“It Almost Gets Worse”: Indiana Jones’ Quicksand Scene Called Out By Jungle Expert For 1 Key Error

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull‘s quicksand scene gets put under the microscope by an expert, and it makes one big mistake. Released in 2008, the fourth entry in the long-running Indiana Jones franchise sees Harrison Ford return as the intrepid archaeologist to face off against the Soviets in a race to discover the lost city of Akator and the alien secrets it holds. One of the film’s many set pieces sees Indy, Marion (Karen Allen), and Mutt (Shia LaBeouf) escaping from Soviet soldiers only to find themselves stuck in quicksand in the jungle.

In a recent video for Insider, survival expert Hazen Audel breaks down the quicksand scene in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which sees Indy and Marion trying not to sink while Mutt searches for a way to help.

While there are elements of the natural phenomenon that the movie gets right, there’s one crucial mistake made that would prevent Indy from escaping. Check out Audel’s full explanation below:

“That could happen about that fast. When I was watching them sink, that can be realistic, it just depends on the viscosity of the quick mud or the quicksand. The deeper and thicker it is, the more you suck into it, and it’s harder to get out. You’re going to need your hands to try to swim out or use them to pull yourself out of the sand.

“If they were to just pull you out without you moving your legs, it almost gets worse. There’s more suction. What you want to do is sort of swim and wiggle your legs to move around that matrix of water, mud, and grit, and try to get it to turn into a slushy so it’ll pull you out. By asking for assistance, that was a good thing, so that’s why I at least give it a three [out of ten].”

Indiana Jones 4’s Quicksand Is The Least Of Its Problems

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Is A Divisive Indy Adventure

Although the fourth installment in the franchise sees the return of Steven Spielberg in the director’s chair, the movie arguably veers too far away from what made the original three movies so beloved. While reviews at the time weren’t actually that negative, Indiana Jones 4 is now considered quite divisive due to a number of creative decisions.

A blanket issue facing the film is that it’s exploration of sci-fi subject matter comes with an over-reliance on CGI and unbelievable action sequences. Indiana Jones 4‘s infamous nuke scene, in which Ford’s hero survives a nuclear blast by hiding in a lead-lined refrigerator, is emblematic of this larger problem. Other examples include Mutt swinging through vines in the jungle with a pack of monkeys, Marion driving a vehicle off a cliff and using a large, flexible tree branch to break their fall, and a climax that literally features an alien and a UFO.

In many ways, the quicksand scene is one of the moments in the movie that is most reminiscent of the types of predicaments found in the original Indiana Jones trilogy. Although Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is arguably over-reliant on outrageous action, there are certainly many moments that do feel like old-school Indy, including essentially the entire opening warehouse set piece, the motorcycle chase through a college campus, and a brief but inventive sequence in a Peruvian graveyard.