the page, this character somehow seems even more useless and underdeveloped.
Spalko, alas, isn't an antagonist worthy of the tradition established by previous baddies René Belloq, Mola Ram, and Walter Donovan. The filmmakers seem to intimate, early in the story, that she possesses some sort of psychic powers, but -- oddly and inexplicably -- it's never really developed. (At least her death makes more sense in the book than it did in the movie.) There could have been something to this character -- the series' first female villain, and a Russian, at that! -- but like all the other new players in this installment, she's undercooked.
And the problem isn't limited merely to first-time characters: Marion Ravenwood, for instance, is almost entirely unrecognizable from her two-fisted depiction in Raiders. Look, I get that Crystal Skull takes place twenty-one years later, and that she's not the same woman she once was (she's certainly permitted, even expected, to grow and change), but this iteration of Marion isn't given much to do except go along on the adventure with a stupid grin on her face, and occasionally express forced animosity toward Indy. (There's zero emotional nuance to their relationship this time around, in stark contrast with all the loaded subtext that defined their shared history in Raiders.)
So much of the fun of the previous three stories was the playful comic interaction the various sidekicks inspired as they complemented and clashed with Indy (Marion and Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Willie and Shorty in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Elsa and Henry in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), but Crystal Skull's characters are stiflingly one-dimensional. As such, all of the dialogue is very on-the-nose, stripped of the wit and undertones of the prior entries (particularly Last Crusade); it fell flat on-screen, and it doesn't fare any better on the page. Characters here simply say what needs to be said, exactly as they think/feel it, and the attempts at comic banter just don't take.
Now, Harrison Ford acquits himself admirably in the movie, and it's nice to see an older Indiana Jones. The problem, I would say, is that because Spielberg and Lucas were so intent on proving that Indy in his fifties is just as spry and capable as he was in his thirties, they miss an opportunity to explore how age has affected him and, thusly, get under his skin a little deeper. He should be a little slower, or a little less confident, or at least wistful about the fact that the best of his adventurous days are behind him (like the direction they took Captain Kirk in the Star Trek movie series), but they more or less treat this story like it picks up a year or two after the last one, in which Indy hasn't so much as missed a step.
As such, the story really has no theme -- it isn't about anything. There's some rueful dialogue in the beginning with university dean Charles Stanforth (a Marcus Brody substitute with whom, like Mac and Oxley, the audience has no prior relationship with, and therefore no emotional investment in) about how they've reached an age where "life stops giving you things and starts taking them away," but that isn't reflected in the plot of the movie -- the quest for the crystal skull -- nor does it pay emotional dividends later when Indy realizes he's been a father all along.
Which is yet another major issue with this story: Saving the reveal that Indy and Mutt are father and son for more than half the story was a catastrophic strategic blunder. It forces us to spend the whole movie waiting for a revelation that was a surprise to no one, save perhaps Indy and Mutt themselves, and then short-shrifts the emotional consequences of that plot turn. If Spielberg and Lucas had wanted to recreate the father-son magic of The Last Crusade, the way to do it would have been this: Much like Henry and Indy, Indy and his own son, Mutt, had a falling out some years prior to the events of the story. But then Marion gets kidnapped, at which point estranged father and son have no choice but to put aside their differences and attempt to rescue her together. Except... their unresolved grievances with one another keep bumping up against them along the adventure, just like they did for Henry and Indy in the previous movie. That gives a storyteller an opportunity to tell an honest, emotionally driven story with an earned payoff at the end, versus what you have here, which is all gimmick and hollow sentiment. How could two master storytellers make such a big mistake?
The many, many plot holes aside (which I won't detail here, all of which stem from Koepp's screenplay), that was the problem with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: the human story. I have no beef whatsoever with the extraterrestrial MacGuffin; on the contrary, I think it was ingenious. The idea of moving Indy out of the Nazi era and into the Atomic Age presented a unique challenge, and transitioning him from the 1930s Saturday-matinée-serial narrative model that had previously defined the series to a 1950s sci-fi B-movie paradigm made the crystal skull the perfect real-world, pseudoarchaeological plot device.
The problem is that the screenplay is saddled with scene after expository scene trying to explain the skull and what's so fascinating about it, rather than winnowing down its extensive mythology -- cherry-picking it for parts -- the way they did with the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail. All they had to say was that it's a piece of pure quartz, carved against the grain without tool marks, which is impossible to achieve even with today's technology, let alone what was available when the famous Mitchell-Hedges skull was discovered in 1924. So if it's impossible, and yet it exists, what the hell is it -- and who made it? That's all they had to say. I think Rollins, though, does a stronger job of conveying what's compelling about it than the movie did. If they had just kept the skull's mythology more straightforward, they might have quite effectively and satisfactorily captured the thrill of discovery that is the hallmark of this wonderful series.
