‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ made its daring debut at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday and had an enormous amount of success. Even though the public was bound to like the movie and come to see it, it was not sure the picky critics of the festival would like it. But they did. Not all of them, but the majority, and given the fact that this is actually a popcorn movie, the critics’ applauses, even if not as loud as the audience’s, are a good proof that the film is worth seeing.

When it comes to the true test the movie will face with Thursday’s release in the U.S., the producers can now relax. The crowds of fans that came to its first screening at Cannes, all trying to get inside the Grand Theatre Lumiere, or pushing each other to get a glimpse at the stars, point in the direction that the last of the four movies in the Indiana Jones saga is going to be an enormous box office success.

The movie begins with some Russian secret agents led by Colonel Professor Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) making their way in a secret American military base together with the kidnapped Indiana Jones in search of some remains from a plane crash. The remains are connected to a crystal skull that greatly interests Spalko, because she thinks it can provide knowledge about psychic warfare.

The scene closes with a nuclear explosion from which Indy escapes and from this moment on, until the final scenes the action loses momentum. Ford meets former sweetheart Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and they drive even the Russians mad with their warm arguing.

The ending of the movie comes with another burst of energy, as the secret of the crystal skull is unveiled and an explosion of fighting scenes leaves the spectators breathless.

Harrison Ford is great playing a 15 year older Indiana Jones, and does it so well, that nobody feels frustrated by the fact that the character is older and not so explosive as in the first movies. The hero’s nemesis in this movie, Colonel Professor Irina Spalko, gets wonderfully portrayed by newcomer to the franchise Cate Blanchett, even though the Australian actress uses a much too pronounced Russian accent, for which the star jokingly apologized to “the entire Russian populace” at a press conference cited by Reuters.

The only unconfident actor appears to be Shia LaBeaouf, whose rebel teenage character seems to give him difficulties, since this is not his usual movie appearance. On the other hand, the fans of the saga’s first movie, ‘Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ will be charmed by the comeback of Karen Allen as Marion.