Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Corrected entry: In the warehouse, Indy is escaping the Russians using his whip around the bars in the ceiling. He does not take it with him, but when the rocket stops it is suddenly next to him ready to use.

Correction: Who said he didn't take it? After he whips the ceiling to go up, we don't see it, but he had enough time to put it by his side. The fact that you don't see him saving his whip doesn't mean he didn't do it.

Corrected entry: When Indy and the others are in the Lost City they are looking at the murals on the wall, Indy comments that they were sun worshippers 'like the Egyptians'. Not quite true - the Egyptians were a poly-theistic society (they worshipped many gods) apart from one small foray into being sun-worshippers under their leader Akenaten. After his death, the entire society shifted back into being worshippers of many gods again and most of Akenaten's legacy was destroyed.

Correction: Indy never states that the Egyptians only worshipped the sun. He just states that they worshipped the sun, and since there is a sun god in Egyptian mythology, this isn't a mistake.

Corrected entry: In the opening sequence, it's laughably unlikely that a few border guards are the only resistance that Spalko's troops would encounter when intruding such a highly sensitive military facility.

Correction: Normally no, that wouldn't happen. But as the guard explains, the entire area has been evacuated for testing (the bomb that goes off later). This is why there is a bare minimum of guards securing the gate, and presumably precisely why they chose this moment to attack.

Phixius

Corrected entry: Throughout the movie 57 Chevrolet cars abound, but since the movie appears to take place in the spring of 57 they would be nowhere to be seen as they would not have been for sale until September of 1957.

Correction: Even back then, automobile makers released the next year's line in the early fall of the year before. The 1957 models would have been released for sale in September (or thereabouts) of 1956. Plenty of time for numerous 1957 models to be on the road in the spring of 1957.

Zwn Annwn

Corrected entry: If the crystal skulls are supposed to be the actual skulls of the alien creatures, how were they able to speak or eat with their lower jaws fused to the upper jaw?

Correction: The crystalline bones are shown in numerous places to attract other objects, and when the skull is replaced it appears to be attracted to the rest of the skeleton; it is thus not unreasonable to expect that the jawbone is simply held to the skull by the same attractive force that the crystal bones exude throughout the story.

Andrew Perry

Corrected entry: When the two Russians are chasing Indy and Mutt, they crash into Marcus Brody's statue and the head of Marcus crashes through the windshield. Only moments later, when Indy and Mutt escape and the Russians give up the pursuit, you can see that the windshield is intact. It's clear that the glass is still intact because the rearview mirror is firmly attached to the glass and there are no cracks anywhere, or debris for that matter. And to top it off, the windshield before it gets broken is two panes, divided in the middle by a piece of plastic/metal. Afterwards, it's one pane of glass.

Correction: They are in a different car, and most likely are different Russians alltogether. Remember, the are being pursued constantly, it makes no sense that only one car would be chasing them.

Corrected entry: Siafu are a type of African, not South American ant (they are also, of course, much smaller and slower, but oddly that doesn't bother me as much).

Correction: The ants in the film may be modeled in part after Siafu, but they are not supposed to be siafu. They are a fictional creation for the semi-supernatural jungle, hence their size, power and speed.

Corrected entry: As the Russian guards approach the military base, the caption on the screen reads "Nevada, 1957". As they enter the warehouse, you see a "51" on the door but later in the movie Irana refers back to the incident at the military base as taking place in New Mexico, not Area 51 in Nevada.

Correction: She was referring to the UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.

Grumpy Scot

Corrected entry: At the beginning of the movie, Indy is pulled out of a trunk. On a top down shot, we see his hat resting at an arm's length from his body (he's flat on his face). in the next shot, upon getting up, he has to walk 3 steps to reach it.

Correction: So he got up in such a way that he ended up planting his feet nearer to his hat than they were when he was sprawled out. Try it, it's a pretty natural way to get up from that position.

Phixius

Corrected entry: In the beginning, where Indy and company are getting onto the Army base, the guards who are killed are wearing Air Force rank in blue on khaki colored uniforms. This wouldn't be done - ever. Khaki gets tan patches, the blue and white rank are worn on the blues. They're also wearing the new style (post 1992) rank.

Correction: The base is acknowledged as an Air Force base, and the guards at the gate are also wearing Air Police brassards (although a Master Sergeant guarding the gate is extremely unlikely). Use of the blue and silver chevrons was authorized with khaki or olive drab uniforms by the Air Force during the 1950's when Air Force uniforms were still in a state of transition from Army uniforms. See http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5846&st=0 and http://atterburybakalarairmuseum.org/meet_the_staff.htm for pictures from the era.

Corrected entry: In the fight seen between the two jeeps, you can tell when Mutt's stunt man is in the shot because he has curly hair.

Correction: The curly hair shown is still on Mutt later, suggesting that since he's been in a fight and a chase, his hair isn't going to be as tidy as when he has spent the rest of the film combing it.

Corrected entry: We are told in the film that the Conquistadors stole the skull. However, since Indiana has to use the skull to open the tomb that it came from, it would have been impossible for the Conquistadors to have opened the tomb to steal it in the first place.

Correction: They never said that was the only entrance, or that it was sealed when the first Conquistadors found it.

