Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Nineteen years is a curiously long time to wait between sequels. It's essentially a generation gap, where characters can either pick up right where they left off or change dynamically into the older, wiser people their actors have become. Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones is somewhere in the middle. His hair has grayed considerably since the last Indiana Jones flick, Last Crusade, but his spirit and sense of adventure remain as bright as ever. Without these, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would almost certainly fall flat on its face.

This latest installment starts us off with Indy up to his old tricks - he's stuffed in a trunk with his sometimes-pal Mac (Ray Winstone) by some new adversaries - Russian communists. (It IS 1957, after all.) After he meets their leader, Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett - unlikable as ever) we learn, to some degree, of Indy's quest - he must track down the mysterious crystal skull to prevent it from reaching the wrong hands. But the limited capacity in which this is revealed, combined with the poor overall execution of the scene render it completely unnecessary.

Without spoiling too much, the crystal skull leads them into territory you wouldn't expect to find in Indy's world. The nature of the film's plot mirrors the nature of the film itself: people going in a direction that, perhaps, they shouldn't.

The rest of the film is what you'd expect, loaded with stunning visuals and starring a bigger cast than ever before. The feel of the filmmaking is still there, but the underlying spirit that carried the past films to success (even the mediocre Temple of Doom) is all but gone. Crystal Skull must instead rely on a CGI overdose and far too many cheap one-liners to get by, and it suffers as a result.

Seeing John Hurt reduced to mere code speech for much of the film kills a part of the soul inside, and Shia LeBoeuf still hasn't reached that point where I'll stop thinking of him as "annoying ex-Disney Channel star" and start considering him a serious actor. But fortunately, the movie's all about Ford - charismatic as ever and fit enough to make us think Spielberg and Lucas took 19 months off after Last Crusade, instead of 19 years. But while Ford's aged gracefully, he's the only one who has - and ultimately, that's not enough to save this one.

2.5 stars out of 4
6 out of 10

Blade Runner (1982)

If you can look past the über-cheesy production design of Blade Runner, you'll discover a film that transcends the typical dorkiness of science-fiction by establishing itself as a piece of art. Though Ridley Scott's futuristic vision doesn't quite matchup to that of his previous masterpiece, Alien, the rest of the movie is compelling enough to keep us interested, and then some. Though Harrison Ford received top billing as police specialist Rick Deckard, Rutger Hauer is the one to watch - truly a villain's villain as replicant Roy Batty. His performance here laid the groundwork for Nicholson's Joker and Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith, as well as countless other later villainous roles. The final battle between Roy and Deckard defines action cinema endings. It's what The Matrix wishes it could be - as reliant on action as on a hauntingly psychological dialogue between hero and villain. But then, Blade Runner is a film whose impact is not truly felt until the movie progresses - and once it hits, it hits hard.

3.5 stars out of 4
8/10