So, the problem with Crystal Skull is one of execution, not concept, the latter of which was fundamentally sound. And Rollins' book is married, for better or worse, to all the executional pitfalls of the screenplay. That said, though, he really does do a great job at the action and atmospherics, and if he'd had a better piece of source material to work from (like any one of the previous three Indiana Jones screenplays), this would have been, I suspect, a must-read novelization.
I will say this, though: If the novel has one shortcoming of its own, it's that Rollins didn't really use any of the extensive history of this character to flesh out the narration with some biographical detail or insight. There's virtually no reference to any of Indy's past adventures, and none of what was happening in the nineteen intervening years between Last Crusade and Crystal Skull is illuminated. I would have liked to know a little more about what Marion's been up to, or the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Henry and Marcus.
And so what if any of that was rendered noncanonical later, by way of a fifth movie or what have you? The whole point of a novelization is to tell us some of the backstory information the movie didn't have time for, and if it gets contradicted in a subsequent feature film, so be it. For a series about history and archaeology, there isn't much time spent studying Indy's storied past in this book, which is surprising given the wealth of material (three previous movies, a television series, books, comics, and videogames) to draw from. That would be the novelization's one flaw.
All things considered, it's a quick read, and if you're an Indy fan that would like to refresh yourself on the story of the fourth film without actually subjecting yourself once again to the movie, you could do worse than to pick up Rollins' adaptation.
July 22, 2018
cue indiana jones theme music
p20: the water poured out of the rock in a heavy falls.
p20: the water poured out of the rock in a heavy falls.
January 21, 2023
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July 7, 2023Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Novelization Discussion
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December 16, 2019
I'm glad the last crusade wasn't the last crusade.
February 19, 2024
I don't want to talk about it..
January 8, 2014
Max Lyakovetsky
01/07/14
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, by James Rollins
- There are 3 main characters in this book, Indiana Jones, Mutt Williams, and Irina Spalko.
- Indiana Jones is an archaeologist as well as a Professor of Archaeology at the fictional Marshall College in Bedford, Connecticut. Indiana is the main protagonist of the story. Indiana is constantly on the run from those who wish to sabotage his archaeological plans and discoveries or from those who wish to take his life. During his various ventures across the globe, Indy reconciles with old friends, makes new friends, and finds new enemies.
- Mutt Williams is a 19 year old greaser who finds Indiana Jones as part of his quest to save his mother and an old friend of Indiana from Soviet captivity. Mutt is the secondary protagonist of this story as he acts as Indiana’s ‘sidekick,’ or ‘wingman.’ Mutt also owns a custom Harley-Davidson motorcycle which acted as his trademark possession, as he used it to save himself and Indiana from the people who wished to disrupt Mutt’s and Indiana’s quest.
- Colonel Irina Spalko was a KGB agent who was affiliated with the Soviet Union. Working as a scientist who dissected creatures for the KGB, Spalko became interested in finding extraterrestrial life after she dissected a being that came from an alien spacecraft crash in the Soviet Union. Her objective was to find a mysterious Crystal Skull that would provide the finder with extensive amounts of knowledge about the universe.
- The story is set in 1957, the beginning of the Cold War. A ruthless squad of Soviet soldiers led by Colonel Irina Spalko watch over Indiana Jones when a young man by the name of Mutt Williams brings Indiana a message from an aged and insane colleague of Indy who was captured by Soviet forces along with Mutt’s mother. Spalko’s squad of soldiers follow Indiana and Mutt as they venture to Peru to find out more about what the message said. The message ended up leading to an alien skull made out of a single piece of crystal, an object that Irina sought for many months. If Indiana Jones can return the mysterious skull to where it belongs, all may go well, but if Spalko returns the skull to its origin, she’ll gain powers and knowledge beyond human comprehension that could endanger the United States. Indiana Jones joins forces with Mutt, Mutt’s recently found mother whom Indiana met in his lifetime, and the long lost but recently found insane colleague of Indiana to face the dangers of the Peruvian jungle, the Soviet forces, and the supernatural Crystal Skull.
- The main conflict of the story was about Indiana, Mutt, and the rest of his gang beating Irina Spalko’s squad of soldiers to the mysterious Crystal Skull. Despite the fact that Spalko acquired the Skull, the knowledge that the Skull gave her was too much for her to handle and put the her’s and her squad’s existence in peril.
