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04 / 06 / 2008
Review: Harrison Ford returns in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

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See the rest of the reviews here.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Cast: Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Ray Winstone, Cate Blanchett, John Hurt, Karen Allen, Jim Broadbent. Directed by Steven Spielberg, story by George Lucas. Story: Relic seeks relic. Running Time: 2hrs 4 minutes. UK Certificate 12A.

Hard to believe it's been 19 years since Indiana Jones tackled The Last Crusade and a slightly scary 27 years since Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now episode 4 is with us, it's like he's never been away.

It's interesting to see how movies have changed. You wouldn't normally be able to get away with such a daft plot and far-fetched stunts. Well, not without getting a National Treasure-style roasting from me, anyway. With Indy I can happily forgive it, because I was young when I watched the originals and such things didn't matter then. The second major change in movies in the past 20 years is that the music has really gone down the toilet lately. It's not like when I wurra lad, when all these wur fields. You only have to hear the classic Indy theme and the pulse starts racing - the same is true of Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters, Superman and any number of 80s blockbusters, but what do we get now? The current twinkie-du-jour from the charts glinting their teeth at us. Bring back the proper themes I say, and let Indy lead the way.

Harrison Ford is predictably looking a little wobbly around the edges in episode 4, and that's a good thing, because he's 65. His advanced years are wisely woven into the script, with the youthful void filled by Transformers star-of-the-future Shia LaBeouf (man, that's a hard word to spell). Cate Blanchett's versatility comes in handy as The Nasty One, while Ray Winstone, John Hurt and previous Indy romantic interest Karen Allen all chip in with perfectly adequate turns.

Great noise has been made about the effort taken to use real stunts as opposed to computer graphics, and we do appreciate proper old-school action, but the noise is largely propaganda. CGI abounds all over the place, no-one breaks into a run without some kind of effect tagging along - but Industrial Light & Magic have lived up to their name and made them seamless. You know they're effects because you wouldn't really drift a jeep's back wheels off the edge of a crumbling 1000-foot precipice, but it sure looks like that's what happening. It's a great example of using effects to increase the drama, rather than using them for their own sake.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a truly worthy fourth instalment to the Indy saga. If you've grown up a lot since the last one, you may find its implausibility wearing and unforgivable, but it's really no worse than any of the others. Treat it like a mindless fantasy jaunt and you won't find many better.

I enjoyed this film: 5/5

I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: 4/5 - the unapologetic ludicrousness will put off some.

Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: 4/5

To enjoy this film you should be: looking forward to it.