Far Behind "Raiders" and "Temple of Doom"

Rating: 6/10 (4 September 2008)

This third installment of the Indiana Jones saga has never done it for me, though I have to say it looks like a masterpiece compared to "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
There just aren't the fabulous set pieces in this one to distinguish it from the others, and the ending veers too far into hocus-pocus supernatural terrain for my taste.
I know I'm supposed to be tickled to death by Sean Connery's fussy curmudgeon, but I just found him to be tedious instead. I do, however, like the opening scene, that shows River Phoenix playing a young Indiana Jones at the beginning of his adventurous career.
Grade: B-