This post contains semi-detailed information about the plot. If you don’t want to know insider tidbits about the storyline, please stop reading.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Personally, I like the Indiana Jones trilogy. Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade were two movies, which I especially enjoyed. The second film (Temple of Doom) was entertaining, but drastically different (and darker) than the other two. So, naturally I was excited to hear that Spielberg decided to make a fourth Indiana Jones movie. Diane and I went to see the movie this evening. I expected the movie to be a little cheesy (they all are) and I expected Indy to kick some butt like he normally does. That said, I still was not as pleased with the movie as I thought I would be.

The beginning of the film starts off well. I was a little confused about why the Soviets are involved (I knew/heard nothing about the movie before watching it—that’s how I like to go into movies). I could deal with it; after all, he had already taken on the Nazis. Why not the reds? As with the other movies, there had to be some hard-core archaeologist working for the enemy who so happened to need Indiana’s help. The movie had the classic depiction of them traveling to far off lands with the turbo-prop plane overlaying a map of their voyage.

I started to lose respect for the movie as it got more and more silly. I ignored the ground hogs (or moles) that seemed to have human characteristics. However, when the giant ants started killing everything in there path (in a matter of seconds) and the wild/cocky son started swinging from the trees like Tarzan, enough was enough. It didn’t help that the monkeys all of a sudden followed the boy and made him their leader; they even knew to attack the crazy, Russian female.

I let the whole alien beings slide; too bad they didn’t really do anything cool other than disappear into their spacecraft that was the size of an ancient pyramid. I was wondering why these aliens had to look like the stereotypical aliens. I was just thinking about the fact that the crazy professor friend of Indy was speaking Mayan to the aliens. I’m no expert in history, but I don’t recall the Mayans ever living in Peru. OK, just one more complaint—the whole love story between Indy and Miriam was a bit much. Enough said.

I’m sorry if this sounds like a very critical review of the movie. It’s just that Spielberg took a perfectly good trilogy and ruined the final movie. If you’re still interested in going to see the movie, expect a lot of over-the-top scenes with countless cheesy lines. With low expectations, you just might like it. It’s definitely not worth a full-price movie ticket. Wait till the dollar theater releases it or watch in on DVD.