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50 Flaws of Indy IV
Mystery Man on Film — ... 1) Indy – The problems begin with Indy. Manohla Dargis suggested in her review that the film was a half-hearted effort on the part of Spielberg because he seemed bored with the material. How does one get that impression from a film? I would submit to you that the entire project felt half-hearted simply because Indy was under-motivated. An Indiana Jones film does not hang its hat on the McGuffin but rather Indy’s motivation. The McGuffin doesn’t matter. What matters is how important that McGuffin is to ...

Strained nostalgia: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The Cinematic Art — ... brilliant The Temple of Doom . Even at it's best, Crystal Skull is tame in comparison to the audacious, and absurdly beautiful imagery of the first two films. The wonder of movement achieved by those films requires a filmmaker to operate completely outside a sense of higher purpose and a feeling of distanced affection for a lovable hero. While Spielberg still loves Indy, he is not willing to give him the kind of story that endeared him so greatly with viewers. As Manohla Dargis noted , Spielberg is not so much bored with this material, but he has clearly moved on from it. ...