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Indy 4 still as infuriating as ever

I mean, yeah, it's grasping at straws and walking a fine line... but Mr. Laser Beam can't possibly expect that by reading this thread, he wasn't bound to find out about stuff that actually happened or was referenced to in the film.

When did you get the impression that I cared about spoilers?
 
I mean, yeah, it's grasping at straws and walking a fine line... but Mr. Laser Beam can't possibly expect that by reading this thread, he wasn't bound to find out about stuff that actually happened or was referenced to in the film.

When did you get the impression that I cared about spoilers?

The intimation from your earlier posts:

^ So since Indy's father left after drinking the holy water, he's not immortal?

^ So since Indy's father left after drinking the holy water, he's not immortal?

Well, considering he's dead in "Crystal Skull," I'd say no.

Easy now. I never saw that film, so I have no idea what happened to him.

Now, I grant you, looking at it now, it's entirely possible I misread your intention.

But this also wouldn't be the first time you traipse into a thread about a show or film you don't watch, just to discuss it and need everything explained to you (remember Battlestar Galactica?) so even if I did jump the gun, I don't know that it would have been entirely unwarranted.

That said, if I did jump the gun, then I do offer my apologies.

Then again, maybe you'll just do what you always do and ignore any kind of reply when someone calls you out.
 
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I have to imagine the Grail's power wasn't always confined to such a small area. Otherwise what would be the point of the thing? Perhaps it was only contained much later on, when the knights constructed the seal as a safeguard against it's misuse?

The small area of the Grail's power is the point. Being immortal is the ultimate dream, but it comes with a price, and that price is the Grail only working inside that Temple.
 
That makes no sense. The temple didn't exist when the grail became holy. The grail has the powers, not the temple. The seal was a self destruct trigger, that's it. And immortality... the knight became old and weak. That's long-lived, but not immortal. Maybe he got 800 years old from drinking one cup. Maybe he should have taken a sip of holy grail water every day to stay fresh.
 
They talked about how his (The Knight's) brother died of extreme old age. This was because he crossed over the seal and the power of the Grail no longer kept him immortal.

Nothing in the film says that you need to keep drinking from the grail to remain immortal.
 
They talked about how his (The Knight's) brother died of extreme old age. This was because he crossed over the seal and the power of the Grail no longer kept him immortal.

Nothing in the film says that you need to keep drinking from the grail to remain immortal.

The knight got old and weak inside the temple. So based on that, the power isn't limited to the temple. So why did he get old? A) immortality is not possible with the grail, B) you need to get your frequent dosage of holy grail water to remain the same age forever, but he didn't take it.


Also, Henry's wound remained healed after he left the temple. No reversal of holy effects either.
 
Perhaps the Great Seal was just a self-destruct mechanism installed at some point to prevent the Grail from being stolen, that the knight could not reverse.
 
As far as Irina Spalko goes, she didn't ever do anything onscreen that was horrible enough for her to be vaporized by a CGI alien. Her objective was to make the rest of the world Soviet, yes, but there's nothing in this movie to suggest that Soviets were as bad as - or worse than - the Nazis (which they were).


I don't think that she was vaporized so much as taken with them.

The thing is, they gave her exactly what she asked for, but she couldn't handle it. It wasn't malicious. It was just be careful what you wish for.

I might buy the fridge protecting him from the radiation or thermal pulse, but not from the enormous blast itself and the shockwave of debris hitting him at incredible speeds, which surely would have obliterated the fridge right along with everything else. Not to mention the hard crash landing later on...
Yeah, it really should have been farther away from the bomb. At close range it would have been melted and obliterated. At longer range it would have had a good chance of surviving.

They talked about how his (The Knight's) brother died of extreme old age. This was because he crossed over the seal and the power of the Grail no longer kept him immortal.

Nothing in the film says that you need to keep drinking from the grail to remain immortal.

The knight got old and weak inside the temple. So based on that, the power isn't limited to the temple. So why did he get old? A) immortality is not possible with the grail, B) you need to get your frequent dosage of holy grail water to remain the same age forever, but he didn't take it.


Also, Henry's wound remained healed after he left the temple. No reversal of holy effects either.

The knight didn't just become old and weak. He became less substantial. By the point they found him he was less a living person and more a corporeal ghost chained to the world by the grail and his oaths.

He's certainly immortal, but it isn't what it's cracked up to be and by that point he isn't just physically unable to continue his vigil, he's spiritually exhausted and doesn't want to.

Anyway the entire point of confining the Grail to the temple is that you're not supposed to have it at all. You're supposed to find it and then leave it. Likewise, you're not supposed to be immortal, and though the grail can keep you alive forever this isn't a good thing.

The ending is about accepting this and letting go. And embracing your family, of course.

After all, Indiana surived when Elsa died because he was able to give up the Grail and she wasn't.

Stepping over the seal without the grail symbolizes letting it go, and thus it stopped fettering the knight's brother. Taking the Grail across the seal symbolized trying to possess it, which is a big no-no.
 
