GEORGE LUCAS - INDIANA JONES FACES CANNES CRITICS

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comes under the beady eye of film critics at the Cannes festival today.

Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas' creation would probably be more at home in a snake pit or running away from large boulders than waiting for the critics' verdict.

Later today, however, that is exactly what Spielberg will be doing as he attends the festival's first screening of the movie, the fourth in the series.

Spielberg is back in Cannes for the first time since 1986, when The Colour Purple received its out-of-competition premiere.

The fourth Indiana Jones film is set in the cold war and sees Harrison Ford, now 68, take on Russians in their bid to hunt down a mysterious relic – the Crystal Skull of Akator.

It is one of the most hyped-up movies of the summer and is expected to be a blockbuster hit regardless of the critics.

Despite that, reputations are there to be bruised and if previous hammerings films have taken at Cannes are anything to go by there is a real risk Indy IV may find itself in hot water.

Tom Hanks probably still shudders in his sleep when he remembers the less-than-welcome given to The Da Vinci Code two years ago. Ford will be hoping the same fate doesn't lie in wait for him.