User reviews

This movie is probably more fun for Boomers than anyone younger. If you didn't grow up going to the wonderfully cheesy movies shown at the Saturday matinée, then I think you could easily miss the spirit of this. Yes, you can criticize the plot, the dialog, all the CGI, but it may help to compare this film to films of its own genre, and you need to go back to the 50s and early 60s for that.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull stands up very well if you make that comparison. The film rolls along in its own nutty time-frame, and, of all the Indy movies, it probably has the most human quality. There's a sweetness at the heart of this one - a "fiftyness" if you will - that isn't evident in the others.

There are scores of references to other films; catching them is half the fun. There are easily a half dozen that even a casual moviegoer will find readily. Older viewers (and younger viewers who've seen a lot of old movies and TV) will see quite a few more.

It helps if you can put yourself into your "child" mind, back before you knew how everything "really" worked. Just go, munch your popcorn and be a kid for a couple of hours.

Please pay no mind to the pontificating clueless wonders who are posting negative reviews of this extremely popular and entertaining movie. It is what it is....a send up of 50's "B" sci-fi movies. If you are looking for the meaning of life or the recapturing of your alleged happy and lost youth....go join a cult ( perhaps the Thugee?). If you enjoy great escapism...lose yourself in this ridiculous, zany, fun, fast paced ode to a long lost genre. It seems that everyone fancies themselves a critic...your's truly as well, I'm sure...and this has been to the detriment of the movie going experience. No one seems to be able to have a good time anymore, they have to analyze everything and insist that even escapist entertainment deal with profound themes and change the course of history...get a life losers! This is a fun movie: nothing more, nothing less. Enjoy yourselves...and shut the %$%^ up.

If you recall the chase/fight scenes in the other movies, especially last crusade, they were funny and didn't take themselves too seriously. This movie follows in the same tone. The first half is definitely the best half but the whole ride is a fun one.

There isn't really a feeling of suspense and you have to forgive the movie for this, as well as some of the unrealistic chase scenes. The dialogue is great and so is Harrison Ford.

I just got out of the midnight showing and I'm going again tomorrow! Welcome back Mr. Ford.

Hopefully the sequel will be a liiiiittle more serious, so things don't get too redundant.

-After a nineteen year hiatus Indiana Jones is finally back in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". The film stars Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones of course and brings back Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood. The film also stars Shia LaBeouf as the spunky Mutt Williams, Ray Winstone as Indy's old wartime buddy aka Mac, John Hurt as Professor Oxley, and Cate Blanchett as the villainous Russian, Irina Spalko. -The film opens up in Nevada, Area 51.The Russians break in and need a certain item from a warehouse(and I'm talking about, you guessed it, the warehouse!) and only Indy knows the location of the box that the Russians are looking for. As the movie continues, Indy escapes the Russians and eventually meets Mutt Williams. Mutt tells him that the Russians have have kidnapped his mother and his friend, Professor Oxley. Oxley leaves clues about a crystal skull. Indy and Mutt are on their way to the the jungles to find the crystal skull(before the Russians do)and rescue Mutt's mom and Professor Oxley. -Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull begins with Elvis Presly singing "You Ain't Nothing like a Hound Dog", which is appropriate considering the 50s atmosphere. When watching this movie, you may think that the entire sci-fi portion may be too out there for Indiana Jones, but being a 50s film its sci-fi B movie theme fits surprisingly well. The film also reminisces the cold war with Indy surviving a nuclear explosion on a testing site by hiding in a lead lined refrigerator. Ridiculous yes, but very cool. They mention "Colonel" Henry Jones beating down the Nazis. And now, instead of the Nazis, we have the Soviets looking for the crystal skull to brainwash their enemies. Also the appearances of Marshall College and the old warehouse create a good bridge to the previous films. -The acting was all good. By no means was I disappointed with the acting. Harrison Ford does a great job of bringing back the original attitude and personality of our hero. And with LaBeouf they create a surprisingly wonderful dynamic. Karen Allen is just like the Marion we knew from Raiders and John Hurt as Professor Oxley, while not the most memorable character of the film, plays a pretty good crazy man. Cate Blanchett is not the most ruthless villain of the Indiana Jones series, but plays a very creepy, obsessive, and psychological Russian colonel. -The story revolves around many of the ideas during the 50s such as the cold war(as previously mentioned), the Russians, sitings of UFOs/aliens, and of course lead lined refrigerators. The first half sets up the Russians along with the shout outs to the original films with appearances of the college and warehouse, not to mention pictures Indy's dad, Sean Connery and Marcus Brody. The second delves a little more into the actual crystal skulls as Indiana and Mutt run across the jungles from the soviets. There are some good surprises about the crystal skulls and the second half really sets that up well. -Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a fine entry in the series. Indiana Jones has always been about having a fun adventure with memorable characters. This movie accomplishes just that. A-

If you want to have a good time, go see this movie! Like most people who have been biting their nails in anticipation for this, I grew up with the Indiana Jones movies. I was only 5 when The Last Crusade came out, a little young to fully appreciate them but by the time I was old enough to really care they became one of if not my number one favorite series of all time. You would think that that kind of ranking would make any attempt at new film pretty hard to live up, but the team is back and they pulled it off big time.

