I just started getting into Indiana Jones and there's a lot of backstory to the movies and everything.  Lucas wrote over 90 years worth of story for Jones and 70+ different story arcs which all lead up to the movies.  The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones chronicles 28 of the original Indiana plot arcs but they never got to season 3 which ties in with Raiders of the Lost Ark by introducing younger versions of characters.

Anyways, this new movie is actually the sequel to the canceled 3rd season.  Young Indie was searching for the crystal skulls but was thwarted by Germans or something.  40 years later or whatever, this movie begins.

I think the Crystal Skulls were a sub-plot in some of the novels, all the novels which featured it being written by the same author (mark... something?) and approved by Lucas. The Young Indy TV series was too fragmented to have any steady overaching story arcs, but still did produce a lot of cool adventures (like Attack of the Hawkmen and Adventures in the Secret Service).

Shia LaBeouf. I never really liked him that much; mostly because he was shoved into Transformers and given tons of opportunities, all to raise Shia Awareness after he was hired to be Indiana's apprentice years ago. Call me cynical.

I think he's a good young side kick with some great natural comic wit :/

Sorry, I know necroposting is bad but this movie comes out next week, and from the looks of things some reviews are starting to come in.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/05/08/reviews-of-indiana-jones-and-the-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull-hit-the-net/
Warning: Spoilers at end of article, article links to spoilers.

This article at slashfilm lists some of what's been said by those who saw preview screenings. Apparently the reactions have been mixed, but so far the movie hasn't been grandly applauded. I find this disappointing, and I am starting to hope to God that this isn't going to be the Attack of the Clones of the Indy franchise. The initial trailer foreshadowed this, I must say, showing maybe something a little more like, as the article says "Live Free or Die Hard" rather than Raiders. What do you guys think?

So, I saw it, and while I wouldn't really call it "good" it was at least enjoyable. The beginning was all pretty dumb, but around the point Shia LaBeouf comes in, it starts to actually get interesting and kinda cool. But then there is this terrible car chase scene in the jungle and everything just sort of falls apart.

It felt like watching The Mummy or National Treasure but with slightly better direction. So, I guess just take that how you will.

Well, to be entirely honest, I didn't really like the earlier ones. The first one was the only one that I thought was even "okay," but the other two I thought were too cheesy and over the top for me. So I'd probably say it's not as good as the first one, but better than the other two. But probably the only reason I'm saying it was better is because of the environment and everything. Like, with this kind of movie, seeing it in theaters and with friends is obviously always going to be a better experience than alone and at home, so if I were to rewatch the newest one a few years from now I'm sure I'd have a totally different take on it.

I dunno, I feel like I can't really give you the kind of answer you're probably looking for, just because I'm not a big Indy fan. I'd say it's worth going to see it though.

Man I want to see this tonight SO bad, but I have finals to study for. Damn.

But even if this sucks it will be awesome because it's fucking Indiana Jones.

watched this today and it was sooooooooooo bad. I can't believe it. Usually Spielberg makes good films, but he really fucked up with this one. Everything was really off. The pacing of the film was horrendous. It was just mindless action scene after action scene. SHIA LEBOUF SWINGING WITH THE MONKEYS!!!!

I really hated the look of the film aswell. They put some shitty filter, which made it have that cloudy feel like in Lord of the rings. Karren Allen's character was completely unneccersary and just put in for nostalgia.

Harrison Ford was absolutely terrible in this film. He couldn't get back into the character. He slipped back in once or twice, but quickly left. He didn't seem like 'Indiana Jones'

CGI WAS FUCKING TERRIBLE

Don't let anyone tell you that the Special effects were mainly practical, becuase there was a shit load of bad CGI. CGI Goafers, CGI Monkeys, CGI Explosions, CGI backgrounds etc the list goes on.

I loved the originals, but this film was a complete let down.  I would give it 3/10

I enjoyed the majority of the movie. Several lines of dialog were terrible, though: "I never should have doubted you, my friend." Ugh. Otherwise I liked it!