Anyway the entire point of confining the Grail to the temple is that you're not supposed to have it at all. You're supposed to find it and then leave it. Likewise, you're not supposed to be immortal, and though the grail can keep you alive forever this isn't a good thing.

The ending is about accepting this and letting go. And embracing your family, of course.

After all, Indiana surived when Elsa died because he was able to give up the Grail and she wasn't.

Stepping over the seal without the grail symbolizes letting it go, and thus it stopped fettering the knight's brother. Taking the Grail across the seal symbolized trying to possess it, which is a big no-no.

All strong points.
 
Maybe it's just me, but I never got the impression the Knight was still alive because he had been drinking from the Grail. I got the sense it was some other divine force or power that was keeping him alive in order to guard the Grail.

I just couldn't imagine him daring to drink from the cup himself, or thinking himself worthy enough to do so.
 
Anyway the entire point of confining the Grail to the temple is that you're not supposed to have it at all. You're supposed to find it and then leave it. Likewise, you're not supposed to be immortal, and though the grail can keep you alive forever this isn't a good thing.

The ending is about accepting this and letting go. And embracing your family, of course.

After all, Indiana surived when Elsa died because he was able to give up the Grail and she wasn't.

Stepping over the seal without the grail symbolizes letting it go, and thus it stopped fettering the knight's brother. Taking the Grail across the seal symbolized trying to possess it, which is a big no-no.

All strong points.
Not wanting the cup beyond the grail simply so that it isn't misused sounds a lot more pragmatic.

Maybe it's just me, but I never got the impression the Knight was still alive because he had been drinking from the Grail. I got the sense it was some other divine force or power that was keeping him alive in order to guard the Grail.

I just couldn't imagine him daring to drink from the cup himself, or thinking himself worthy enough to do so.
Pure faith perhaps?
 
I suspect that the knight drank just enough to keep himself going, but never more than that, lest that be too sinful. I believe he was frail simply because fulfilling his duty did not require him to drink more than the little he did.
 
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My point had NOTHING to do with that. It had to do with century old Knights guarding a shit load of cups in a cave somewhere is AS realistic as a dimensional/alien craft buried in the jungle. People grabbing hearts through chests. Kalima, kalima. The Arc Of The Covenent is filled with angry spirits that melt Nazi's.

Your error is attempting to level something unsubstantiated (aliens/alien ship in the jungle) with something rooted in history (and three major religions), such as the Ark. The power of the Ark story in the Indy film rests in the audience's real world awareness of the Ark, so applying a speculative power to it cast an awe-inspiring--and sinister shadow over the characters and their motives.

Brody's caution-laden descriptions to Indy and the government agents set a chilling tone--which was believable, as it tied the film's fictional Ark (long before the payoff in the film) to both the real Ark, and the known pursuit of other religious artifacts by the Nazis. All powerful elements the audience could accept, believe and thus immerse themselves in the fictional world of Indiana Jones.

Aliens do not have that kind of historical power--a connection to reality, other than decades of could-be, would-be, and government suspicion (i.e. any classified files on the subject) muddying any sense or concrete ideas on which to base a story in the tradition of the original IJ films.
 
They talked about how his (The Knight's) brother died of extreme old age. This was because he crossed over the seal and the power of the Grail no longer kept him immortal.

Nothing in the film says that you need to keep drinking from the grail to remain immortal.

The knight got old and weak inside the temple. So based on that, the power isn't limited to the temple. So why did he get old? A) immortality is not possible with the grail, B) you need to get your frequent dosage of holy grail water to remain the same age forever, but he didn't take it.

Why does immortality mean you don't age? Immortality means you won't DIE. We don't know how the immortality actually plays out.
 
Regarding Spalko's death, there's some concept art in the "Making of Indiana Jones" book (Which came out around the same time as Crystal Skull) which shows a more slightly graphic demise similar to what happens in RAIDERS.
 
The only scene that I liked was the bomb test in that fake city, and Indy surviving by hiding inside a lead-lined refrigerator.

I liked it because it was so absurd that I laughed out loud when I first watched it.
 
Kind of begs the question if Alan Dale is the new Ted McGinley. Season 9 of the X Files, Indy 4, Star Trek Nemesis... something of a reverse Midas touch.
 
As far as Irina Spalko goes, she didn't ever do anything ... horrible enough for her to be vaporized by a CGI alien.


I don't think that she was vaporized so much as taken with them.

The thing is, they gave her exactly what she asked for, but she couldn't handle it. It wasn't malicious. It was just be careful what you wish for.
That's what I would've suspected, also ... had it not been for the fake-looking alien's last-minute frown at her. Why would that be there, if not to suggest that she got fried?
 
Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is one of those infuriating movies that (IMO) starts off strong and gets worse as you go. I think the first forty-five minutes or so is rather good, but you can practically watch it falling apart as the story progresses.
 
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