- I enjoyed this book as I had knowledge about the stories of Indiana Jones. Since this book was written after the Indiana Jones film of the same name, it was easy for me to follow along the story as I had previously watched the movie when it came out more than 5 years ago. The book also gave the story more depth as it was able to describe what the characters were thinking and their inner feelings. These are aspects that a movie simply cannot show. I was always excited to see which part of the story came next because it would open memories I had of watching the movie and remembering the story.
01/07/14
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, by James Rollins
- There are 3 main characters in this book, Indiana Jones, Mutt Williams, and Irina Spalko.
- Indiana Jones is an archaeologist as well as a Professor of Archaeology at the fictional Marshall College in Bedford, Connecticut. Indiana is the main protagonist of the story. Indiana is constantly on the run from those who wish to sabotage his archaeological plans and discoveries or from those who wish to take his life. During his various ventures across the globe, Indy reconciles with old friends, makes new friends, and finds new enemies.
- Mutt Williams is a 19 year old greaser who finds Indiana Jones as part of his quest to save his mother and an old friend of Indiana from Soviet captivity. Mutt is the secondary protagonist of this story as he acts as Indiana’s ‘sidekick,’ or ‘wingman.’ Mutt also owns a custom Harley-Davidson motorcycle which acted as his trademark possession, as he used it to save himself and Indiana from the people who wished to disrupt Mutt’s and Indiana’s quest.
- Colonel Irina Spalko was a KGB agent who was affiliated with the Soviet Union. Working as a scientist who dissected creatures for the KGB, Spalko became interested in finding extraterrestrial life after she dissected a being that came from an alien spacecraft crash in the Soviet Union. Her objective was to find a mysterious Crystal Skull that would provide the finder with extensive amounts of knowledge about the universe.
- The story is set in 1957, the beginning of the Cold War. A ruthless squad of Soviet soldiers led by Colonel Irina Spalko watch over Indiana Jones when a young man by the name of Mutt Williams brings Indiana a message from an aged and insane colleague of Indy who was captured by Soviet forces along with Mutt’s mother. Spalko’s squad of soldiers follow Indiana and Mutt as they venture to Peru to find out more about what the message said. The message ended up leading to an alien skull made out of a single piece of crystal, an object that Irina sought for many months. If Indiana Jones can return the mysterious skull to where it belongs, all may go well, but if Spalko returns the skull to its origin, she’ll gain powers and knowledge beyond human comprehension that could endanger the United States. Indiana Jones joins forces with Mutt, Mutt’s recently found mother whom Indiana met in his lifetime, and the long lost but recently found insane colleague of Indiana to face the dangers of the Peruvian jungle, the Soviet forces, and the supernatural Crystal Skull.
- The main conflict of the story was about Indiana, Mutt, and the rest of his gang beating Irina Spalko’s squad of soldiers to the mysterious Crystal Skull. Despite the fact that Spalko acquired the Skull, the knowledge that the Skull gave her was too much for her to handle and put the her’s and her squad’s existence in peril.
- I enjoyed this book as I had knowledge about the stories of Indiana Jones. Since this book was written after the Indiana Jones film of the same name, it was easy for me to follow along the story as I had previously watched the movie when it came out more than 5 years ago. The book also gave the story more depth as it was able to describe what the characters were thinking and their inner feelings. These are aspects that a movie simply cannot show. I was always excited to see which part of the story came next because it would open memories I had of watching the movie and remembering the story.
June 16, 2012
Indiana Jones is back! Well...Sort of. I picked up this book hoping that a NYT bestselling author would be able to somehow improve upon the steaming pile of excrement that was the movie. One would think that wouldn't be very hard to do. I know that novelizations of films are usually trash; but I have occasionally encountered one or two that managed to redeem some incredibly awful source material: FANTASTIC VOYAGE by Isaac Asimov, DICK TRACY by Max Allan Collins, and STAR WARS: EPISODE ONE by Terry Brooks being a few such examples. This book, though, doesn't even come close to making the cut. Author James Rollins retains every cringe-worthy moment of the film in all its vapid glory, even managing to work in a few new ones of his own. Mutt still swings around on vines like Tarzan, and Indy still survives a nuclear blast without so much as a scratch by shutting himself up in a refrigerator and being blown hundreds of yards (a rough estimate) into the air. Rollins doesn't put an iota of extra effort toward making any of this any more believable than it was in the movie. Furthermore, all the characters still talk like they're in a really bad sitcom (think the ninth season of Two and a Half Men--the one with Ashton Kutcher--only without all the sex jokes), and the action is so poorly rendered that, unless you've already seen the movie, it's extremely hard to visualize what's happening. I was also surprised to see that there's a Junior novelization of the film--surprised because I can't imagine how the writing in this novel could be simplified any further than it already is. Unless you are a die-hard Indy fan, avoid this at all costs.
