Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2 Discs) (Blu-ray)

I've kept an open mind when I finally got round to seeing this. There were a lot of people that went into this with rose-tinted glasses, expecting this to be like "the good ol' days!".

But even with my mind open, there's no getting away from the fact that this is rubbish. Entertaining rubbish, but still rubbish.

What we have here is a film where action set pieces seem more important than story and development. For two hours, the exact same thing happens - the good guys have the Crystal Skull, then there's a chase. Now the bad guys have the Crystal Skull. Then there's another chase and now the good guys have the Crystal Skull again. Then there's yet another chase, and yet again, the bad guys have the Crystal Skull. And so on, and so on, and so on.

The plot (such as it is) makes very little sense. It's full of so many plot holes that one wonders how this ever got past the writing stage. Most of the characters have next to nothing to do and seem to have no reason for being here.

Whilst it good to see Karen Allen back from "Raiders Of The Lost Ark", there's very little for her to do. Shia LaBeouf is good and watch able, but he doesn't need to be there. The film could easily survive without them. And the less said about the God-awful Ray Winston the better. The man has all the acting range of a soft boiled egg.

His performance here is so bad that even his Cockney accent sounds fake - and that's saying something!

There are really only two things this film has going for it - Harrison Ford and the excellent and very sexy Cate Blanchett. So sexy is this character (and indeed the actress playing her) that I wanted to see more of her than the other characters.

On the whole, this is a film for the MTV generation. Loads of special effects that will no doubt keep the teens with low concentration levels happy, and little else.

On the plus side, both the picture and sound are totally amazing and they are really the only reasons for getting this. It's so good, I was more interested in the stunning HD picture then in the film itself. Good for the HD transfer, bad for the film!

The Bluray disc itself is OK, but average. All the special features are presented in HD, but are a little on the lacklustre side.

The problem with so many special features now is that we've seen them all before and offer nothing new. If you like watching documentaries where members of the cast and crew pat each other on the back and tell us how wonderful it was working together, then you should be in your element here. All the "special" features here are the same as you get on countless other DVD's. Who doesn't know how special effect and CGI are done nowadays? It's just the same old stuff!

As an overall package, this is so-so stuff. Would I watch it again? Maybe. But I'm not going to hurry. My advise, wait until you see it in a sale. You'll thank me for it!

Film: 2/5
Picture: 5/5
Sound: 4/5
Extras: 3/5
Overall: 2.5/5

After seeing this travesty, it is understandable why this lingered in development hell for over a decade. The storyline is weak and has been padded with unnecessary characters and set pieces (a number of which have been stolen wholesale from Steven Sommer's Mummy films).

You get the impression that many of the cast signed on simply because of the director and have found themselves stuck with little to do (particularly Ray Winstone & John Hurt).

By far Spielberg's worst film, a shame considering all of the talent involved. Anyone with any expectations based upon the previous films should rent before buying or avoid completely.

I wanted to like this film, I really did, but there were just parts of it that got too far under my skin. What was Shia Lebouf doing in this? Has nobody realised he has played the same character for three different films now? He seems so out of place in this film it is uncomfortable, especially when he learns to swing like a monkey through the trees in less then a minute. As for Harrison Ford, he is too old and it shows, can he act, yes. Can he do action? Not like he used to. There are also some scenes that just give off that cheesy odour you can't shake, the previously mentioned Monkey scene, the sword fight, and yes.... the ending. The best Indiana Jones films have been done, this feels like a spin off they got a cheaper director to make.

Being the first Indy film in nearly 20 years, Kindgdom of the Crystal Skull should have been good and thankfully it was good, but to be honest I thought it was the weakest film of the series.

Having said that though given the high standard of the previous Indy movies, Crystal Skull still has a lot going for it. The action is still alot of fun to watch, and the film gets off to a great start. Harrison Ford slides effortlessly with ease back into his classic role (and provided him with his most fun performance in years!) the supporting cast are all good too, Shia Le Beouf (if that's his name), Cate Blanchett (looking good with that dark wig on!) and Karen Allen (although she is underused in the film) all provide plenty of entertainment.

However the film's plot really isn't that interesting and the film suffers from a really dull climax, in fact it leaves you confused as to what was going on really!

Apart from that though, the latest Indy film is mainly good fun. And this is a really top notch Blu-ray release, as the video and audio both are great (the extras are good too). At any rate this is one worth buying.

The film may not be the best indiana jones film but and its a big but its a highly enjoyable film and possibly the best blue ray i own. Picture quality 5 stars