Watch the SPOILER review on YouTube
An action film featuring one of the world’s most iconic characters is usually a memorable experience, but here it’s mostly forgettable and quite boring at times. The plot is fairly irrelevant because it’s basically what every film in the franchise is: A bad guy wants the get his hands on a powerful and ancient artifact and Indiana Jones and his sidekicks try to stop them. Normally, this is all pulled off with some fantastic stunts, fun character interactions and other wild moments. Here, all that stuff is in short supply. The action sequences are bland, the characters just don’t have much chemistry and there’s not really any moment good or bad people will associate with the movie. (Except maybe the much-hyped opening sequence featuring a de-aged Harrison Ford. It looks good overall, but between the CG-trickery and the flashback nature of it all, I found myself repeatedly pulled out of the scene.) Other than that, large chunks of the film drag way too much, the CIA subplot adds nothing to the plot, the mysteries are usually easily solved, and there’s some pretty noticeable plot holes. One saving grace is the final act that tries to be pretty epic in scope. Unfortunately, they really don’t quite take advantage of the sequence and it wraps up rather unsatisfying.
*1/2 out of *****