I've sent a sorta review of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull to another forum, so I'm copying it here as well.
"I wasn't expecting this film to be a sensation and, er, it is not.
On the other hand, it doesn't hurt series in any way and as a reunion works rather well. Its overall quality is more or less the same as that of Temple of Doom.
Probably the most positive aspect of Crystal Skull is its cinematography, CGI put aside. It strongly resembles previous three films and I was glad that Spielberg haven't adopted some of recently used new technics and shot the film in straightforward manner.
Harrison Ford was well in shape and I generally enjoyed his performance. Colour of his hair was suspiciously changing throughout though.
Adding Karen Allen to the mix was a nice touch because Indy had a great chemistry with her character in Ark. I was feeling pleasant nostalgy seeing her again and it sorta tied the series nicely together.
That shoot of Indy watching the blast was great in its symbolism and it's by far my favourite moment in the film.
Unfortunately, there was a lot of problems, most notably in the script.
Lucas and Spielberg repeatedly claimed that the main reason why it took so long for the fourth part to be made was that they haven't got a good script. Well, they still haven't one.
First, most of the characters were vastly underdeveloped and one-note. Seeing Marion again was nice but she had nothing interesting to do and her relationship with Indy was too sketchy to make the final scene work.
Cate Blanchett fitted her role well, but her character was also one dimensional and her psychic powers were lost quickly somewhere during the fifth rewrite of the story and thus remained a red herring. Also, her accent was too exaggerated.
Shia LaBeouf is a very uncharismatic actor so it was no surprise that he wasn't a matching sidekick to Ford and their dialogues were nowhere near that witty and entertaining as were those of Ford and Connery from Crusade.
On the whole, characters lacked proper motivations and were going through motions rather than emotions.
Second, the whole story was too silly for my tastes and wasn't blending well with the Indiana Jones universe. I would imagine something like that to be quite an ideal material for a new X-Files film.
Upon a more detailed look, a lot of scenes were just too far from reality, even for the film like this. After Indy's refridgerator extravaganza it was clear that authors threw any resemblance of reality out of the window, and unfortunately it wasn't getting better.
Sense of a real thread was almost nonexistant, the waterfall gig being probably the most obvious example of this. All the good guys were virtually invulnerable throughout, which along with underdeveloped characterizations added to my detachment from them. This film simply doesn't do enough to make its viewers really care about the characters.
Also, the quicksand scene was absolutely pointless since it moved the story exactly nowhere. The scene itself, I liked.
Action sequences were also a mixed bag. My favourite was the motorcycle one. It had just the right length and was imaginative enough.
Jungle car chase (plus the bugs), on the other hand, went on for too long and had pretty lackluster choreography.
This leads me to another aspect of the film I didn't quite like - CGI.
Quite surprisingly, the special effects in Crystal Skull weren't anything, uh, special.
Often it's blatantly obvious that it's computer graphic onscreen. It's giving some scenes somehow plastic feel, things are lacking "weight". Special effects used in previous films were much more suitable and I'm kinda dissapointed that creators haven't chosen to do it in a more old school way for the fourth part as well.
Also, what was that with all the cartoon animals? At the beginning I was scared shitless that I'm watching Caddyshack.
Some throwbacks felt also out of place, like LaBeouf's Marlon Brando or Tarzan impersonations.
I wasn't thrilled by the musical score either, it was quite often distracting and sometimes the main theme wasn't used ideally.
Previous films had always some kind of religious aspects connected to the artifacts which added some spiritual nature to the adventures, in Crystal Skull this was sadly missing. I'm an agnostic tending to atheism but I enjoyed those religious aspects and regarded them as one of the series' trademark.
In conclusion, the film wasn't funny enough, wasn't dramatic enough, wasn't clear enough, wasn't interesting enough, wasn't mature enough.
I don't want Indiana Jones to be next Cries And Whispers, but Crystal Skull was simply too childish for my liking.
After all that said, I think that the fourth Indiana Jones isn't a total catastrophe.
Pacing is good, Ford in form, locations nice and "Jonesy" and although the humour isn't exaclty fabulous, it isn't cringeworthy either. And thankfully, for most of the time it has enough respect for the franchise.
First hour was quite an enjoyable experience but after the quicksand scene, film has taken an unfortunate route with characters being left underdeveloped and plot overly infantilized.
Watched with brains switched off, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a fairly entertaining film but sadly, nothing more.
It's no Raiders Of The Lost Ark or The Last Crusade, that's for sure."