July 31, 2014
OK having just looked at the reviews for this book after finishing it I see it has somewhat polarised reviews and comments. I for one enjoyed it - I really enjoy James Rollins books, I love the films and the TV series (yes there was go look it up) and I love the books. True I may be a gullible marketing mans dream but generally I enjoy this sort of foolish escapism, a mixture of boys own adventure, myth and urban legend mixed together with some great special effects and action and I guess the whole silliness of it all. You can just sit back and enjoy it for what it is - I guess its like watching your favourite childhood TV show - on one level you realise how infantile and simplistic it is but on the other hand you feel the rush and exhilaration you felt when you watched it back then and you cannot deny you enjoyed it. And that for me is all about Indiana Jones - when ever I see the Raiders come on I HAVE to stop and watch it. So yes it may not be the best but you know what I don't care!
June 26, 2010
Ah Indiana Jones... I loved the movie so much I went to the theatre to see it ... twice! (if you know me you know how rare that is for me). The book was no disappointment. It was just as action packed as the movie and certain scenes were certainly better than the changed versions in the movie.
If you loved the movie you'll love the book!
For those of you who haven't scene the movie ...
Indiana Jones is back, but this time it's the 1950's and the US is reeling from McCarthyism. Kidnapped by the KGB, Indy is taken to Area 51 and told to locate a box solely from discription and a brief meeting with it in his past. In side the box, a crystal skeleton of an alien being. The rest of the story is a ride as Indy meets his son, Mutt Williams, re-encounters Marion Ravenwood and battles russians and old age as he struggles to find his old friend Oxley and locate the lost city of Akator.
It's a thrilling ride you won't want to miss.
If you loved the movie you'll love the book!
For those of you who haven't scene the movie ...
Indiana Jones is back, but this time it's the 1950's and the US is reeling from McCarthyism. Kidnapped by the KGB, Indy is taken to Area 51 and told to locate a box solely from discription and a brief meeting with it in his past. In side the box, a crystal skeleton of an alien being. The rest of the story is a ride as Indy meets his son, Mutt Williams, re-encounters Marion Ravenwood and battles russians and old age as he struggles to find his old friend Oxley and locate the lost city of Akator.
It's a thrilling ride you won't want to miss.
November 12, 2018
I keep looking for one of these novelisations which will be as good as The Phantom Menace by Terry Brooks - without a doubt the best novelisation from a truly below average movie I have ever read. This one started off promising, with a couple of new scenes that aren't in the film. The book begins in 1546 with Francisco de Orellana - the conquistador whose body Indy finds later on in the film - then we jump to the Yucatan Peninsula in 1957 and Indy is after some Mayan artefacts with Mac. After getting sucked into an underground river, helter-skeltering his way through the subterranean waters and finally getting spat out of a cliff edge where he grabs a tree to stop him plummeting to his death. It all sounds like a big action setpiece and I had to wonder why it isn't in the film, or even if it was shot. But after he climbs back up that's when Spalko and her men capture him and bundle him and Mac into the boot of their cars and drive to Nevada, and that's where the movie starts.
So that was pretty cool. Some new stuff that's not in the film that fills in some backstory, but that's pretty much it for 'deleted scenes'. The book is maybe a little edgier; a little less family friendly. For example; in the film, when in area 51 - sorry, hanger 51 (???) - Spalko forces Indy to find the remains by putting her sword to his throat, but in the book she gets her soldiers to put Mac's head under one of the truck's wheels and rev the engine. And when they're in the tent and Spalko shows Indy the skull to see how it will affect him and just twitches and looks like he's in pain, but in the book his eyes bleed.
Marion: You're not the man I knew ten years ago.
Indy: It's not the years, it's the mileage.
It's a classic exchange from Raiders of the Lost Ark and when Indy 4 was first announced I remember Spielberg being interviewed on the red carpet and someone asked how the script was coming. Spielberg said: We have one line: "It's not the mileage, it's the years." They were acknowledging Indy's age as well as riffing on Raiders, and I thought that was such a cool line. And then it wasn't in the movie! But it's in the book, which I assume was written off the shooting script. So it comes after the duck goes over the waterfall and they all climb out of the water onto the bank.
