Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Great movie!

Absolutely wonderful movie full of action. Holds your interest and has you sitting on the edge of your seat at times! January 6, 2009

It's not as bad as Phantom Menace was to Star Wars (at least there are no fart jokes)

I like the first Indiana Jones movies a lot (especially the third one). I haven't bought them yet but if I do buy them I will want this one to be along side them. I have many reservations about Crystal Skull (I rate it fourth best) but it's not horrible and I'll try to defend that position.

My theory about why this one is getting a cold reception with the fans is that it doesn't feel like a true Indiana Jones movie. It feels more like Indiana Jones meets the X-Files because there is stuff about aliens and even different dimensions. I don't think it's a perfect marriage but I do like Indiana Jones and I like the X-Files. And I should be a little more open minded. Aliens are just as believable and out of the ordinary as lost arcs that kill everyone that opens them or magic stones that make crops grow. So it is somewhat strange that everyone is moaning about aliens being involved as if that took away its credibility.

In my younger days, I played Nintendo a lot. And I would compare this movie to "Mario 2" from the famous Nintendo series Super Mario Bros. If you ever bought and played all of the classic games from the 80s and 90s you know that "Super Mario Bros 2" seems different from all the other Mario games because it was adopted from another Japanese game that had nothing to do with Mario. Yet it still was an okay game. I played it a lot and I beat it a lot. And so I am loath to condemn this one just because it's different from the others. The truth is it's okay.

That said, like everyone else I do have some reservations about it...

The very first scene where you see the CGI gopher gives you a good idea of what is to come. It's a bad omen. And I think it's a good symbol of what is wrong with this movie. It would look so much better if they had used a real gopher, right? I mean, it would have been cheaper. It would have looked more real (obviously). And it would have been more consistent with the previous movies which don't use CGI. Yet do they still decide to use a CGI gopher? You betcha.

And that kid with the hair that constantly needs to be combed kind of sucks at acting. Obviously he's supposed to be a young version of Indy and there is, in fact, a SHOCKING plot twist (Yes, I'm being sarcastic). And apparently he has some sort of supernatural power to control monkeys (I wish I was being sarcastic but I'm not). But he's just a pale shadow of Indiana Jones.

I'm not a fan of Kate Blanchette either and I don't think she's as good as some of the other villains Indy has faced. I didn't think she came across as someone you thought was pure evil like that creepy guy who got his hand burned in the first movie. She was only okay. And the lack of a truely convincing villain makes this one a notch below the other movies in terms of tension.

There are other missgivings about this movie but I think other people have written about them in good detail.

The strongest thing about this movie is without a doubt Harrison Ford and I'm pleased to see that he can still crack a whip. And I do think this movie will eventually be accepted by Indy fans. It's nothing as bad as "Phantom Menace" was to Star Wars because that was almost 100% CGI (and not good CGI) and even had fart jokes. January 5, 2009

A great movie!

If you like excitement, you'll love Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It's a story full of intrigue and action. This is one of the best Indiana Jones movies that Harrison Ford has made. January 4, 2009

sucked!

when compared to the first 3 and the mere fact that we fans waited....I don't know how many years for the fourth, This movie just plain sucked and was corny! The ending was really the last nail on the proverbial coffin! January 3, 2009

A FUN, ENTERTAINING FILM!

Hey, I liked it. I can say all the negative stuff but it was good to see the man in the hat back up on the big screen again. I've watched this movie 3-5 five times since i got the dvd and i thoroughly enjoy it. It's got aspects of all the movies wrapped up in one. Heck, it even mentions an event from the Young Indiana Jone's TV show. It also brings more depth into the character of Indiana Jones and the whole meaning of his life.
I can say, though, that he only uses his whip three times (twice is in the very beginning, and once at the end to toss to mac)which is the least he ever used it in any of the other ones. Some more whip swinging and snapping and booby traps would have added more to the feature. But I still enjoyed it nonetheless.
January 2, 2009

More reviews at Amazon.com ...