I think that had he been banned from touching this thing once the basic storyline (which i actually didn't have a problem with) it actually would have been a pretty good movie.
Spoilers ahead....
The things that really ruined it for me were things like the stupid hot rod race at the beginning... what was that? it served no purpose but to look cool. ok, that happens sometimes in adventure films, but usually the "looking cool" sequences at least involve key characters or have SOME sort of relation to the story at large. This HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING ELSE IN THE MOVIE. It was just there b/c Lucas likes hotrod racing.
The gophers.... Oh my gosh, what the heck?!? Once again, totally pointless & out of place in the context of the movie itself, & definately in the context of the series.
The way the gunpowder traveled in a perfectly level to the floor path that winded around the crates. This was just bizarre. The exact same thing could have been done in a much more beleiveable manner to the same (well, better) effect.
The very inconsistent magnetic attraction of said crate. It pulls some guys' guns, but not the guns on the backs of the guys carrying the crate??? This, again was not a bad idea, just executed poorly & sloppily.
THE MONKEY SWINGING MUTT! UGH!! that was pure Lucas garbage at its worst.
The monkeys themselves. Why did they need to be CGI? THEY DIDN'T. That little bit actually could have been ok if they used like monkeys for as much of the sequence as PETA would allow. & even the mutt swinging from the trees might've been ok if it were done with real stunt work, action set peices, etc like the stunts coreographed for the first three films.
Same goes for the sword fight. It was lame, but it didn't have to be. It could have been pretty cool & exciting if it wasn't blatantly blue screen CGI. Seriously, would the whole drug underneath the truck & crawling all over it, running from the boulder, fighting on the tank, fighting on the rope bridge, sequences have been half as exciting if they were'nt ACTUALLY happening, but filmed in a nice safe sound stage green screen & cgi'ed together?? NO. So why couldn't we get that kind of stuff in this one??
The wedding. Not terrible, just doesn't really fit the Jones character very well imo.
The crystal skull's power was never explained in a way that we really understood why anybody wanted it so bad. a small bit of dialogue could've easily fixed this & made the adventure resonate a little more.
I was a little disappointed that Marion & Indy's relationship felt flat & a bit forced. Not on the level of Anakin & Padme (thank goodness!!), but they just didn't have that great chemistry from Raiders. I wasn't surprised, as it's been a long time, but i was a little disappointed none the less.
The nuclear explosion fridge survival was just too over the top. I might have bought it if the fridge didn't go flying hundreds of feet through the air. Indy is escapist adventure & he survives things no man really should, but that one was a bit extreme even for him.
The death of Spalko. Felt very anticlimactic & uninspired. The commander guy's ant death was WAY cooler. Spalko was the big baddie & she should have had a gruesome, shocking death that we didn't see coming. Not the bland Raiders imitation we got.
CGI CGI CGI!!!!! ARRRGGHHH !!!! I remember Speilberg saying they were going to use lots of big action sets, on location shooting, stunt work, etc like the old films & that would have been GREAT. I don't hate CGI, i just hate its overuse & this was a major example of over use. It's also a perfect example for those of us who believe that CGI DOES make filmakers lazy & uncreative. Instead of doing the hard way of building big action sets, coordination dangerous stunts on location, & actually having to creativley solve the problems of bringing things that couldn't actually happen into realization on a live set, they just take the easy way out & use green screen & cgi. BLEH!!
All that being said, there were parts i liked. Harrison did a decent job over all. Not his strongest perfarmance by any means, but good enough.
To my surprise, i didn't hate Mutt. He made for a decent sidekick. Although, i absolutely do NOT want to see the series continue with him.
the cemetary exploration sequence was pretty awesome.
the parts of the jungle chase that weren't a blatant over the top cgi crapfest were pretty fun. the waterfall part wasn't bad either, though i think three times was a bit much. I guess they just had to out do TOD...
THE ANTS!! THAT was cool. got a little too cgi-ish in a couple of parts but over all they were great. The guy getting taken into the ant hill as they eat his face off was classic gruesome indy death scene.
The chase through the campus. Felt about on par with some of the chases in TLC. I enjoyed it.
The way Indy & Mutt initially get away from the KGB in the diner. Indy getting mutt to start a fight between the greasers & the jocks made me laugh. Classic Indy using his wits to get out of something on the fly.
The Akator sequences up until it turns into a CGI cartoon towards the end.
Over all, i thin there was a good film in there somewhere. Unfortunately, i think George's influence really killed it for me. Had they kept him away from it once the story was laid out & then had a gutsier editor who would stand his ground & cut out the crap like the gophers, it could have been pretty fun. As it is, the bad just outweighed the good too heavily for me to be able to really like it. Jones will stay just a trilogy for me....