Except... For... The ending. I won't spoil anything, but it's just so OUT OF NOWHERE even though the whole movie kinda leads up to it. It goes against the whole action/adventure/some fantasy genre style of the originals and adds in this out-of-place gimmicky ending that was just... Not good! Other than that I liked it, with a few qualms here and there.

GUUUURRR GURRRRRR THIS FUCKING MOVIE

I was pretty much astonished that despite being on the imdb Top 250 and having like 77% on RottenTomatoes, this movie turned out to be so fucking ridiculous! Impeal couldn't have been more right when he said it's like National Treasure meets Mummy Returns but with slightly better direction.

The movie is set in 1957 and I guess it has that 1950's atmosphere, with the greasers and the girls with the big ribbons in their hair and the 50's pop music playing in the background. Heck, even the old Paramount logo was a nice touch to begin the movie. Shia LeBeouf is pretty laughable as a TOUGH GUY, though, because like 15 minutes into the movie, he rides in on a motorcycle dressed as a greaser (combing his hair and shit) and acting all tough and he has a knife in his pocket and he likes playing with his knife. But I couldn't take him seriously at all. I know Indy movies are not to be taken seriously but jesus christ.

Harrison Ford wasn't bad, I felt. He's lost some of his edge and charm as Indiana Jones and he's become too much of a softie now, it seems. But it didn't bother me that much. Bringing back Karen Allen was cool but she's lost plenty of her edge from Raiders too. And Cate Blanchett was cool but her character just felt totally underdeveloped and one-dimensional. OKAY SHE'S EVIL SOVIET BITCH, WE GET IT. And apparently she has an inkling of the Force or something because she is telepathic or something!

The unrealism in this film is startling. I know Indy films always had some unrealism going for it, such as the immortal knight and the ghosts in the Ark or whatever, but this was just ridiculous! ALIENS AND SPACESHIPS AND E.T. AND KILLER MONKEY, KILLER ANT, KILLER MAYAN, KILLER MONKEY-MAN WITH POISON DARTS, LET'S JUMP OFF WATERFALLS, LET'S DRIVE OFF CLIFFS AND LAND ON A TREE THAT DIPS US INTO THE WATER and apparently a magnetic material that is selectively magnetic and throwing a cloth over it would stop it from being magnetic. I don't know how to explain it! There are a lot of unnecessary parts, including some dumb FBI subplot that didn't make much sense at all in the plot, and a bunch of random action scenes in the first ten minutes of the movie.

The use of CGI in this movie is TERRIBLE. There's TOO MUCH OF IT. CGI everything! I think even Indy's whip was CGI! It just ruined the feel of the movie!

The ending of this movie is horrible and anti-climactic and just made no sense! It feels like George Lucas more than Steven Spielberg (and that isn't a good thing at all!).

All in all, it WAS a pretty enjoyable movie (except for the last 15 minutes because fucking George Lucas) because I chose to ignore a lot of the ridiculous shit that was going on while watching it so I wouldn't say it's so horrible that you should boycott it. If you're an Indiana Jones fan, just be cautious when you walk into this movie. It's a fun movie for the most but ruined by a bunch of unrealistic elements and ridiculous action scenes that will make you grind your teeth if you take them too seriously.

George Lucas also reported this in a recent Vanity Fair interview: "What it is that made it perfect was the fact that the MacGuffin I wanted to use and the idea that Harrison Ford would be 20 years older would fit. So that put it in the mid-50s, and the MacGuffin I was looking at was perfect for the mid-50s. I looked around and I said, Well, maybe we shouldn't do a 30s serial, because now were in the 50s. What is the same kind of cheesy-entertainment action movie, what was the secret B movie, of the 50s? So instead of doing a 30s Republic serial, were doing a B science-fiction movie from the 50s. The ones Im talking about are, like, "Creature from the Black Lagoon," "The Blob," and "The Thing." So by putting it in that context, it gave me a way of approaching the whole thing. "

Man he doesn't know what the hell he is talking about. Shut the fuck up!

