It's Harrison Ford. It's Indiana Jones. It's Spielberg.

No matter how many critics can point out technical issues here and there, this movie still delivers in a major way. After a bit of a slow, campy, start to the film, it picks up and never lets go! You notice right off the bat that this movie really does look and feel like the original movies, both visually, and with the writing/acting.

Indy may be getting old, but after maybe the first 20-30 minutes or so, I didn't think of it once! It's almost like they knew you would have to get over the whole "old" thing, so they make it obvious, and then slowly fade it away. I think this is attributed with how spry Ford is in this movie. That guy keeps in shape! He can also still hold his own in a fist fight... the certainly looks like the Indy I remember!

Blanchett plays a great typical Indy-style communist foe, and the rest of the cast seemed to fit perfectly as well. The return of Marion from the first film is very welcome, and her bright eyes and smile help to lighten things up a bit. The biggest surprise to me was with Shia, who I normally am not a big fan of. I think he did an acceptable job, and after seeing a preview for what appears to be a serious thriller movie starring him, I'm interested to see how he matures through later roles. I think this movie was much more of a launching point for him than Transformers was, and I actually won't mind seeing him in later Indy films.

Indy 4 definitely has it's faults. The one that stood out most to me was the overall lack of fear or awe in the characters. I can understand this with Indy, but I was expecting more from his tagalongs. There are some pretty insane situations (OMG, THE ANTS!!!), and the rest of the crew react to them as if they happen every day. Obviously characters in these movies aren't suppose to cower in fear, but a little "Holy crap this ants are huge and are going to eat me" emotion on their face while they run away couldn't hurt.

I also can see how some people may be a bit put off by the over all plot of this movie relating some "not of this world beings". (And no, they're NOT aliens. Sometimes I wonder if critics even pay attention to the movies they're watching...) It definitely seems like a strange turn for an Indy movie, and definite 180 from the usual Biblical theme. But... well, it works! It's quite dazzling, and somehow believeable as long you have already bought into the Indian Jones franchise as being, well, unbelieveable!

All in all, I think that The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull well earns it's current 80%. That's a fair assesment. This movie isn't perfect, but I highly doubt you'll be thinking about the faults as you walk out of the theater. Perhaps you'll be thinking more along the lines of "So when is the next one coming out?"