Corrected entry: After falling down the waterfall, Indiana and his troupe enter the caves on the cliff face. Spalko's henchman is meanwhile dropping a trail for Spalko to follow. How did he leave a trail across the lake and up a cliff?! Yet, she still manages to figure out where to go. Funny, that.

Correction: No trail was necessary: from her vantage point, Spalko saw where they were going and falling. After that, it was only a matter of finding the device somewhere on the shore.

Sereenie

Corrected entry: With the magnetic crystal skull hidden behind the mummy of the metal armoured Spaniard, there should have been more resistance to Indy when he tossed the body to Mutt saying "Here, hold this". There appears to be no attraction to the skull.

Correction: There is nothing to suggest the magnet-like attraction from the skull is constant. In fact, it is fluctuating the whole time, starting in the warehouse at the beginning of the movie. Given the nature of the skull the fluctuation is probably not random but intelligent - in this case it wants to be found and returned to the temple.

Corrected entry: Indy says to Mutt that he learned Quechua from Francisco Villa (Pancho Villa), who was a Mexican Revolutionary General who barely spoke this Peruvian language.

Correction: No. Indy says he learned Quecha WHILE he rode with Pancho Villa, indicating the time it happened. He never says anything about precisely who it was that taught him.

Twotall

Corrected entry: Ox writings on the wall of his cell: the German word "rueckehr" means only "to go/come back", not "to give (something) back" as Indy explains. In this case German uses the word "zurueckgeben" and there is no double meaning.

Correction: Considering that Ox is pretty much delirious and ranting for most of the movie, its logical to assume that he wasn't writing with full faculties, therefore that would be a character mistake.

Corrected entry: When Indy is escaping the warehouse at the beginning of the film, he takes out his whip and uses it to swing across to try to reach the Russian's truck, but releases it and drops into another truck. A couple minutes later, he has the whip secured to his belt again even though he had left it hanging from the ceiling.

tev

Correction: The whip is in his hand when he lands in the front of the truck.

Corrected entry: When they sail down the river (in northwest Brazil) and fall down the third waterfall, it's footage from the Iguazu waterfalls, which is located on the border of Brazil and Argentina. That part of the waterfall is called the Devil's Throat, which, as I see it, is impossible to survive. But, it's Indy.

Correction: "As I see it" being the operative phrase here. As you said: It's Indy. This issue falls under the jurisdiction of Suspension of Disbelief. It's not a movie mistake.

Phixius

Corrected entry: When Indy, Mac and the Russians enter the Area 51 warehouse, it is broad daylight - and the shadows indicate that it must be in the middle of the day. However, when they emerge after about only ten minutes of continuous story, it is pitch black outside.

Correction: It is broad daylight when they enter the base. Immediately prior to them entering the warehouse, we can see the sun setting in the background and it's dusk. Once in the warehouse, we don't see every action taking place during the search, and with the size of the warehouse it's not likely that it only took five minutes to find the crate. Time compression was used in the warehouse, and the search in real time would have been much longer, meaning there was plenty of time to get dark outside.

Corrected entry: The movie occurs in 1957. A 50 star U.S. flag is shown. Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959; a 48 star flag would have been correct.

Correction: Which flag are you talking about? If it's the flag at the base in the beginning (Area 51), you are incorrect. In the movie, the flag has its stars aligned one above/below each other, like this: http://www.proudflag.com/yank/flag_48star.jpg A 50 star flag has it's stars shifted in each row, like this: http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/usflag/images/50star.gif The flag in the beginning of the movie is correct.

Visible crew/equipment: When Dr. Irina Spalko is descending the cliff, you can briefly see the harness cable that is holding her up right next to the rope on which she is climbing down.

More mistakes in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Dean Charles Stanforth: We seem to have reached the age where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away.

More quotes from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Trivia: In the Mayan temple, Indy comments "I have a bad feeling about this." This line was a running gag in George Lucas' Star Wars saga, and was used by Harrison Ford at least once. (01:46:10)

Cubs Fan

More trivia for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Question: Why did the nuke fridge scene cause so much controversy?

Answer: People felt it was ridiculous and cartoonish, even by Indiana Jones standards. Even if it was possible to survive a nuclear blast via the lead lining of a fridge (it's not), or that the fridge would simply be thrown away rather than be melted/torn apart like everything else in the vicinity (it wouldn't), the impact of being flung what appears to be a mile or so through the air, then violently crashing into and rolling over the ground, would certainly kill anything inside. The controversy arose because usually, in "classic" Indy films, the fantastical elements were exactly that: fantastic, magical, and/or supernatural. This was presented as taking place in our reality, with no "power of God" or magic spells, and for many, that was just too much disbelief to suspend.

Answer: Another problem is that people couldn't articulate what they didn't like about the film, and point to the "Nuke the Fridge" scene as a quick example of what they think is bad about it. In the realm of Indy, it's really no more outlandish than jumping out of a plane in an inflatable raft like in Temple of Doom.

It's considerably more outlandish. The raft scene was recreated/reviewed by Mythbusters, and they found that the raft floated down at a mere 22 mph. It would be hard/impossible in real life to stay on the raft, sure, but if you buy that bit of movie cheekiness, it would definitely slow their descent enough to survive, especially since they land a) on a slope and b) on soft snow. The fridge scene, however, has no such saving grace... it's completely ridiculous and unrealistic in every detail.

More questions & answers from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

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