I enjoyed the film.

As far as realism goes, I didn't find the Crystal Skulls to be anymore farfetched than the fucking Arc or Holy Grail.  While I was initially put off by the science fiction alien conspirist bullshit near the beginning, the fact is that it's all based on popular myth which is what Indiana Jones is at the very core; a pulp action movie with supernatural shit based on popular myths.  The Crystal Skulls and the alien myths surrounding them are pretty popular in pop culture (well, not so much as the holy grail or excalibur but they're well known) so the "surprise twist" wasn't at all that confounding.

Indy did lose a lot of his "fire" which could probably be attributed to the fact that both the character and the actor are 20 years older.  He was much more hamfisted than normal (this movie taught me that the best way to get out of a hostile situation is start punching random people) and he spoke in short blunt sentences but that didn't ruin the "spirit" of the film at all.  LeBouf wasn't bad and he does his best performances as a side character so I was never put off by him being there or being a greaser or whatever.

Everything felt pretty normal for an Indiana Jones movie; you've got crazy outlandish fight scenes (nothing will top the tank scene from Crusades in terms of OUTLANDISH), supernatural shit, tombs, traps, crazy natives, a fist fight with a bruiser that ends up with him dying a horrible death... it felt very "Indy" right down to the last bit.  The only thing that truly put me off was the two random tomb guardians...

there was only two of them.  Do these guys seriously sit around doing nothing and perform kung-fu on anyone that gets near the tomb?

So, what does the Crystal Skull do anyway?  Infinine ammo?  Double jump?  Bonus MP?

It's the skull of inter-dimensional creatures that taught the Mayans how to do shit.  They collected artifacts all around the world because knowledge to them was the greatest resource.  They were completely benign but lost their powers when some Conquistador stole one of the original skulls.  When you stare into it's eyes you see glimpses of all the knowledge in the universe (and the villain's head literally explodes from the knowledge).

I saw this yesterday and I really liked it.

It was very over the top and a bit corny but that should be expected considering how the previous movies were.  The only part I thought was much too silly was when Mutt was swinging with the monkeys.

I also didn't initially enjoy the Alien thing but I think it worked out alright in the end.

I thought Shia was cute as the greaser but I liked him better in the later parts of the movie when it wasn't rubbed in your face every two seconds.

Gah! FUCKIN' UFOS. WHAT THE FUCK.

Apart from that it was pretty entertaining. Really entertaining, but you had to not just suspend disbelief, but take it and throw it out the door. Can anyone explain to me what the strange creepy test NUCLEAR SUPER BLAST town had to do with anything (plus wow that was out of place)? Plus what was with "I like Ike?", 'cause he said that to Cate Blanchett (whose accent slipped dramatically in the first part), and then it was on said super bomb.

Enjoyable, but... yeah. Worth it!

Christoph:

the strange creepy test NUCLEAR SUPER BLAST town had to do with anything (plus wow that was out of place)? Plus what was with "I like Ike?", 'cause he said that to Cate Blanchett (whose accent slipped dramatically in the first part), and then it was on said super bomb.

"I like Ike" was an out of place reference to Dwight D. Eisenhower who was reelected as President for his second term one year before the movie's events and it could have been a reference to the Eisenhower Doctrine (which was signed in the same year as the movie) which stated America would help any country opposed to communism.  It was kind of a useless comment and it was also dumb how they briefly brought up a RED SCARE side-story and never did anything with it.

it's such a cool idea for a POPCORN MOVIE or whatever but they really just can't help but overdo pretty much everything.

I was having a conversation with my buddies on the ride home and we all agreed that George Lucas is batshit insane.  He wanted to do an Indy film with Aliens since 1987 but every script was rejected so he turned his focus on other things.  The guy is a completionist and doesn't feel right until everything he wants is accomplished.  Once digital editing and computer animation became popular he started masturbating to the idea of digitally editing EVERYTHING.

I mean, just look at the new releases of the original Star Wars.  Was there any point in making Han shoot first or having a Jawa getting thrown off that beast thing?