Marion: Not tired, are you, Indy?
Indy: Baby, you have no idea.
Marion: Sure I do. The way you live? Running off to every godforsaken spot in the world and back again twice?
Indy: It ain't the mileage, honey, it's the years.
Why Spielberg would drop such a brilliant line is beyond me, but at least this book showed me where it should've gone.
The rest of the book is pretty much the same as the film, but something this book did give me was a better appreciation of the film. I always thought this was a lesser Indy film, but when I read it, I see all the components of a classic Indy film are there. I don't mind the space aliens - or inter-dimensional beings if you prefer - that so many fans balked at. To me, they're no less unbelievable than 4000 year-old ghosts from an ark or a hundreds-of-years-old knight guarding the Holy Grail. I'm not even that bothered by the swinging monkeys scene that seems to be loathed by the majority of fans. The story isn't the problem. Amazingly, I think the way it's shot is the problem.
The whole film has a digital sheen to it that seems at odds with Indy films. When I think of Raiders I think of a grainy, rough and ready film with some great stunts and action. This film seems sanitised for want of a better word. Scenes like the swordfight between the cars instils no excitement or wonder because it looks so fake; obviously done on green screen. And the ending, which isn't a million miles away from how Raiders ends, still looks rubbish because it's all CG and Spalko's comeuppance, is pretty tame when you compare it to a melting nazi.
The book's perfectly well written, but with a little bit more of what we don't see on screen and some more of the author's imagination, I would've enjoyed this a lot more. Maybe he's not allowed to. I don't know how Hollywood works with these things. As is, it's just the screenplay written as prose.
So that was pretty cool. Some new stuff that's not in the film that fills in some backstory, but that's pretty much it for 'deleted scenes'. The book is maybe a little edgier; a little less family friendly. For example; in the film, when in area 51 - sorry, hanger 51 (???) - Spalko forces Indy to find the remains by putting her sword to his throat, but in the book she gets her soldiers to put Mac's head under one of the truck's wheels and rev the engine. And when they're in the tent and Spalko shows Indy the skull to see how it will affect him and just twitches and looks like he's in pain, but in the book his eyes bleed.
Marion: You're not the man I knew ten years ago.
Indy: It's not the years, it's the mileage.
It's a classic exchange from Raiders of the Lost Ark and when Indy 4 was first announced I remember Spielberg being interviewed on the red carpet and someone asked how the script was coming. Spielberg said: We have one line: "It's not the mileage, it's the years." They were acknowledging Indy's age as well as riffing on Raiders, and I thought that was such a cool line. And then it wasn't in the movie! But it's in the book, which I assume was written off the shooting script. So it comes after the duck goes over the waterfall and they all climb out of the water onto the bank.
Marion: Not tired, are you, Indy?
Indy: Baby, you have no idea.
Marion: Sure I do. The way you live? Running off to every godforsaken spot in the world and back again twice?
Indy: It ain't the mileage, honey, it's the years.
Why Spielberg would drop such a brilliant line is beyond me, but at least this book showed me where it should've gone.
The rest of the book is pretty much the same as the film, but something this book did give me was a better appreciation of the film. I always thought this was a lesser Indy film, but when I read it, I see all the components of a classic Indy film are there. I don't mind the space aliens - or inter-dimensional beings if you prefer - that so many fans balked at. To me, they're no less unbelievable than 4000 year-old ghosts from an ark or a hundreds-of-years-old knight guarding the Holy Grail. I'm not even that bothered by the swinging monkeys scene that seems to be loathed by the majority of fans. The story isn't the problem. Amazingly, I think the way it's shot is the problem.
The whole film has a digital sheen to it that seems at odds with Indy films. When I think of Raiders I think of a grainy, rough and ready film with some great stunts and action. This film seems sanitised for want of a better word. Scenes like the swordfight between the cars instils no excitement or wonder because it looks so fake; obviously done on green screen. And the ending, which isn't a million miles away from how Raiders ends, still looks rubbish because it's all CG and Spalko's comeuppance, is pretty tame when you compare it to a melting nazi.
The book's perfectly well written, but with a little bit more of what we don't see on screen and some more of the author's imagination, I would've enjoyed this a lot more. Maybe he's not allowed to. I don't know how Hollywood works with these things. As is, it's just the screenplay written as prose.
