Spoilers follow. Though I question your intelligence if you're still reading this thread at this point without seeing the film
Just got back. Well, I had fun. And I know this is going to be the most obvious comment imaginable from me, but I'm amazed that people who are so critical of the Star Wars prequels, particularly The Phantom Menace, are giving this one a free pass. While there's nothing that sticks out as badly (or for as long) as Jar Jar, there are enough many bad choices and cringe-inducing moments to make this just as uneven an enterprise. I mean, people want to point to one fart joke over and over again, and yet that shit with the prairie dogs ain't no thing? Even going so far as to pay homage to the shot from The Phantom Menace when the pods race by the exclaiming Jawa? Come on.
Also, Shia swinging on the vines? And on top of that, with a friendly tribe of monkeys? The endless pratfalls that cried out for a "BOING!" sound effect each time? Surviving an atomic bomb blast by hiding in a fucking REFRIGERATOR (which magically stays closed)?! Folks, I'm seeing a whole lot of hypocrisy here. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles had more dignity.
And while I'm sure Lucas is responsible for a good portion of some of this idiocy, the actual concept behind the film is one that I like. Much research has been done by archeologists on possible alien connections to ancient Central/South American civilizations, and I think it fits in perfectly with what Indy has encountered before.
Unfortunately, the climax is just a sad emulation of the one at the end of Raiders. Giant vortex opens, sucks all the bad guys into space, the power flows into the main baddie (Spalko=Belloq), and obliterates her after bestowing the ultimate knowledge. That's just lazy. And while I liked the idea of the temple collapsing into a spaceship that takes off, it certainly isn't anything we haven't already seen in The X-Files.
Which is part of the problem. Because of the 20 year wait between films, we've seen varying degrees of pale imitations like National Treasure, Tomb Raider, The Mummy, and we've just seen so much of this before. Secret codes, exotic locales, traps, stones moving into strange configurations, etc. While Spielberg handles this stuff better than anyone else can, for me it was unimpressive in the imagination department. While this didn't have the absolute lows that are found in each Star Wars prequel, its highs didn't even come close to wowing me like the podrace, the underwater city, the lightsabre fights, etc. It also doesn't help that the film's central setpiece, an ENDLESS car chase through the jungle, just seems interested in one-upping the one from Raiders. Jumping back and forth 15 times from truck to truck just doesn't do much for me, personally, even with a swordfight in the middle. And just when you think its over, it turns into an amusement park water ride, which strains even the most forgiving suspension of disbelief.
What worked for me were the moments of downtime, the fleshing out of Indy's world. The intro (up until the aforementioned fridge moment--couldn't he have hotwired one of those cars and driven out?), the classroom, talking with Broadbent, the diner with Mutt, the race through Cambridge, the train station, the trip on the plane, etc. The domestic stuff later in the film was a bit obvious with its generic squabbling, and Karen Allen returning is better on paper than as realized. Wasn't she pretty much driving that car/boat for the last hour of the film? They should have all paid a fare and tip at the end of that ride.
And LaBoof wasn't bad or inconsistent, in the way that Hayden Christiansen is in his Lucas collaborations. But he's a bit of a blank slate to me. There's no twinkle in his eye like Ford has at his best, or even River Phoenix had in the third film. I don't know exactly who out of today's crop I would have cast (James Franco?) , but imagine what a young Leonardo DiCaprio would have done with this thing. He would have played the greaser easily, has the underlying intelligence to be believable in contributing to the mystery, and would have been a lot more watchable. Is anyone really interested in a Shia-starring sequel with Ford in the Connery role? Not me.
Ultimately, I left the theatre on a happy note, as I loved that final moment with Ford taking the hat out of Shia's hands, and walking out defiantly into the arms of domesticity. It seemed the perfect chord to stike at what is hopefully the end of this series.