The reason I was so quickly taken away by this adventure? Simple. I, unlike so many people voicing their opinions on message boards and comment boxes know how to escape in a movie. All you do is watch, you don't enter the theater with a preconceived notion of what you're gonna watch, with a mental note pad combing every frame to find fault. You don't raise a fuss about how much a movie is gonna suck before you've even seen it. You sit back and you watch. That's what you did when you when you were a kid, that's why those movies you grew up with have such a godlike sense in the back of your head. Just Watch.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opens with the same scratchy and jittery 1980's version of the Paramount logo that all the other's did, then cross dissolves to prairie dog mound just as the mountains, gongs and rocks did in all the others. It was at that moment that I knew nobody involved had forgotten what they were working on. I was so impressed with the film that I would find it damn near criminal to discuss plot points for giving away any of the surprises(with the exception of my final paragraph). There were in deed parts that couldn't help but be strongly foreshadowed from the trailers and natural fanboy speculation but short of bootlegging dailies from the shoot there's no way in hell you'd know how all those quick shots and moments of dialog were gonna fit together. If it's not already obvious. Go see this movie! It's got an 8.6 ranking here for a reason. I'm only writing this cuz it seems like the majority of the people who bothered to write anything here are the ones that hated it for petty and pretentious reasons. This is a movie for people who like movies, just like the 3 originals.

****Spoiler Warning******* Now for my one and only comment on plot. There is only one reason that my rating fell short of a full ten and that would be the use of aliens in the story. I'm not going to comment on this the way you would likely expect. This one point I think is what have turned some of the films detractors off. I also think however that a lot of these people had their minds made up as soon as they heard even the slightest hint that there might be an alien connection, the same people that feel the urge to bring up Jar Jar Binks when speaking of this movie just because they have a grudge against Lucas. Aliens are no more far fetched than melting faces, voodoo dolls, 500 year old knights or magic cups and rocks. The only problem here is that it dips its toe a little deeper into Science Fiction than I may have liked to see in an Indiana Jones film. I think this could have been avoided though, simply by not showing the fleshed out aliens and their space ship, no matter how brief. I think they actually fit into the plot quite nicely and as this movie is set in the 1950's it was appropriate to utilize a paranoia that had only just begun to take the world, I just think their literal involvement would been left better unsaid, it was implied well enough long before we saw any visual proof. That's my 2 cents anyway. Still not enough to kill the movie for me though.

This movie was awesome! The thing is, it wasn't as good as the others, but it comes close. It is WAY better than most summer blockbusters (Transformers, Spiderman, etc.) and it doesn't disappoint unless you expect it to be better than its past installments. Have fun, it's not art, it is a pop corn flick, and everyone should treat it that way. Harrison Ford does a great job, fitting into an older Indy's pants.... Shia does good too, and I usually hate his stuff, but hey, he pulled this one off... Cate's accent is awesome and a bit over the top (which adds to the movie) and the 1950's style story is a great touch. Hey, I just thought, it is also better than any Bond film. So there. See it.

The new Indiana Jones movie, "Indiana and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," is about one thing: proving that old-timers like Harrison Ford as the two-fisted title character still have it in them to throw a few good, solid punches here and there. Of course "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is the latest in a long line of reinvigorated franchise action movies that are proving that their aged stars still have a few punches left in them ("Rocky Balboa," "Live Free or Die Hard," "Rambo" - you get the picture).

"Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is the first time the now-66-year-old Ford has stepped into the character since "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" back in 1989. Director Steven Spielberg proves with this latest entry, written by David Koepp (with a story co-authored by "Star Wars" George Lucas), that while the film still has its share of flaws and is a bit confusing regarding the nature of the eponymous "Crystal Skull," it is still nonetheless an exciting, edge-of-your seat adventure thrill ride of the first order.

In short, it's about as much fun at the movies that you're likely to have this year.

