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But by that token, perhaps the adversaries who were the biggest threats were the Thuggies, because they were really nasty to our hero characters, despite having little potential effect on the outside world.
And I think the Nazis in Raiders were shown to be bigger baddies because they were prone to torture Marion Ravenwood. I guess, by extension, that reminded audiences of what butchers the Nazis were. And even though Stalin was arguably a bigger butcher than Hitler, the Nazis just have a much more horrible rep that --- yes, absolutely make them a better movie villain than the Ruskes.
But, being that they had to deal with Indy's age, I think they were wise to fast-forward to the Soviets ... and perhaps it would have been better to make them nastier ... but I think they played to their stereotypes just as "faithfully" as earlier Indy films played to Nazi stereotypes.
In any event, I think it's the threat of danger to the characters we like that makes a villain villainous ... and not so much the danger that group of villains poses to society at large.
I'll admit, Indy 4 comes in dead last by both standards.
But now at least we're getting at weaknesses that I think hold more water than whether the action was believeable.
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