September 8, 2019
I decided to give this book a go for two reasons: I'm a huge Indiana Jones fan since childhood, and I was in the mood for an easy, relaxing read. I also started off my lecture with two major problems: this is a book that was adapted from the afferent film, and the film was... eh, not the best one. I had watched it when it came out, 11 years ago, but not recently - therefore, I decided to read the book, and then watch the movie when I was done. Which I did.
In retrospect, I noticed how close the book is to the movie - in certain stretches it's practically the same, word for word. James Rollins probably had the screenplay to work with, and he did so a bit more than I had expected. There are some divergences - the Orellana intro, as well the Indy and Mac before being kidnapped by the Russians intro were certainly not in the film, or at least not in the final cut. Maybe it's original content made especially for the book, or maybe it was in an earlier draft of the screenplay, and it didn't make it past the editing process. Either way, such bits are welcome, even though they don't really add much.
Besides the so-so story, my main issue was with the writing style. It's not fantastic - it's barely passable, actually. Rollins tries to insert some dynamism by switching the perspective every now and then, and narrating from the viewpoint of different characters (Indy mostly, but also Irina, Marion, Matt, Mutt and Dovchenko). However, it doesn't really bring a lot of insight into the characters - after watching the film, it was indeed helpful to supplement the action with internal monologues, but all in all, it's really not much. Maybe Rollins had to rush through the adaptation and couldn't really refine it, but as it is written, it's a bit dull and even outright bad at times.
I don't know what I expected when I started reading the book adaptation of the weakest Indy film, but what I got was certainly not a masterpiece. Still, I had some fun with it, which in the end is what truly matters.
In retrospect, I noticed how close the book is to the movie - in certain stretches it's practically the same, word for word. James Rollins probably had the screenplay to work with, and he did so a bit more than I had expected. There are some divergences - the Orellana intro, as well the Indy and Mac before being kidnapped by the Russians intro were certainly not in the film, or at least not in the final cut. Maybe it's original content made especially for the book, or maybe it was in an earlier draft of the screenplay, and it didn't make it past the editing process. Either way, such bits are welcome, even though they don't really add much.
Besides the so-so story, my main issue was with the writing style. It's not fantastic - it's barely passable, actually. Rollins tries to insert some dynamism by switching the perspective every now and then, and narrating from the viewpoint of different characters (Indy mostly, but also Irina, Marion, Matt, Mutt and Dovchenko). However, it doesn't really bring a lot of insight into the characters - after watching the film, it was indeed helpful to supplement the action with internal monologues, but all in all, it's really not much. Maybe Rollins had to rush through the adaptation and couldn't really refine it, but as it is written, it's a bit dull and even outright bad at times.
I don't know what I expected when I started reading the book adaptation of the weakest Indy film, but what I got was certainly not a masterpiece. Still, I had some fun with it, which in the end is what truly matters.
February 22, 2020
I happened upon this book at a library book sale and put it on my bookshelf for later. That later came around a year or so after the dollar investment, when I needed something to read while sitting at an odd and uneventful job. I've watched and enjoyed every Indiana Jones movie there is since I was a kid. I didn't know there were books based on Indy until this book came around, and for that year or so after buying it, I was hesitant to read it. Normally, movies based on books are nowhere as good as the books they are based on - at least in my opinion. What if the same was true for books based on movies? I didn't want it to suck, because I didn't want a bad taste in my mouth for the franchise.
I was pleasantly surprised. Although very intricately threaded with the film of the same name, Rollins does a remarkable job of keeping the material original to his style and prose. There are no disappointments, and through Rollins' prose, one can see with more mental and emotional detail the trials and adventures that an aging Indiana Jones must suffer through. The reader has an opportunity to be in the Professor's head and walk through his thoughts with him as the story progresses - something a viewer receives much less of through the cinematic feature.
Whether you've seen Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or not, you'll enjoy the book just the same - perhaps more so. I've enjoyed Rollins' work in the past, and this is no exception. The buck I paid for my copy of the book was a bargain, but if you see this listed at regular price, go ahead and nab it. It's worth it.
I was pleasantly surprised. Although very intricately threaded with the film of the same name, Rollins does a remarkable job of keeping the material original to his style and prose. There are no disappointments, and through Rollins' prose, one can see with more mental and emotional detail the trials and adventures that an aging Indiana Jones must suffer through. The reader has an opportunity to be in the Professor's head and walk through his thoughts with him as the story progresses - something a viewer receives much less of through the cinematic feature.
