Is Indy 4 that bad?

I think that's the biggest problem I have with it.

First, let me say that I loved the film. I saw it several times in theaters and I still continue to watch it on DVD/blu-ray. It's an Indiana Jones film plain and simple. I'm not quite sure what the people who hated it were looking to get out of it in the end, but anyway, the reunion aspect - I feel that if there was a huge flaw in the film it was the ensemble cast. In the first two films, Indy was only accompanied by one or two other people and most of the action was handled by Indy himself (which you would expect, considering that he is the title character). Things started to change with Last Crusade with a larger cast, but it still worked. And then we get to Crystal Skull and all the sudden, we have all these characters following Indy around and they are all vying for attention and trying to take away their own piece of the action. This is really obvious during the big jungle chase in the second half of the film, where Indy is reduced to driving a truck and shouting random comments while the main action focuses on the other characters. It would have been nice to see him do something more meaningful during that sequence. It was a wasted opportunity in favor of the antics of Mutt and his Soviet-hating monkeys.

I guess it's a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things, but something that bothers me nevertheless.

It isn't bad. It works as a sort of epilogue to the series. I like it because of this. It doesn't call for any sequels, its done. Not many films do this. If they bring a license back up, they usually cash it out for as many sequels.

Yes, it really is that bad.

I partly agree; that's why the first half of the film feels more like an Indiana Jones movie (both the prologue and the peruvian sequence). I liked Mutt very much, and I felt that his relationship with Indy really worked well. The "problem" (I wouldn't call it a problem, I really enjoy the movie) comes when Marion, Oxley and Marc all join the action: the whole father-son dynamic is somewhat lost because there are so many characters, none of them as interesting as Mutt or Indy. Marion is OK, I guess, but Oxley's relatioship with Indy is never properly handled, and Marc is just too complicated to even care about.
The Jungle Chase is still fun, but the last quarter of the movie really suffers from the "ensemble cast".

I have to partly agree with this. I think the first third of the film is where the gold is at. Once they get to Peru I kind of get lost. I didn't like any of the jungle scenes really. I mean, they were fine, but they were more eyecandy to me than thrilling and they didn't have me "on the edge of my seat".

That's one of my fav. things about the movie, it really doesn't lead into "Mutt Jones" series younger generation spin off (which is reportedly why they're trying to make Ghostbusters 3). There is that shot of the hat where Mutt *almost* picks it up, and if this was a standard studio spin-off he totally would. But it's an Indy movie, there is only Indy, and it's his darn hat.

It's a fun, last hurrah for the characters and the main point is that Indy's family will continue and he's found one, compared to the isolated, only-caring-about-artifacts adventurer that kicked off in "Raiders". While I always had a feeling Indy 4 was going to happen, I really can't ever see Indy 5 happening, which would dilute the rather nice place the series ended at.

Although I totally agree, you could say the same think about the ending of Crusade: it's a perfect ending,with Indy refusing the treasure, reaching "enlightment", and riding off to the sunset with his father and friends. And it is the last of the adventures set in the 30s, so it may seem that having just one new movie set in the 50s might be superfluous.

But KOTCS also has a nice ending, that's true, and nicely closes of the saga... again.

In any case, Indiana Jones is not an unified Saga that requires and ending point, it's a series of independent movies, so there's always the possibility of making sequels, and it's find if we don't want to consider them as part of "our" series. That's the nice thing about it (as opposed to SW, where each episode is part of the bigger story).

However, I can't see Indy 5 happening, mainly because neither Spielber nor Lucas seems to have any real interest right now, and Harrison is reaching the age where it's just impossible to make one more. Although he seems to be willing to make more films (as his return to SW shows, and Han was a character that Ford was done with by the 80s.)