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We take a look at the legacy of the world's most famous adventurer as Steven Spielbergs' production rolls on the fourth film in the trilogy - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The brand new film poster for Indy IV: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Click here to watch the new trailer for Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The fourth – and probably final – installment of the Indiana Jones film series from director Steven Speilberg (Jaws, War of the Worlds, Saving Private Ryan, Raiders of The Lost Ark, Close Encounters of The Third Kind, ET. the Extra Terrestrial, Schindlers' List, Jurrasic Park, The Lost World etc...): Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, is released worldwide.

Click here to watch a cast featurette for the new Indiana Jones film - featuring Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas.

The new Indiana Jones movie is set after the events of the previous three films and some time has passed since the last in sequence (The Last Crusade), though less time than has passed for the actors and crew than between the making of that film and the start of shooting on this one...

The newest Indiana Jones picture stars Shia La Beouf, Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), John Hurt (Alien, Hellboy), Ray Winstone and Jim Broadbent (Bullets Over Broadway, Life Is Sweet) alongside Harrison Ford (Presumed Innocent, the 1970s/80s 'original' Star Wars trilogy, K19: The Widowmaker, Blade Runner)– once again stepping into his crumpled ‘adventurer’ clothes and fedora hat.

Karen Allen (The Perfect Storm, In The Bedroom) - pictured below, with Steven Speilberg - is also back in the mix, once again playing the character she created in the original feature back in 1979: Marion Ravenwood.

Beginning in the desert of the Southwest in 1957 – at the height of the Cold War. Indy and his sidekick Mac (Ray Winstone) have barely escaped a close scrape with nefarious Soviet agents on a remote airfield. Now, Professor Jones has returned home to Marshall College – only to find things have gone from bad to worse. His close friend and Dean of the college (Jim Broadbent) explains that Indy’s recent activities have made him the object of suspicion, and that the government has put pressure on the university to fire him. On his way out of town, Indiana meets rebellious young Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), who carries both a grudge and a proposition for the adventurous archaeologist: If he’ll help Mutt on a mission with deeply personal stakes, Indy could very well make one of the most spectacular archaeological finds in history – the Crystal Skull of Akator, a legendary object of fascination, superstition and fear.

Click here to watch a filmmakers featurette for the new Indiana Jones film.

Pictured (right): Harrison Ford in his famous ‘Indiana Jones’ costume, snapped on-set while shooting the first reels for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - by director Steven Speilberg himself.

Taking inspiration from the ‘Saturday morning’ high adventure serials of the 1930s and 1940s – in the same way that George Lucas’ Star Wars films had been inspired by the Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers serials of the same era – the original Raiders of The Lost Ark set the tone not just for the rest of the trilogy but for numerous future films and other media in the ‘adventure’ genre.

It could be argued that everything from Eidos games’ heroine Lara Croft – and the Angelina Jolie starring Tomb Raider features they spawned - to films such as The Mummy/The Mummy Returns and television shows like Tales of the Gold Monkey would have emerged as very different beasts (or not appeared at all) were it not for the ‘Raiders films’ success.

Fictional Inspiration

Part H. Rider Haggards' ‘Alain Quartermain’, part ‘Captain’ W.E. Johns’ ‘Biggles’ the Indiana Jones films plunge the viewer into a globe-trotting adventure that’s on one side pure ‘Golden Age’ comic book pulp (an escape from a maze of traps leads to another from a crowd of spear-carrying natives which leads to a rapid retreat by handy biplane) and at other times verging on horror (the ‘Thugee’ sacrifice is lowered slowly over a pit of lava, before having his heart torn out by the evil high priest) to the purely fantastical (the Ark of the Covenant is opened, unleashing the best ‘avenging wraiths’ contemporary special effects could produce before lightning bolts smite the evil Nazis).

Above all the Indiana Jones films introduced a whole generation of cinema-goers to an updated version of the sort of adventure yarns their parents’ generation may have enjoyed in their own youth and set the benchmark for a genre of pseudo-historical fantasy adventure that could appeal to adults and children alike.

The director has promised to stay true to the look of the original trilogy - favouring 'physical' and some special effects rather than get too carried away by the current trend for massed computer-generated shots. Time will tell just how closely the fourth feature resembles the first three but one thing seems certain: Doctor Jones is back. Whip crack away!

