It's hard to give up the "Indy Magic" I remember the first movie...fantastic. Sad to say as I enter middle age fully, one more icon is to be dashed against the stones.

While you are probably right that this is summer theater at its worst, it will probably be a great hit.

It is a shame that the public is not more discerning. The superficial Iron Man and Indiana Jones will be big this summer, while the superb Prince Caspian, which can be seen at face value or for its rich symbolism, will be an also-ran.

Wow Wade Major seems really bitter about the business. He's waaaaaay too negative. It was great to see INDY again. Wade Major should consider doing something else with his life. This movie was wonderful. Yes there were problems - Indy should have had more humanity and there should have been more of a moment when Indy finds out he has a son and yes John Williams score wasn't as good as his others - but it was a wonderful adventure movie.

Whoa, Mr. Wade Major. Stop comparing it to the original. Sure it was not as good as it should've, or could've. But you can tell us that without refering to Raiders of the Lost Ark so often. You know the originals are never beaten by the sequels, so quit acting like you expected it to.

I thought this was an entertaining movie, not as good as the others. But this is still a good movie, and your review does not do it any justice.

wow you really are inconsiderate. People like me have been waiting for this movie since the credits of "the last crusade" and you just tearing this movie too pieces, let me guess you're a star trek fan so what if i told you that the new movie was a horrible movie and that it sucked and all the star trek fans are stupid, well i dont know what you like it's probably like the brady bunch or growing pains i dont know maybe if i become a jerk like you i will know what you like

Wade Major is 100% right about this movie: it is terrible. Totally unnecessary and completely without a pulse. Keeping shooting straight, Wade.

wade is right on the money. this movie was a steaming pile of bullsh*t. horrible just horrible. i can't believe that tarzan crap. i felt like i was watching the lion king crossed with x files. i am done with big motion pictures like this. they all just end up selling out with marketing schemes.

this movie sucked so much, i agree wholeheartedly with you wade

Go back and watch all three movies.

This one followed the same fluent structure as the first 3.

And I really enjoyed the film! Sounds like you wish they neglected the fact that Indiana Jones is older...as if things wouldn't change.

I thoroughly agree with Wade's description of Indy 4. I found it to be uninspired, cinematically pale and boring.

EXACTLY right, Wade. You put into words exactly what I was feeling as I walked out of the theater with a half hour to go. Insipid and boring. The magic is gone, as often happens when Spielberg tackles later sequels.

I thought the movie was inspired,(yeah, you read that right) had tons of laughs, and was all around entertaining. It really felt like an Indy movie and it kept the serial feeling and thrills.

Oh yeah, I also enjoyed watching a few people walk out. I bet the first thing you did was get online and brag about how you walked out. Haha.

Anyway, a fun film and I can't wait for the dvd to join the others in the series. I want Indy 5!

If your writing skills, Wade, are any indication of the level of your ability to judge a film, you've gained my trust as a critic. Thanks for saving me ten bucks.

Excellent review...and the most honest one I've read.
Harrison hasn't lost the magic...but Spielberg certainly has! This could have been a great movie...but lacked any real creative effort...and when it was over...I was relieved!

The first 3 Indiana movies had real gumption, led by the inimitable savoir faire of Harrison Ford. In my mind, the historicity of the Ark, or the Holy Grail made the movies both fascinating and mysteriously wonderful. Even my least favourite Temple of Doom was written with historical fortitude, though it's subject of sacrifice left me personally ill. Alien movies are so difficult to do simply because it lacks historical veracity. Everything seems to be based on previous Spielbergian hype (ET/ Close Encounters come to mind) or suburban legend. Any legend, if suspicious, will undoubtedly become ludicrous.

Perhaps it is unfortunate that Crystal Skull came out after National Treasure 2 was released on DVD. For all the talk about the City of Gold being some fount of "knowledge", there was little effort put in to tie up loose ends.

It's always a bad sign anytime I walk out of the movie theatre with more questions than the movie cared to answer.

Why is everyone bashing this film? I went into it expecting a decent movie, and I felt it delivered in all ways. Shia LeBouf was at most a ridiculous minor character, and a less funny (yes, that Tarzan crap was ridiculous) version of Short Round. Other than that, the beginning was great, felt like an up-to-date somehwat more modern version of the film. They paid homage to Indy's dad and the museum curator, and brought back Marion. Also, they tied into past continuity with the aliens theme from the Bantam book and the Young Indiana Jones series. Stop thinking your actual critics who's opinions mean anything and enjoy a fucking movie for once. Seriously, if you walked out on this movie or are refusing to see Indy 4 because someone else told you it was a bad movie. Get off your ass and go see it, film school yuppies. Indy rules, this is a GOOD movie and worth the hype.