Whether you've seen Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or not, you'll enjoy the book just the same - perhaps more so. I've enjoyed Rollins' work in the past, and this is no exception. The buck I paid for my copy of the book was a bargain, but if you see this listed at regular price, go ahead and nab it. It's worth it.
January 15, 2023
The fourth Indy film's novel gets James Rollins! Rollins is an exciting choice, and I had high hopes for this novelization. Being a huge Indy fan and somewhat disappointed with the fourth film entry, I was eager to see how Rollins would do with the material.
First off, this is a very good novelization of an Indy film with a weak story. It's probably my second favorite novelization due to the additional scenes and slightly more developed characters. Rollins spends some time giving us motivations for Spalko and Mutt and some of the new characters. But the main characters of Indy and Marion get very little additional background and motivations unfortunately. Despite it being my fourth favorite Indy movie. Rollins gave us some context on Indy and Mac's background together, and the book starts with a prologue set in the 1500s regarding Orellana's expedition which is the crux of the search for the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Then the first chapter provides a better "mini-movie intro" than the film did, centering on Indy and Mac's adventures in Mexico and a Mayan tomb prior to them getting captured by the Russkies.
The novelization doesn't go on too long. And the chapters are fairly short. I seem to remember the use of multiple perspectives in the book, but it was not distracting or so frequent as to be confusing. All in all, great addition to the Indy canon. I only wish Mr. Rollins would give us some original adventures of Indiana Jones to add to the legacy.
First off, this is a very good novelization of an Indy film with a weak story. It's probably my second favorite novelization due to the additional scenes and slightly more developed characters. Rollins spends some time giving us motivations for Spalko and Mutt and some of the new characters. But the main characters of Indy and Marion get very little additional background and motivations unfortunately. Despite it being my fourth favorite Indy movie. Rollins gave us some context on Indy and Mac's background together, and the book starts with a prologue set in the 1500s regarding Orellana's expedition which is the crux of the search for the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Then the first chapter provides a better "mini-movie intro" than the film did, centering on Indy and Mac's adventures in Mexico and a Mayan tomb prior to them getting captured by the Russkies.
The novelization doesn't go on too long. And the chapters are fairly short. I seem to remember the use of multiple perspectives in the book, but it was not distracting or so frequent as to be confusing. All in all, great addition to the Indy canon. I only wish Mr. Rollins would give us some original adventures of Indiana Jones to add to the legacy.
June 10, 2018
Not a particularly well-written novelization. But it does include its fair share of scenes not seen in the film. Some are just extended scenes or additional bits of dialogue while others just play out somewhat differently than in the movie.
I really appreciated how there was more context and better explanation given for many of the scenes. I better understood how Indy and Mutt entered the tomb, for example, after being attacked by the skeletal guards. Or the climb up the waterfall cliff. Or the journey into and out of the Temple at Akator. Some of these sequences in the film seemed to be missing scenes or parts of scenes that would’ve helped explain some actions better.
It also gives a bit more character development and better motivations to some characters and their relationships. Mac, for example, gets a bit more background and fleshing out of a few details of his relationship to Indy. He also introduces himself to Marion at one point. They have a few moments of dialogue back. In the film, they never really meet and are just kind of caught up in the adventure together. They don’t really even speak to one another. The novel develops their relationship a bit more.
Overall, after reading the novel, I appreciated the film’s storyline more and the crystal skull mythology. It’s a simple, fun read.
I really appreciated how there was more context and better explanation given for many of the scenes. I better understood how Indy and Mutt entered the tomb, for example, after being attacked by the skeletal guards. Or the climb up the waterfall cliff. Or the journey into and out of the Temple at Akator. Some of these sequences in the film seemed to be missing scenes or parts of scenes that would’ve helped explain some actions better.
It also gives a bit more character development and better motivations to some characters and their relationships. Mac, for example, gets a bit more background and fleshing out of a few details of his relationship to Indy. He also introduces himself to Marion at one point. They have a few moments of dialogue back. In the film, they never really meet and are just kind of caught up in the adventure together. They don’t really even speak to one another. The novel develops their relationship a bit more.
Overall, after reading the novel, I appreciated the film’s storyline more and the crystal skull mythology. It’s a simple, fun read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 7, 2023
Another fun dive into the world of Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones is a nice love-letter to the pulp action stories of the 30s and 40s, so anyone thinking this film was over-the-top, is only proving the film did a good job with that. I will state that after all of this, nothing will get me to forgive them for the monkey scene though.
Aliens? While it was quite a change from the usual Christian artifact, I do think it fit within the 1950s timeline. Aliens were the big thing of that time and as such, it made sense this film would focus on extraterrestrials.