Comic Book Indy

Dark Horse Comics in the US has acquired the comic book rights to the new film and will be releasing an adaptation simultaneously with the feature films' launch - followed by an all-new Indiana Jones comic series in 2008. Before the film is actually out - February 2008 - Dark Horse Comics will publish the first of two Indiana Jones Omnibuses collecting Dark Horse's previous graphic entries in the Indiana Jones saga. April will also see the same publishers release volume one of Indiana Jones Adventures - a digest-sized graphic novel designed for the enjoyment of young readers as well as adults. The Indiana Jones Adventures volumes and the Indiana Jones Omnibuses will continue on a quarterly basis - including omnibuse editions made up of material from the original Marvel run of Indiana Jones comics.

Here's what the critics are making of the new film:

"Even with the ponderous dialogue, there is considerable fun, and it's good to see that Indy, though slightly weary, still has the goods." - Claudia Puig (USA Today).

"There's joy and a middle-aged playfulness to the best of Steven Spielberg's unlikely sequel. And I mean that as a full compliment." - Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly magazine).

"It's not that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, exhumed after 19 years to be the fourth in this series, is bad, exactly. But it's undeniably creaky...What made the Indiana Jones series so fresh and amusing back in the 80s was its lightness of touch and its tongue-in-cheek, 'ripping yarns' spirit. That hasn’t quite disappeared, but there’s an awful lot of long-winded explanations of myths, legend and hieroglyphics in this story about Indy’s mission to Peru for a crystal skull that’s allegedly the fount of all knowledge." - David Gritten (www.telegraph.co.uk).

"A rollicking class reunion that stands as the second best entry in the venerable series." - Ty Burr (The Boston Globe).

"While there's fun to be had at this new film, there were moments when I thought, like some of Indy's archaeological finds, it probably should have remained as a museum piece." - Baz Bamigboye (Daily Mail newspaper.)

Last time on 'the adventures of Indiana Jones...'

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Starring Harrison Ford (Apocalypse Now, Blade Runner, the original Star Wars trilogy, Air Force One), Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies (Peter Jackson’s The Lord of The Rings trilogy, TV’s Sliders), Denholm Elliott (A Room With A View, A Passage To India), and Alfred Molina (American Friends, Spider-Man 2).

The original Indiana Jones movie famously dropped its’ star into the heart of an international Nazi conspiracy to seize the Biblical Arc of the Covenant – as well as into a pit of snakes and a horde of tribesmen. Typically ‘pulp’ serial stuff this is two-fisted swashbuckling action all the way, with all the spectacle of submarines, bad guy Nazi scientists and plenty Harrison Ford getting stuck in with plenty of the fedora true grit we were going to get to know and love in the coming films.

“Classic action set pieces, Harrison Ford at his swashbuckling best, Old Testament spirituality, and a satiric jab at Nazi anti-Semitism.” - Steven D. Greydanus (Decent Films Guide)

Iconic Moments?

The giant boulder chasing ‘Indy’ down through the tunnels in the films’ opening sequence*.

The extended ‘truck fight’ scene – as Indiana Jones is variously dragged along behind a moving truck, clings to the underside, fights the occupants (at one point being smashed out though the windscreen and ending up perilously hanging onto the hood ornament while the vehicle is still in motion).

The melting Nazi cadre after the Arc of the Covenant is opened at the film’s climax.

Karen Allen pictured on the set of Indiana Jones IV below left, with Director Steven Speilberg.

“The stunts are incredible and the effects astonishing, but it's Harrison Ford's effortlessly charming performance as the original tomb raider that makes his globetrotting quest for the Ark of the Covenant so appealing.” - Neil Smith (BBC). Read the full review here.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom* (1984)

Starring Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw – the future Mrs Stephen Spielberg - Ke Huy Quan and Amrish Puri and featuring a script based on a story by none other than Star Wars supreme George Lucas.

Prequel to the first Indiana Jones film Temple of Doom finds the hero in the fedora bull-whipping his way from one side of the globe to another, facing a terrifying human sacrificing ‘Thugee’ cult that’s using child slaves in their fiendish mine workings and holds the secret of seemingly magical glowing stones too dangerous to be left in their hands.

