Udvarnoky, I agree the first portion has lots of scenes that are great. You see the car go past the screen, "Hound Dog" playing, blue clear sky, nice scenery, it all seems so fun, but in reality something a bit more sisnister boiling underneath it all. And it really does feel as if it is 19 years (and it is) since the events of Last Crusade, and the loss of the grail and so on, and life has moved on.
I really liked Spalko's psychic part, why on Earth didn't they use it a bit more? Even a small scene of her head aching from sensing Akator was near or had been reached by Indy? The first half really does feel Indiana Jones. Not that I dislike the movie, I do like it, but the middle to end is obviously different.
Saying that, other parts of movie I like - the tent scene when Irina smirks when Indy questions the skulls origins, and when she whispers during the "staring at the skull" scene what her plans are.
I like the jungle chase, even the sword fight on the trucks, I think I know what the real "problem" is with that it though, not the CGI shrubbry (who cares about that), but the music John used. He states for Mutt's jungle segments he did a "Robin Hood/Swashbuckling young man" kind of theme, but I think it made the sword fight part seem more "Peter Pan" that it really is. If he had used a more tense, serious musical section, it'd have helped a lot more. Especially since Irina is said in her dossier to be very dangerous, and here she is in combat with a sword.
I don't mind the monkeys jumping on the Russian truck, they aren't specifically attacking Irina if you look, some are just sat on the back looking around in actual fact. The just copy Mutt (monkey see, monkey do) and land on the jeep. I don't like the Tarzan bit though.
I do like when the jeep Irina is in comes from the bushes and lands on Indy's car following the "whoa!" parts, that is amusing. I can imagine that in Indiana Jones, especially Last Crusade, along the lines of "Don't get any closer than that!", and TOD "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?".
I like the scene where the rooms rotating and you hear the skeletons wooshing by the screen as knowledge is shot in Spalko's eyes. Though I think during her pleas for the eyes to be covered near the end we should have had a quick close up of her eyes, and the alien beings. I also think the aliens eyes should have been a very dark colour as if they have no soul, just to make it a bit scarier.