I saw it the other night, and I'd have to agree with most reviewers and others on this post. 2 -2.5 stars out of 5, it's way over the top. I am a big fan of the other movies, and Indy stops at The Last Crusade for me.
It's OK for the first 45 min. or so, very much old Indy films; Introductions to characters, story outline, fights, car chase....then it got weird. It seemed to loose direction and looked rushed. Like Lucas, Speilberg, and Ford were discussing it and said, "well, we're all getting older, so let's throw this thing together and get it done. We'll just throw in a bunch of special effects and people won't notice as much."
I can appreciate what they were going for in the timeline of the movie, though. Lucas is very good at keeping the events and mindset of the period. It was set in 1957, People were looking for commies everywhere, Russia was bad, and Sci-Fi was big in popular culture. Sci-Fi mags, movies, TV was all the rage, and I think (my opinion) that what GL and SS were trying to go for. An over the top adventurer film delving into Science Fiction. Much like the other films were based on 30's and 40's adventure serial reels. It's a good guys always win, no matter what (even if it's got no base in reality) film. I just think it had so much potential it could have been put together MUCH better than it was. But they are getting so old now, GL, SS, HF would wake up from their afternoon naps and forget where they were in the production. Maybe that's why it feels half-a$$'d.
