I saw the midnight showing on last night and was utterly flabbergasted. From previous musings and rumors, this 4th installment would be to the franchise what Live Free and Die Harder was- older, more hyperbolic, but still true to the character of the previous films.
What can I say?
It felt like I had waited so long to watch this harbor seal of a franchise- full of fun and playful memories- be released back into the wild, only to to make it 50 yards from the coast before Speilberg/Lucas Killer Whales snatched, killed, then playfully volleying its dead corpse for the next two and a half hours. As you can imagine I sat, horrified and shocked, at my inability to stop it and simultaneously conceded that this was the nature of all things.

Shia LaBeouf, SWINGING WITH MONKEYS.

And how did Karen Allen get past security?

What about the Red Dawn-esque premise? Soviet break in to Area 51, um, ok. Fine.

The last hour felt like B-role footage to Speilberg's War of the Worlds.

Regardless, it seems like a zeitgeist that Indy has been forced to stray away from the spiritual and paranormal relics in search of UFOs. Is this the only mystery left that doesn't defy large scale disbelief? Who knows- all I know is that Indy 4 sucked and I will never add it to the trilogy collection.

>"And how did Karen Allen get past security?"

what the fuck is that suppose to mean? I thought she was great and looked beautiful AND looked her age, to boot -- so frustratingly rare today in this nervous, botoxed-to-the-max world.

She's not exactly known for her high-calibre acting achievements, and so as far as I'm concerned, she acquited herself perfectly well.

*sigh*

I honestly don't understand what people were expecting and why they are so down on this movie. I s'pose I need to stop defending it so (virtually) single-handedly...

You know exactly what it means. She hasn't been in a recognizable movie since 2000- and a small one in 'The Perfect Storm.'

She looks as though she's completely aware of the camera the entire movie and can't shake the excitement off, being on a real movie set for the first time in 8 years.