Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99289 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-10-14
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, Dubbed, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 122 minutes

Customer Reviews

Great fun
I remember seeing the 1st Indiana Jones film and enjoying it, but I did not go and see the others, and I've thrown away any Indy cassettes I might have had. So in going to see this 4th film in the franchise my expectations were limited to good entertainment and a nice evening out - and that's exactly what this film delivered.
The film is a simple one about early cold-war Russians looking for mysterious artefacts that have something paranormal about them, and this includes anything extra-terrestrial. The story is complex enough to be difficult to summaries in a few lines, but a rather more mature Indy (naturally Harrison Ford playing Dr Jones) becomes quickly involved in finding and "returning" a crystal skull (something discovered by his old colleague Harold Oxley). He collects Mutt Williams played by Shia LeBeouf (who turns out to be his son) and an ex-girlfriend (mother of Mutt and future wife to Indy). This love element is Marion Ravenwood played by a nice homely looking Karen Allen. The baddy is a bit like an early James Bond nasty, sword toting Russian Irino Spalko played by Cate Blanchett (I certainly did not recognise her with the wig on).
Like many people I was not expecting too much, and Harrison Ford does not hide the fact that he has lots of grey hair, but he still manages to impress during the stunts. The story starts well, but I must admit that the aliens were a bit too normal looking (for extra-terrestrials that is) and just a bit over the top. However the action was really very compelling, and the CGI special effects really impressive (except for the flyover of the graveyard that looked a bit too much like a model).
I particularly liked the references to alien artefacts from Area 51, the "Reds under the bed" mentality of the cold war, and the totally fake town (including dummies) used to during early nuclear weapons tests in Nevada (and Indy surviving the test by hiding in a lead-lined (?) fridge and being blown out of the test site and presumably avoiding all the nuclear fall-out). And my wife hates snakes but she loved the snake scene where Indy showed that he is not just a 100% brainless super-hero and that he just did not like snakes.
So to summarise - Harrison Ford still manages to impress, the crystal skull and aliens are a bit too normal for today's audience and the story is generally a bit weak, the different characters are fine even if a bit over the top, as usual the baddies could not hit a brick wall at 3 feet, great action scenes, good fun and banter, great visual effects and sound track.
Overall this was a good fun movie and certainly worth seeing. Like other reviewers, I gave it 4-stars because the story was just a bit too weak. I probably would not buy the DVD, but with some luck I might get it given to me for Christmas.

Nobody does it better...
This beautifully woven blend of 50's America, UFO myths, adventure & philosophy was a ripping Indy Jones yarn & vintage Spielberg escapism. One of my favourite noughties fantasies.