were the bad guys not menacing enough?

well, it is obvious the russian girl is wearing a wig
also, when she tries to read his mind and fails

They were toothless villians. The CGI didn't help.

I didn't like that the tone had to be shifted towards being less dark, violent and menacing from previous films to accommodate Indy's age and the more light-hearted and humorous dynamic between him and his companions. I haven't seen the latest film but I can only imagine that this is just as bad if not worse.

As a result you have less intimidating bad guys seen having fun with college kids on the road, dancing and partying with their captors, rolling their eyes at Indy and Marion having an argument etc. They were safe and weak and I never felt like Indy or any of his group were in any danger from them. Compare to the original and the bad guy characters were memorable and threatening; Toht wanted to torture Marian with a hot poker in her eye. You had bad guys further down the ranks like the Nazi soldier on the truck and the big bald Nazi who inflicted real damage on Indy. They alone were more formidable foes than the entire Russian army seen in this one.

Come to think of it, how does Indiana Jones in his prime get more injured than the elderly version seen here?

I think it was a waste of Cate Blanchett’s talent who is a really good actress.

Yep. Probably the main problem with movie. Things like nuking the fridge and swinging with monkeys are just dumb scenes you can ignore. But the over all tone of the film was just wrong. There was never any real threat or urgency. The plot of the movie is murky as hell too. We never have a clearly defined quest that we're embarking on. There's no sense of purpose to the movie. The motivations aren't defined. And all that boils down the villains as well. I've seen this movie dozens of times and I still don't know what Cate Blanchett wanted in the end. I'm not even clear what the stakes were if the Russians won in the end. The first three movies all have very clearly defined worst case scenarios if Indy can't save the day. The whole thing was goofy and half baked.