“Set years before the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is sillier, darkly violent and a bit dumbed down, but still great fun.” - Colin Covert (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

“So gruesome was one scene of ritual sacrifice that it necessitated the creation of a new rating - PG-13 - in the United States. Perhaps more unsettling, however, is the film's patronising depiction of Indians as either brainwashed religious maniacs or helpless peasants in need of a white messiah...Thankfully, there's plenty of rip-roaring action to distract us from the more unpalatable elements...” - Neil Smith (BBC). Read the full review here.

Iconic Moments?

The opening sequence featuring a lavish song and dance number (Anything Goes sung in Cantonese) straight out of the golden age of Hollywood stage-musicals-on-screen, leading straight onto a ‘tommy-gun’ and Willy’s Sedan car chase through the streets of Shanghai in fine gangster movie tradition.

The feast at the local rulers’ palace featuring course of chilled monkey brains and roast giant snake – cut open to reveal many more smaller – and this time live – snakes. Yum!

The rope bridge escape from the Temple itself – as Indiana finds himself stuck between two groups of cultists mid bridge across a vast chasm he raises his machette and starts to chop through the vines...*

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade* (1989)

Starring Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott, John Rhys-Davies, Alison Doody, Julian Glover and River Phoenix.

Indy (‘Junior’) and his estranged archaeologist father work together to hunt for the Holy Grail – and our heroes find themselves in a race against time with Nazi scientists to discover the secret first.

“The return of Brody (Elliott) and Sallah (Rhys-Davies) to the fold makes this even more of a family affair, but it's the inspired casting of Sean Connery as Indy's crotchety father that makes the third Indy movie such a rich and rewarding experience.” - Neil Smith (BBC). Read the full review here.

“Sean Connery as Indy's father is a perfect foil. The chemistry between the two men is magical; they make a great comedy team. - Jeffrey M. Anderson (Combustible Celluloid)

Iconic Moments?

River Phoenix gives us a glimpse of the young Indiana Jones as we see a ‘flashback’ to Indy’s Boy Scout early adventures – briefly glimpse the apparent ‘inspiration’ for the Indiana Jones ‘look’.

Sean Connery and Harrison Fords’ characters’ chairs get tied together back to back, locked up in a burning room in a castle full of Nazis. If this really had been a Saturday morning adventure serial this would have been a text book ‘cliff hanger’.

After an arduous search Jones junior. finds himself finally holding his fathers’ ‘Grail Diary’ in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time: in the middle of a Nazi party ‘book burning’ rally in Berlin. Disguised as a German army officer he finds himself swept along by the crowds and the book plucked from his hands. Looking on in horror he expects to lose the Grail secrets contained in the volume for ever – but it is instead returned to him, complete with and autograph from The Fuhrer himself: Adolf Hitler (played by Grange Hill's Mr Bronson.

With the fabled cup of Christ just within reach Indy's father chooses his son over the treasure - wrapping up the storyline of Indiana and his Dad started at the beginning of the film with the River Pheonix flashback over his feelings of his father being more concerened over the Grail quest than his son. Ahh...*

For more information the following links may be useful:

www.indianajones.com – official website featuring clips of Steven Spielberg and his crew starting production of Indiana Jones IV

www.theraider.net – fan website about everything Indiana Jones related.

See also on Lifestyle:

Tomb Raiding Tomes - Whip-cracking hero Indiana Jones returns in two volumes of long out-of-print graphic novel adventures, from Dark Horse comics.

A Legend Begins - Back of beyond high adventures abound as George Lucas debuts the first two volumes of the Emmy-Award Winning Young Indianna Jones television series on DVD.

Eighth Wonder - Lord of The Rings director Peter Jackson's take on King Kong gets a DVD release.

To get yourself Crystal Skull 'widget' which can be embedded on your website or your social networking page - which hosts video, photos and includes a ticker counting down to the day of release! - click here.

The new film itself - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - is at cinemas everywhere now (Cert. 12A). *Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom and Last Crusade are available individually for the first time on Special Edition DVD and as part of a full trilogy box-set now.

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