Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

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Year:	2008
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	Steven Spielberg
Genre:	Indy Vs. The Aliens
Starring:	Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent
Rating:	3/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882/
Tagline:	The adventure continues . . .
Favourite line:	"You want to be a good archaeologist...you've got to get out of the library!"

After an absence from the screen of nearly two decades it was inevitable that the Hollywood hype machine would be in full swing for the return of the iconic character, Indiana Jones.
With rumours abounding about behind the scenes squabbling, script writes, rewrites, more rewrites and also, allegedly, a marvellous script from Frank Darabont (writer of The Blob, The Fly II, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and a little known movie called The Shawshank Redemption) being given the heave-ho by George Lucas despite Steven Spielberg's protestations, could the re-emergence of everybody's favourite whip-cracking archeologist live up to expectations?
Well, no.
Sorry to be so blunt, but there it is.
The movie starts off well, with the requisite opening action sequence and an intriguing enough premise involving the Russian military desperate to get their communist mitts on the crystal skulls, artefacts said to possess extraordinary powers. Dr. Jones is reluctantly called into the fray and it isn't too long before we are globe-trotting once more, unearthing mysterious objects and bumping into old friends and foes alike including Karen Allen, reprising her role as Marion Ravenwood from the first movie.
Unfortunately, it is at roughly the point she reappears that the movie starts to fall apart, though it is nothing to do with her presence.
Shia The Beef accompanies Jones throughout the adventure, a rather irritating presence and, coincidentally, most of the movies flaws seem to revolve around the scenes he is involved in, though I think this is mere coincidence and not the 'actors' doing alone.
Set-pieces feel artificial, CGI overload becomes a frequent hazard meaning the overall ambience is different to the preceeding three movies (CGI wasn't around then, kids. I know, would you believe it? How the fuck did we cope?) and, in one moment of abject madness we see The Beef swinging through the jungle like freakin' Tarzan in a painfully embarrassing sequence.
It's a real shame as, essentially, the ingredients were in place for a great slice of family friendly action fodder but, from roughly the half way point, things simply disintegrate.
Additionally, there are sequences in the movie which are just crushingly dull, particularly the expositional moments which are handled appallingly.
Disappointing then, but still with enough about it to make it worth a watch, though how many repeat viewings it can sustain, only time will tell.
And those dullards bleating about the inclusion of aliens really need to Shut. The. Fuck. Up.