While I don't think that this movie was as good as the other three, it's not horrible. The main problem seems to be the main plot line. This savy and intelligent archaeologist really seems out of place in the sci-fi genre. Maybe it's just me, but looking at Indy in the same picture with aliens and a flying saucer at the end just made the whole thing seem a little "koookie". And, according to Lucas, the film wasn't as sci-fi as he wanted it to be (Spielberg and Ford had to convince him to tone it down a bit). Even the Indy-Reds weren't as intimidating as the Indy-Nazis. With that being said, I did enjoy the nostalgia and the action that a 65 year old Indy can still deliver. It's worth seing once, but that's about it, unfortunately. Just not good enough to see over and over again like the other Indiana (or Henry as they referred to him so much in this movie) films.

Excellent review. For those who prefer not to think while watching a movie, this one might be good.
Truth is, the lens of nostalgia is a poor window through which to view and judge a film. Thanks for seeing the movie for what it really is: underdeveloped, uninspired, and (for those who prefer to use their brains) unwatchable.

How about that Star Wars lift they threw in there?? "I got a bad feeling about this.."

I mean...come on!!

They showed up, they cashed a check. Stephen Spielberg put as much effort into "Indy" as he puts into his morning deuce. That might be too generous. Terrible, terrible, terrible!

Humility was never a strong point in this no-limits obnoxious genre... at least they're consistent. When you can take modesty lessons from Steven Seagal in being less of an A-hole, then it doesn't speak well of the film-audience.

I heartily agree with you on all points. This movie was utterly ridiculous. I want my hopes, dreams and money back!

I couldn't get over the prairie dogs, monkeys and that nuclear blast scene. Just horrible. The flick had Jar Jar stink all over it. Lucas needs to retire. They should hand this franchise to someone who actually understands what made it great to begin with: Indy was larger than life, but he felt REAL. This was a friggin' children's cartoon. With aliens. Dumb. That said, if they can reign in the stupidity, I'd watch a go with Shia as the lead. He was the best part of the movie to me.

The minute I saw the TV trailer that had some horrible Nintendo Game Cube like graphic representation of a cheesy action chase sequence next to a cliff helped confirmed my expectation that this movie is going to be another heartless and artless Star Wars Esq. bomb of a sequel. To the folks who liked this movie I know you would be shooting me down now, because I haven't seen it yet and yes I already know this movie is a disappointment and not based on the critique I have read. I have already learned that once great movie makers such as Spielberg and Lucas and Hollywood pretty much in general have completely lost connection with the art. I think this also maybe the valid point Wade Major is trying to make here. The Plot, dialog, and art of movie making doesn't really seem to matter much any more, because people like you and sometimes me are easily accepting of big industry sloppy profit laziness. I think comparing the present to the past is always good to see what progress you have or haven't made. The industry has made absolutely none in any good way IMO. The making of story Plots have turned into mathematical calculations based on other block buster formulated successes, and the damn computer graphics suck, suck, suck, give it up Hollywood! Cut your losses (George) the whole CGI revolution thing sucks. Stop making CGI the movie's protagonist. Step away from the Mac.s and bring back the heart, the matt painters, the stage sets, the photographic visual effects artists and the wonderful artist who put so much passion in making the movie settings with there hands not 1's and 0's. Movie making (not Indy films) in almost every way now is nothing but calculation. I'm not being "film school" pretenscious I just know what better is and I miss it.

i cant lie...i was so incredibly excited for this movie. i knew it wouldnt be as good as the others...but i didnt expect george lucas to get as excited as he did and mix up han solo with indiana jones. is he kidding? aliens and flying saucers?
lucas deserves a swift kick to the groin for that one.

His review is dead-on. Indy IV has more in common with The Mummy then with the Indy trilogy. It's like a classy National Treasure. Lame.

Honestly,

I fell asleep. I was so looking forward to it, then people were swinging on vines and there ware ants everywhere, cut to a waterfall, some alien ship was flying around....

I don't even know what the movie was about, or how it ended but it stank. I mean seriously, it was so bad I napped during Indiana Jones...

Dissapointed in it. Harrison does a good job acting and I liked the beginning, but the remainder of the movie moved too fast with no time for character development or any thing that resembles a logical plot.
I couldn't follow it. Characters and situations pop in and out, with no explanation. All the characters do is move, and move fast, never pausing to reflect or react to anything on screen with any plausable human emotion.

We get it George! Industrial Light and Magic does great CGI. The last three Star Wars pictures felt more like you were showing me your portfolio of effects rather than trying to tell a good story. CGI is great when used sparingly, but next time give us a good story, one we can get intellectually involved in and one in which we can feel like we know the characters. No doubt the movie going audience these days may prefer these mindless CGI action pics, but don't you and Speilberg have enough money.

How about you two proving you can tell a good story for a change.

Simply the best adventure movie.

