Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: The Spence Edit

Well, what can I say? THIS is the Best Cinematic that he ever did, the audio, visual, the quality, everything, were looking like the Indiana Jones trillogy, really, well done, I really recommend this edit.

One thing you can say about Spence's edits is that they all feel genuine. What I mean by that is that rather than radically altering the story of the film Spence sticks to what's already there, and just uses light trims to punch things up. If you've watched their take on Justice League, Falcon & Winter Soldier, even Rise of Skywalker to an extent, you know what I mean.

The same can be said about this edit as well. I didn't want to watch a radically changed version of the movie (yet), I wanted a streamlined version of the movie as is, & Spence delivers. Even the "I like Ike" bit, something a lot of editors would cut out, is kept here, & it makes me appreciate this edit more. Much like superheroes, the adventure serials Indy is based on are cheesy, & I'm all for edits, and movies for that matter, that aren't afraid to embrace the cheese factor.

That said, there's stuff in this edit I wish were cut more. I'm totally fine with an Indiana Jones movie where he goes after aliens (& tying into Roswell was a nice touch), I just hate the part about how the aliens gave the Acatori agriculture & the like. Casual cluelessness like that really hampers by buzz when I'm trying to have a good time (even the first scene of indigenous people attacking Indy & Mutt has Indy reverse-blowdarting a guy).

Still, if you want steamlined, as-is version of Crystal Skull, check out this one.

First, my opinion of the movie in terms of an Indiana Jones fan:
I had high hopes this edit would salvage the situation, but it didn't - meanwhile, I think my expectations were simply too high.
Now don't get me wrong, I cannot and will not blame "Spence" for that!
But "Kingdom Of The Crystall Skull" just is not what I wanted it to be (namely a new adventure with Indy), it's more like visiting old friends. The movie takes not enough risks (even though there's loads of potential) to expand its universe or characters, but repeats old tricks or blinks eyes to the past. That's all nice, but "nice" is not "great". I think this kind of (supposed) satisfying of target audiences is the only thing George Lucas is able to do these days (or since the mid 90ties)...
Now my opinion on the technical side of things:
That all put aside, I definitely think the Spence edit is still an improvement over the original because it keeps in the movie's strenghts, has a good pace and doesn't bore as much as the original movie. The cuts are flawless, the story and the characters are all intact, and there was no moment I thought "now THERE was something wrong now!" - congrats, Spence!

My go to KOTCS edit had always been 15Maf's but Spence edit has taken the mantle (No offence 15Maf's). All the issues I had with this film has been corrected by Spence in this edit. From the traditional Paramount logo fading to a mountain, to a less goofy klutz-y Indy and better streamlined action sequences (I even like the fridge scene as Spence's version is much less of a "Jump the Shark" moment). Spence has been on a roll with edits lately and you know you will get a quality edit with Spence's name attached. Well done Spence!

I loved this edit. It solved all issues i had with the original move. It was faster paced and the dumb gags that dragged on the movie were way cut back. This really felt like a classic Indiana Jones film. The edits were seamless, I couldn't even tell. it goes to show both how good an editor Spence is and how unnecessary the removed stuff was.