Genre: Action-Adventure inter splice with one line comedic bits
Premise: Indiana Jones and his partner Mac are cornered by Russians in an Area 51 warehouse. This is the warehouse that held the arc. Indy is forced to find the remains of an ET. Mac double crosses. Indy escapes. There's the nuclear blast scene. (Darabont) Back at his campus, Indy learns Oxley was kidnapped hunting the crystal skulls. (Darabont) Indy teams up with Mutt on the way to Peru. They're kidnapped again by the Russians and taken to a camp where Oxley and Marion Ravenwood are. Marion reveals Mutt is her son. And Indy turns out to be Mutt's father. The group escapes, and Mac reveals he's actually a US spy double-crossing the Russians. There's the killer bug and the jeeps/cliff scenes (Darabont) The five reach the temple, Mac is still loyal to the Soviets and drops a homing beacon. The five enter the chamber containing the skulls, the aliens communicate through Oxley. Indy, Marion, Mutt and Oxley escape while Mac and the Russians are sucked into the portal. (Darabont) Back home, Indiana Jones marries Marion. (Saucer Men)
About: This script, with the exception of the middle part that tells the story of Indiana Jones and Mutt, is exactly what you can find plot-wise in Frank Darabont City of Gods script. Although, where Darabont's script was a little subdued and not so eager to be comedic, Crystal Skull attempts to go full on blockbuster, one-line comedic jokes.
Writers: Asides from the requisite Lucas credits for story and characters, Jeff Nathanson (who wrote Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal) is credited for story, Philip Kaufman (who is always credited, he did work on Raiders), David Koepp is solely credited as screenwriter. Koepp, the Spielberg/Lucas bright boy of the week after Chris Columbus and Lawrence Kasdan, wrote the scripts for Jurassic Park, Mision Impossible, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Spider-man, and War of the Worlds. No mention of Darabont whatsoever. That's just messed up.
You know what's funny? The opening sequenceo of this film is awesome. Everything up until Indiana Jones has his first encounter with Mutt, at which point this whole film slides off into a world of fake sentimentality and ridiculousness. And that's funny because the Mutt thing is the first time where something Koepp added creeps into the script.
Actually, if you take a look at it so much of Darabont's script is much better than the Koepp re-write, which is exactly what it is.
1) The Title "City of Gods" sounds much cooler than "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"
2) Darabont didn't try to write a comic book stripped of any real violence or action
3) Indy's age in Koepp's script is nothing more than a running joke. Darabont expanded on this.
4) In Koepp's draft Indy has no real driving motivation.
5) The Russians in Koepp's scripts were not scary. At all. Darabont actually had strong villains.
6) The character of Marion actually had a point and a developed personality in Darabont's draft. Koepp just made her an item.
7) In Darabont's draft, there's an actual fight on the rocket sled with an established bad guy. Not just some evil Russian.
8) Darabont's draft is more specific and layered.
9) Darabont wasn't stupid enough to include Mutt.
10) Darabont wrote Indy in New York City. Yes please!
11) While I wasn't completely happy with the relics in Darabont's draft, they were at least given a longer back story and made to see more important.
12) Heart ripping in Temple, people being turned to skeletons in Raiders, the guy who drinks from the holy cup, there's a Darabont scene where frogs jump out of somebody's mouth. Awesome.
13) Darabont didn't have the script focus around Mutt and his evolution into a man. This is Indiana Jones 4, not Mutt 1.
14) Oxley was actually well set up in Darabont's draft, Koepp just made him some old crazy guy.
15) Darabont was not nearly muddled in dialogue, action, or the number of skulls.
Scooby Doo (Complete Crap)
[X] -Atilla (Poor, Few Redeeming Qualities)
Wedding Crashers (Mediocre)
Hot Rod (Good)
Definitely Maybe (Pretty Darn Good)
Isla Prospects: Marion is really the only female in here, and I can't ever imagine anyone being Marion except Karren Allen. Let her have it.
What I Learned: Set up and pay off. Something Darabont did that Koepp never realized was Indy always gets out of situations only to find himself in even worse ones. That's what this whole series is about. And it makes for a really good, exciting story.
Script Link: This one is on the unofficial Indy site under scripts, it's a little bit more difficult to find than the unproduced scripts.
No comments:
Post a Comment