A two hour ride, lots of surprises, a great movie to have fun. And hey it's Indiana Jones as we all remembered him.
Pure Spielberg-Lucas-Williams. Nice.

I wouldn't like the idea of putting Shia LaBeouf as the new Indy. But let's see what the future has to bring.

We were so disappointed and dissatisfied with this poor excuse for a movie, we went to see Chronicles afterwards, which, by the way, rocked! If you have any sense of spirituality, you will be mesmerized by Prince Caspian.

Wade is right on the $$$. The whole premise of the movie is ridiculous. It was not supposed to be sci-fi. I felt like I was watching a rip-off of A. Merritt's pulp story, "The Moon Pool", with the aliens seated around the room as a "collective consciousness". Leave sci-fi out of Indi, please! Where were the cool traps that we wait for in Indiana Jones? Was there even one?

Come on! A virtual army of KGB agents infiltrating a US base with only a couple of guards at the gate protecting our vital interests ... lackluster dialogue between Indi and Marion ... no subtle use of Cate Blanchett's skills to perhaps manipulate Indi ... preposterous action sequences (the parallel jeep scence that lasted seemingly forever ... how did the road suddenly just appear like that when before they were bush-whacking?) ... tornados that pulled large men into the air while leaving others just a whip-length away unscathed ... the tarzan business (felt sick during that) ... the ants stolen from Discovery channel (cringe!!!) ... the Mayans popping out from the walls (where do they eat and watch TV in the meantime?) ... the other Mayans hanging out with the skeletons (might want to pass their time doing something else, no?) ... the even bigger tornado at the end which sucked off part of the mountain, but just making Indi hop over to the next rock (how many laws of physics were broken in this movie?) ... Indi's ability to pop up out of thin air with lightening speed to blow darts and shoot Mayans ... the ability of stone to behave like a metal ... the burger joint where people were either dressed in blue lettershirts or as greasers (I thought they might break out in song), the skull which looked like a plastic blob filled with bubble wrap ... and the car scene, where it jumped off the cliff onto a branch and then they drove into the water (I slapped my forehead at that). In the end, here's the best summary of all for this movie. I saw a guy dressed as Indi run out of the theater in utter shame.

So ... forget Indi! Go see a movie that is moving and spirtiually fulfilling. In fact, read Prince Caspian first ... think about it ... and then go see Narnia.

Loved the movie the only thing that bothered me was the fact that Indiana Jones's father drank from the Holy Grail in "The Last Crusade" so if it did promise eternal life why was he not alive. Not sure if they even explained his death in the movie which they didn't. So in a way it left me confused about Indie's father played by Sean Connery. Anyone else wonder about Indie's father? Classic Indiana Jones my favorite of all of them would have to be "Temple of Doom"! =)

James, the way i understand it you need to keep drinking from it on a daily basis. One sip is not enough to grand eternal life i think. And btw the Knight said that the price for immortality was that the cup needed to stay behind the seal. Beyond it it was useless. So Indy's father could not be an immortal either way.

As a big Indy fan, i have everything from him the movies, comicbooks,novels and much other stuff.
I was pleased with the movie. I think the important part for that was to keep the nostalgia mode off and keep in mind that the movie did come out almost 20 years later. The moviebusiness has moved on. I know a lot of younger people who tought the old movies where kind a lame but found the new one really cool. I grew up with Indy like a lot of people here. For many of us he is an icon, but the youth of today have no bond with Indy, for many of them the old movies are not much more then to put in rudely fancy b movies.
Indy made a normal transition into the new century, with today standards and not those of the 80's.
The alienplot also didn't bother me, because like the other movies it is build around a theorie. But this one is around the crystal skulls and the Mayans. I for one i'm glad the choose an other path rather then something religious again.
I'm a fan who really hopes the movie brings in tons of money so the will make a final Indy 5 with the original Indy as main character and not a supporting character for his son.

Thanks for the understanding now of my confusion of Indiana's father!

Yves wrote: James, the way i understand it you need to keep drinking from it on a daily basis. One sip is not enough to grand eternal life i think. And btw the Knight said that the price for immortality was that the cup needed to stay behind the seal. Beyond it it was useless. So Indy's father could not be an immortal either way.

I thought the lighting was terrible.
What was with the high beam lights shining on everything in the first 20 min?
I thought the production was shotty (is that the word?)
The acting was pretty bad too.
And Shia's hair was just not long enough to
carry off the greaser hair-do.

And the plot was ridiculous.
Didn't National Treasure 2 just go searching for a golden city?

I stopped reading where you described Stargate as a "Raiders knock-off"...

ok then...

