Indy what have you done? (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Blu-ray))

Member Name: kellylouj

Product:	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Blu-ray)
Date:	15/11/08 (58 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well the theme tune?

Disadvantages: Use of old characters, lack of interesting storyline

After waiting 5 days for this to be delivered by Amazon it finally landed through our letterbox today.

My husband is a real fan of Indiana Jones and even put me through watching the previous 3 films before we received this one, just so we were familiar with the stories, not that I could ever forget.

We are taken to 1957 where Dr Henry "Indiana" Jones (Harrison Ford) has been captured by Colonel Doctor Irina Spalko (played by Cate Blanchett) and her convoy of Soviet agents who lead Indiana to Hanger 51 where in previous films we discovered is where the Government store remains previously found by Indiana Jones over the years.

Irina wants Indiana to locate something for her that is contained within the Hangar and it is here that Indiana realises that his partner Mac (played by Ray Winstone) is actually helping the soviet's in order to gain a large payout.
They leave with their wanted treasure and Indiana Jones manages to escape, how I wonder as Harrison Ford in his sixties is a lot less agile than in the earlier films as you would come to expect and this is clear as we watch him carry out many of his own stunts.

Indiana finds himself being investigatedby the FBI, due to Mac's ties with the Soviets and Indiana is therefore being tarred with the same brush, Indiana then discovers that his position as teacher at Marshall College has come to an abrupt end due to the investigation and finds himself onboard a train.

During the train ride a young boy by the name of "Mutt"Williams (played by Shia LaBeouf) stops him as the train is leaving the station by asking of his friend Oxley and of his disappearance after discovering a crystal skull in Peru and as Indiana becomes intriqued so do the Soviet Agents that are watching in on the conversation and a high action chase begins.

Oxley has left behind a coded message for Indiana to locate him and to rescue his long lost love Mary Williams and once they begin their search for Oxley and Mary this is where I began to lose interest and the film started to drag, my husband on the other hand was well and truly absorbed into the film and after watching it all the way through thinks it was a pretty good follow up.

Personally I think that the film should have been left as a threesome as there was no real need for a fourth Indiana Jones unless Lucas and Spielberg really needed some quick bucks!

The film in my personal opinion was not as action packed as the other Indiana Jones films but at the same time we are 19 years on and that means that Harrison Ford is now 19 years older than when he last played Indiana Jones and unfortunately it does show in this film.

Cate Blanchett takes on a good character in Irina and she plays her well, the character is intimidating and threatening and it is refreshing to have a female villian in the film too.

Overall Indiana Jones is clearly the eldest member of the cast and it shows and as for the introduction of Mutt Williams this was a little disappointing for me as he just didn't seem to settle into the role well enough and really didn't come across as an Indiana Jones character he was more of an outkast from the beginning right through to the end of the film.

For me this was a long awaited disappointment and as for the storyline this was shockingly uninteresting.

We purchased the 2 disc special on blu-ray so we got a whole disc of extras which includes and interview with the cast members and directors as well as how they shot some of the scenes which is always interesting to watch and we see how Harrison Ford gets straight back into costume and character after 19 years and in fact I found disc2 a lot more interesting than the feature film!

Summary: Indiana Fans will be disappointed.