Review of High Road to China (1983) by Stuart M — 30 May 2015

An Indiana Jones knockoff starring Spielberg's original choice for Indy: Tom Selleck. Instead of an archaeologist and his tomboy girlfriend we've got an ex-flying ace and the woman who hired him to hunt down her father so she isn't disinherited. It's not... quite as good a combination. Tom Selleck though, is every bit the drunken charming rogue the film calls for. It's a shame he wasn't in more roles like this. The rest of the cast is alright, though it does have the most racist villains I've seen in a while, with Brian Blessed playing an Afghani warlord with the same level of subtlety as, well, Brian Blessed. It feels like his failed audition reel for Ming the Merciless.

The plot is solid enough, and based on the same '30s serials that Indy used for inspiration. It might not have very high stakes or the best villains but it has more flying scenes and some pretty scenery. And the action scenes aren't too bad, even if they don't compare well to Indy (what does?). There's a certain liveliness missing though and the film can never quite manage to elicit the thrills it's aiming at. Still, there's a reason these kinds of films were popular, and it does manage to pull off its adventure seeking better than any other Jones knockoffs I can think of short of The Mummy. So not a bad way to waste a couple hours.