Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) - User Reviews

I think I, like just about everyone else on the planet, was pretty excited when we heard this was coming out, and I, like everyone else, couldn't give a toss that Harrison Ford is 65. For the record, the man's age is not a problem at all, although his right hook is noticably slower. However, he's pretty good at reprising the role after all these years. It's just a shame that he's just about the only thing worth seeing in this film.
O.K. let's not get too negative here, it is two hours of entertainment. However, especially when compared to the magic of its predecessors, its lacking in quite a few key areas, most notably story.
Without giving away too much, the plot centres around an extremely convoluted and poorly explained plot involving aliens during the Cold War era. For some highly fudged reason, Jones is tied up in all this, and knows the location of various alien artifacts. The evil Russians are also after the alien's stuff, and they are led by Cate Blanchette's character, who is... reasonable, without being spectacular.
They end up in South American chasing each other through the jungle in what are some pretty well put together actions scenes. Unfortunately it all falls apart again at the end, and there are so many plot holes, I can really only call it sloppy. For example, its not even really clear if the aliens are actually alive or not?
The rest of the cast are pretty plain, and the "new guy" has a rather unnerving obsession with knives. The new love interest is a bit of a fizzer too; I wasn't inspired. The evil "AUZZIE" is pretty unconvincing too. Character development is non-existant; they just 'show-up' and join the insanity. Its also a pity they couldn't convince Shawn Connery to come back in person, instead of in just a picture.
I don't want to be too critical; this film is worth seeing, and was mildly entertaining. However, the truth is, that its not anywhere near the mark set by its predecessors.

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