An impressive cast, but a tired old formula
On their travels, Jones and Williams form a partnership that holds up well. The pair aren't anywhere near as entertaining as Connery and Ford in the Last Crusade, but LaBeouf convinces as a young adventurer and Ford, despite his age, has no trouble in donning his hat and picking up where he left off 19 years ago.
Despite a convincing lead partnership, Jones and Williams are surrounded by a selection of unconvincing characters. George "Mac" McHale, Jones' friend-turned-foe-turned-friend-turned-foe (yes, really), played by Ray Winstone, provides little other than an irritating on-screen presence.
Jones' long-lost love interest, Marion Ravenwood, is a welcome return following her outing in Raiders, but her attempts at humour barely raise a smile. Colonel Spalko, however, played by a sexy-looking Cate Blanchett, complete with over-the-top Russian accent, manages to impress with her desire to rule the world with knowledge as her weapon.
Though the cast gels together reasonably well, they severely lack the humour present in all three prequels. Sat in an almost-full theatre, I barely heard a chuckle throughout the entire movie.
The biggest problem, sadly, isn't the cast. Ford is still more than capable, but a tired old Indiana Jones formula doesn't impress in the way it did some twenty years ago. We've all seen skeletons in web-covered caves, we've seen the mysterious carvings and we've done it all before. This outing needed to provide more, much more, but Spielberg and Lucas have instead opted to stick with the tried and trusted.
