Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - C'mon, it's not THAT bad!

I'm writing this after my second viewing of The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. During my first watch, I thought it was simply `okay.' I did tend to dwell on its low points, as it does definitely have a different flavour to the previous trilogy. However, after a second watch, I've decided that I actually quite like it. Yes, it still has its flaws and, yes, it's probably the least coherent of the quadrology, but it's still head and shoulders over most other action/adventure movies.

Ignoring the fridge scene, it has numerous good points - beginning with Harrison Ford as Indy - he's still got it. It's worth watching for him alone. However, the supporting cast don't fair so well. Shia LaBeouf doesn't really become likeable until near the end, Karen Allen doesn't have the same gritty toughness she did in Raiders of the Lost Ark, John Hurt barely says a word, Jim Broadbent is hardly in it and Ray Winstone plays the stereotypical British coward/bad guy we see in so many Hollywood movies.

But, at least we still have Indy. And he's battling the Russians this time. Some people didn't like that (thinking it should still be the Nazis), but I saw it as natural progression. However, apart from that awful fridge scene, the main thing people objected to was the inclusion of aliens/UFOs into `Indy lore.' It never occurred to me that this was bad until I saw the reaction from the fans. If you really hate the prospect, I guess you're best to ignore the forth instalment of the franchise.

For me, the downside of Crystal Skull was the over-reliance on CGI effects and the fact that many scenes weren't really explained (plus the supporting cast not given enough to work with).

However, I'm glad Part 4 was made. I know it's now killed the franchise as it is, but at least that means we'll never have to watch Shia LaBeouf as a sort of `Indy substitute.' Now that would be too much to bear.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that