Instead of battling Nazis (like good ol' Indy did in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Last Crusade"), Our Hero is now fighting the communists, under the leadership of the venomous Ukrainian Col. Dr. Irina Spalko (the venomous and surprisingly well-cast Cate Blanchett), who are in search of the all-powerful crystal skull of Akator so that she can lead a super-powered army against the rest of the free world. (The plot, as confusing it is, does take a few nods in the direction of Indy films past.) Indy's fourth major globe-spanning odyssey takes him from Area 51 to the jungles of Peru and finally to an ancient Mayan temple, and reunites him with feisty ex Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen, who hasn't lost any of that fire from "Raiders"), her son, the wannabe-outlaw biker Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), and old colleague Professor Ox (John Hurt). And then there's also the two-timing George McHale (Ray Winstone).

Of all the big-budget action movies out this summer, I have to say that "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was the most fun I've had watching the movies this summer. While I did miss this at the theater (so technically "Iron Man" was the most fun I had at the movies this summer), I had picked up the DVD today and was not at all disappointed by this rough-and-tumble action-adventure that proves that Ford, Lucas, Spielberg, and composer John Williams still have that definitive gift of movie magic in them. In terms of action sequences, they are all well-staged and accommodate the aged Ford excellently, proving that Spielberg still knows the delicate ins and outs of his craft. The best of these action sequences (with a little bit of aid from some good ol' CGI) is a truck chase through the jungle that brings back memories of that classic truck chase through the desert in "Raiders of the Lost Ark," except that this chase climaxes with an encounter with a horde of flesh-eating ants.

Ford was excellent, as always, as Our two-fisted Hero. He's up in his age, all right, but that doesn't mean that we should automatically count him out. While LaBeouf is still a young and up-and-coming talent (and I'm not really a fan of him, by the way), you get the feeling that with this film's ending, the torch may be passed along to him some time in the near future (and that will be a real surprise). How many young guys his age will get a chance in their careers to be a part of a legendary cinematic legacy?

It was nice to see another familiar face in this latest outing in the form of Karen Allen as Marion. She's still feisty and tough-as-nails for a female in this sort of Hollywood action-adventure (just like she was 27 years ago in "Raiders"), and has aged quite well at the up-there age of 57. I remember reading her name on a poster for the movie earlier this year, and I just couldn't believe it: Marion's back! Needless to say, I was quite excited to see her thrown back into the action. Cate Blanchett wasn't miscast (as some have said), but she also wasn't bad either, even though I still do think she could have been more villainous. She's more proof that women - and femme fatals - in these movies can still be deadly and maintain a sense of their sexuality.

All in all, if "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is indeed the last picture in this legendary cinematic legacy (from this film's ending and online rumors I've read, I doubt it), it was indeed a fun and exciting way to go out - I had a lot of the fun watching these movies myself - and this series will thus be committed to the annals of classic Hollywood history.

9/10

At 5 past midnight I sat down in a packed cinema to watch Indy IV (including people dedicated enough to dress up)and the verdict, it is a truly terrific film. There will be better films this year I'm sure but they will be hard pressed to provide anywhere near as much entertainment as Indy IV does. The action was thrilling, the acting and characterisation was top notch. If you loved the first three then you will love this one. It may not quite stand up to Raiders of the lost Arc but then again what in the last 27 years has!? If you want to be entertained then I would highly recommend this film to you whomever you are.

Rejoice, the king of adventure has returned and the pretenders have been put in their place!

It's been 19 years since we've seen Harrison Ford in the fedora. Throughout the time, we've been concerned about whether or not he can do another "Indiana Jones" film. We've said that "Harrison Ford is too old," and "He'll probably break his back in the film," or even "His teeth probably fell out during filming." Well, fear not, "Indy" fans! This one does not disappoint! It proves that "It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage." It's a great action film, and you can definitely tell that the film-makers and the actors had a lot of fun making it. It may not be better than "Raiders," or "The Last Crusade," but it's certainly up there as one of "my" favorite movies. Do yourself a favor and see it. It's tons of fun!

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has some cheesy moments sure but it's one of the best ones. Visually stunning, thrilling action, lovely polished colors, fun cast, excellent soundtrack and quite entertaining! Maybe I'm weird for loving this one I'm sure much less appreciate it then hate it. I think people don't like that it's got some meh backgrounds in some scenes and a few more mistakes/goofy bits I just void that stuff out maybe some other annoying parts otherwise it's very enjoyable. Shia Leboeuf is amazing he was really shining for awhile I think he's been through tough times. So satisfying being caught up with all Indiana's thanks to Disney plus and I saw Raiders of the last as a fathom event a couple days ago.

Epic blockbuster. Perfect Summer film for 2008. Epic adventures and fights.