Sure, the Last Crusade is a great send-off for our favorite characters, but for those looking for one last adventure or some sort of an epilogue, I'd recommend this. The author even added a few scenes, including an opening more in line with the first three. It shows Indy and his latest companion on a journey before being captured and leading up to the opening of where the film starts.
Another added scene was the Alien dissection. There were a few more scenes and some thoughts that go through the characters' heads that we don't get to hear in the film, but those are the two major additions to the story.
James Rollins is a great action/adventure writer and he was the right choice to pen this novelization.
Aliens? While it was quite a change from the usual Christian artifact, I do think it fit within the 1950s timeline. Aliens were the big thing of that time and as such, it made sense this film would focus on extraterrestrials.
Sure, the Last Crusade is a great send-off for our favorite characters, but for those looking for one last adventure or some sort of an epilogue, I'd recommend this. The author even added a few scenes, including an opening more in line with the first three. It shows Indy and his latest companion on a journey before being captured and leading up to the opening of where the film starts.
Another added scene was the Alien dissection. There were a few more scenes and some thoughts that go through the characters' heads that we don't get to hear in the film, but those are the two major additions to the story.
James Rollins is a great action/adventure writer and he was the right choice to pen this novelization.
December 14, 2020
I realized the other day that I've never actually read a movie novelization cover to cover. Generally, I have a distain for licensed fiction, and most of my novelization reading considered of reading a few pages, sneering with contempt, and putting the book back on the shelf. But I was really surprised to realize what a helpful experience it was for me as a writer to read a book like this one. I've always wanted to write something like Indiana Jones, and I've long wanted to make books read in a more cinematic way, so really I should have read this ages ago.
Ultimately, it felt a lot like a marginally fleshed out screenplay, written but an author with pretty solid credentials, and honestly, I think that's exactly what it is. I like Indiana Jones, but somehow I never felt the swell of thematic brass I get from the movies. It wasn't bad, but I can say that what makes Jones work isn't just the plot beats - it's a willingness to lean hard into the tone. And I just didn't get as much of the flavor here as I wanted.
Ultimately, it felt a lot like a marginally fleshed out screenplay, written but an author with pretty solid credentials, and honestly, I think that's exactly what it is. I like Indiana Jones, but somehow I never felt the swell of thematic brass I get from the movies. It wasn't bad, but I can say that what makes Jones work isn't just the plot beats - it's a willingness to lean hard into the tone. And I just didn't get as much of the flavor here as I wanted.
June 29, 2017
It's the 1950's, World War II is definitely over, but Indiana Jones is called upon to save his good friend and old girlfriend. And he is drawn into this adventure by a young man who turns out to be his biological son. Although I saw the movie I didn't remember the ending of this book; in fact I didn't remember anything that was in the last third of the book. Giant fire ants and alien beings that suck the mountain (and Indian's old sometimes friend) into another dimension. Action movies are tricky to write in book form because of all the chase scenes and fight scenes in them. The author did a pretty good job, but I listened to this as an audio book and I spaced out during some of the scenes and had to go back and re-listen to them to figure how the characters suddenly got where they are.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2021
I found this book in a thrift store and took it home ONLY because James Rollins wrote it. For me, the movie was as engaging as cotton candy, but the book was more like a Butterfinger. I liked how Rollins opened the novelization differently from the movie. But after a while, the action (especially the chase scene through the Amazonian jungle) just blurred before my eyes. Another thing I appreciated is how Mr. Rollins fleshed out the characters of Spalko, Dovchenko, and Mac. It makes it a deeper story when we know something about the antagonist's motivation. I'll hang onto the book in case James Rollins comes to town to promote one of his books. I'll bring it with others for him to sign. A loyal fan is a loyal fan. While I wouldn't want to live on it as a reader, it was fun enough while it lasted. Now to find something more nourishing.
June 26, 2024
This was actually a lot of fun. I did not care for the movie. The book here though gave enough information to actually understand about the Crystal skull. Where the movie just seemed hokey because suddenly there's aliens and it's like yeah whatever. So I enjoyed this. It started out and I'm like I have seen this on a movie and then as it continued on I thought was this in number five the most recent one. And by the time it finish through that I realized yes, that is definitely something they stuck into number five. So that was kind of fun. Actually have this book cover a couple of different movies. Of course. Just a piece of the last film. But this was great. The depth we got into with the city and kind of the puzzles to get to where we were. Was interesting
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