Oh dear oh dear! Any possible merit this film may warrant is completely undermined by the worst action sequence I have EVER seen. (Mutt enjoys a sword duel when simultaneously performing the splits on two speeding jeeps, then enlists the help of indigenous monkeys whilst swinging, tarzan-like, through the vines before his spunky mum confidently drives them all off a cliff using a convenient branch to lever their vehicle perfectly into the wild rapids of the river beneath, in order that they can descend 3 successive giant waterfalls... all without incurring a scratch!!) Atrocious. This hideous offering should be buried deeper than the treasures Indy once pursued. God help anyone that digs this fossilised turd!

I challenge anyone who thinks this movie was good to explain what this movie was actually about. Seriously.. when you remove the action sequences and think about the plot points, this movie makes NO SENSE.

For instance:
It is my understanding that the weird mayan natives WANTED to return the skull to the city of gold, because they worshiped the aliens. However, they had guards at the grave where the skull was hidden, which means they knew where it was. Plus, didn't Indy say the mayans buried the conquistadors there? With the skull? Why would they do that? Doesn't make sense.

At the end, the russians return the skull to the hidden city, and how does the alien repay them? By sucking them in to a vortex and burning their eyeballs out. Why? Wouldn't he/they be greatful? Maybe aliens are capitalists and hate reds. No explanation.

The russians make Indy look in to the skull in order to fuck his mind up just a LITTLE so he can "understand" ol' Riddles McTerribleDialogue. But this seems to have absolutely no effect on Indy, unless the skull makes him remember quotes from Milton better. Utterly pointless. If you think about it, there were several parts of the movie that seemed to just take up time for no reason. (Quicksand scene anyone?)

And seriously, the ol' double-double agent trick? What purpose did this serve? Oh yeah, for him to drop 'tracking beacons' for the russians to follow. So dumbass Indy just takes him at his word, even though fatass keeps going on and on about how pumped he is that he's going to be rich. And even though he was going to let Indy die at the beginning of the movie. Makes total sense! It's like I can see in my mind Lucas and Koepp trying to write this: "Aw shit, if Indy lost the russians, how are they going to pop back up later?" "I know! Fatass McForgetable will convince Indy he's a goodguy again, and he'll drop tracking beacons! Brilliant!"

And I agree with a previous comment: 3 frigging waterfalls without a scratch? They seem worried, but I'm not sure why... huge waterfalls are apparently harmless. I understand the whole "suspension of disbelief" thing, but JESUS you have to at least be worried that the characters have the POTENTIAL to be hurt! But no, apparently Indy and the gang are immortal.

And my favorite nonsensical plot point: Why was Indiana Jones trying to return the skull to the city of gold? Remember, he's lost the russians, gotten his friend back, and has the skull. It makes NO SENSE for him to continue to the city. Oh, but "the skull told him to." Well, I'm glad he didn't actualy do it or else he would have had his eyes burned out. That skull is a tricky bitch!

This movie is straight up stupid. The others were great! They actually made sense! The action actually served to propel the plot! This movie is like a porno: A few lines of dialogue to very sloppily (no pun intended) move us to the next "hot" scene. And even for porn this movie blows. (Again, no pun intended).

In summary, if this movie was a dinosaur, it would be the Crapasaurus Rex. Lucas: PLEASE stop making movies.

I agree with you Wade - great comments, but my biggest issue is that the filmmakers' are showing the audience no respect here; we are just wallets to them. The previous movies are what great popcorn films should be. Spielberg gave Lucas way to much control on this - Lucas has shown he is a complete hack and Spielberg should really be embarrassed by this mess of a film.

I feel if this film had been made in the early 90s it would have been much better. The quality of the summer blockbuster film has definitely dropped in the past 15 years; no doubt a result of filmmakers trying to compete with videogames and the internet.

Yes, the other movies made sense/were more realistic.

-Marion in a basket - but not THAT basket, the OTHER basket.
-A heart ripped out of a chest - but the GUY IS STILL ALIVE!
-God/ghosts/something in a huge box that can't get out until you lift the lid - and they ONLY KILL YOU WHEN YOU ARE LOOKING!
-Falling out of a plane and landing on a snowy mountain in a HUGE RUBBER RAFT that just HAPPENS to take you to a village where THREE MAGIC STONES make the grass grow.
-A knight was IMMORTAL as long as he drank from a certain cup.
-When you drink from the cup all your wounds are healed, but the cup is worthless past the seal - but your WOUNDS DON'T COME BACK!
-A plane's wings come off and it RACES A CAR THROUGH A TUNNEL!

Please - get some perspective. This movie is no more ridiculous than the other ones, and I really enjoyed it.

I liked the first 3/4 of the movie. By the last 1/4, i could not find Indy on the screen. He became an extra!Too many characters to follow!
I did not like the ending. Too complicated, too big, too E.T./science fiction like. In this case, less would have been more.

I give it a '3 and 1/2 FANS'.

That movie was great!!It was kida confucing but I sill loved it.

astupid ass
that was an awsome movie