Indiana Jones and the second-to-last Crusade?

I admit that I was scared; terrified actually that three of Hollywood's greatest legends – Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford – would somehow shatter that childhood swashbuckling image of Indy with one single hatchet job that was to be Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

However, with a welcome sigh of relief it can be said the film doesn't disappoint – flaws and all. Even at 65, when Ford bursts on to the screen fedora and feet first, when kidnapped by the Russians, he transports us right back to the days when he took on the Nazis in the Last Crusade two decades earlier.

It's 1957 now and the Russians, led by Stalin's head honcho Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), are after a top-secret container hidden away in a United States Government warehouse in Area 51, Roswell, New Mexico; without giving much away, UFO buffs and X-philes will quickly catch on its significance.

A thrilling chase sequence and a nuclear explosion later, Indiana somehow makes it back to his teaching job, only to be fired by the dean for cavorting around with the Russians during the US communist scare. Heading off to lick his wounds seems like the only option, but his journey is interrupted when a leather-clad biker, bearing a striking resemblance to Marlon Brando in The Wild One, drops by for Indy's help.

The said biker, aka Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), needs Indy to find family friend Professor Oxley (John Hurt) who disappeared in the jungles of Peru when hunting for the lost Crystal Skull of Akator. Oxley and Indy were old college buddies and with thugs closing in fast, our hero readily agrees to help Mutt.

Their search leads them to a small catacomb in Peru – a sequence that could've been lifted directly out of the Temple of Doom – where Indy and Mutt conveniently stumble upon the Crystal Skull. Typically, some poisonous-dart-yielding baddies come out to play but are soon thwarted by the good Dr Jones. Up to this point in the film, it seems the audience aren't the only ones coming to terms with a 65-year-old superhero, with Mutt himself saying: "You don't fight bad for an old man. What are you, 80?" But to give the filmmakers due credit, rather than ignoring the age factor, they make a big joke out of it; and all of us happen to laugh along.

Back in the jungles of Peru, Irina and her band of robotic henchmen have caught up in the chase and are holding Oxley and Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) hostage.

The latter just happens to be Mutt's mom and Indy's old flame (hint, hint).

The trade-off is for Indy to lead them to Akator and uncover the rest of the 12 crystal skulls, which would give its holder enough psychic power to control the world.

This is where the film's plot takes a dive.

All that mumbo jumbo about the crystal skulls coming from the "space within the space" takes us right into E.T. or even Close Encounters of the Third Kind territory. But all said and done, even though Crystal Skull is probably the weakest in the series, fans will certainly pay tribute to one of the most successful film superheroes ever created. And yes, we can certainly expect a follow-up to the film very soon.

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Stars Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen and Shia LeBeouf. Rated 13