Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The 4th installment in the Indiana Jones franchise is my least favorite. Yup, I even prefer the dark Temple of Doom over this one. Slow pace, weaker and less interesting back story, and a lack of major surprises leads me to give it a 6/10. It is not bad, but could AND should have been so much better. This movie has 2 different parts to it: the first half which surprisingly drags on rather slowly, and the half which does pick up but ends up disappointing. If you have seen the long trailers, you've seen snippits from all the action scenes. I wish studios would stop doing that. How about actually keeping some surprises for the movie itself?!!! Speaking of surprises, for a movie that is said to have been shot so secretly, Indy 4 (if I may call it that for short) certainly did not contain many surprises, or even any significant ones at all. Maybe they were just trying to create some hype (like it needed any extra hype) The acting was ok. I do applaud them for not trying to make Indiana appear to be any younger than Ford is. However, how about making sure that when you use a stunt double, he isn't pulling off swift and speedy moves that Ford clearly can't do when he is in the scene. I know, I know, it's just a movie and is meant to entertain... but as far as I know, Indy 4 was not meant to be a parody of the genre. The back story was definitely less interesting and enticing than in the previous 3 flicks. That doesn't help. And some of the complex explanations between Ford and LaBeouf are done quite fast, yet Shia's character always follows and keeps up. To me, that's when the writing is trying to get too much across in a limited amount of time, so let's just cram it in there and make the secondary character always get it right away. OK, I still stop there with the detailed criticism. Is it entertaining? Yes it is. Is it as good as the previous 3? Not in my opinion. Will it do well at the Box Office? Oh yeah. In the end, does it leave you wanting a 5th? Most definitely, because we love seeing Indy in action, even if it's slower moving and not as well rounded out as in the past. Not a bad movie at all, just not a good one either. 6/10 and I am sticking to that rating!!!