The release of the latest Blu-ray boxset of the adventures of Dr. Jones, champion of many a childhood, regardless of gender or age, is upon us, so I thought I would tackle a touchy subject- a half-inevitable sequel to Crystal Skull. Now, I’m actually the last to support a fifth outing, but this article serves two purposes-
1. For me as a writer, to try and convince you and myself it might be worth doing,
and 2. To try and try and calm seething fan hatred.
Really, I don’t understand the intense negativity towards Crystal Skull. I actually thoroughly enjoyed it, even if it wasn’t a patch on the original trilogy- it was a worthy and welcome addition to the franchise. And hell, it was no ‘Star Wars prequels’. It was recently called the most disappointing film of all time, or something to that effect. Way too far.
So, read on and see if my argument can persuade you.
1. We Get To See More Indiana Jones, For Crying Out Loud!
Crystal Skull was a fun film- get over yourselves, it was just a big, fun film- sure, it was nowhere near as great as the original trilogy, but films like that, Cowboys and Aliens, The A-Team… they serve to entertain, they are not high art. I would be up for watching Indiana Jones 5 for a ‘rollercoaster ride’ (don’t you hate when film critics say that in reviews) to while away a few hours. I liked Indy escaping a nuclear blast in a fridge because it was ridiculous and implausible- it’s a movie! And even if it doesn’t feel as good to you as the first film, it will be better than any other summer entertainment released in the year it comes out. Nobody does it better than old Jonesy.
I remember just how excited I was for Crystal Skull, waiting months and months, and grinning ear to ear once I sat down in my local for the first time I watched it. The second we hear John Williams’ score, and saw the figure being thrown out of the car, and the silhouette dusting off his fedora… It was good old-fashioned movie magic. I want that again. I wasn’t bored or disappointed at any point, and on repeat viewings I still haven’t been. If a fifth film can capture that magic again, then I will be the last to criticise it. For me, it was worth the wait, and I’ll happily wait for another film if it is as entertaining as Crystal Skull.
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13 Comments
It’s apparent from all the double-dipping (Hobbit 2 & 3, Hunger Games 3 & 4, Twilight 4 & 5) people will pay dearly to see how a story ends.
Unfortunately moviegoers these days need lots of quick cuts and slo-mo, which are cheats. And as with some properties like X-men, they need to know the plot 2 years in advance, which is not how Indy rolls. Action/adventure fans don’t like surprises… who knew?
All the more need for another Indy film to surprise them and show them how it’s done?
I’d love another Indy film. But it needs to be about Indy & not Mutt. I liked Mutt in the movie but they could leave Mutt & wife at home this time.
What? The prequels are bad? Rotten tomatoes gives them all but TPM a freash rating. RotS kicked ass!
what about sacking off mutt and getting in nathan fillion etc to resurrect indy in the 30s & 40s… he would be great for it. mutt doesnt have the knowledge indy has, by a long way….
Indy 4 was a terrible idea, is a disaster of a movie and the fingerprints of George Lucas are all over it. The problem with the sycophantic reasoning behind people who defend these movies (Indy 4, Star Wars prequels) is that they are completely missing the point. The fact that the principle cast and filmakers were involved in the project which makes the appalling outcome all the worse. You would think George Lucas hadn’t even seen a Star Wars movie based on the outcome of the prequels, ditto Spielberg with Indiana Jones.
You people would watch Harrison Ford stare at a wall for two hours, so long as Lucas was producing and Spielberg was directing, and call it a masterpiece.
“It’s entertaining” (which it wasn’t) is not a good enough excuse for lowering the bar to such an degree an ant couldn’t crawl under it.
“Chuck in some comedy Russians and a legendary macguffin, and you have something that could actually trump Crystal Skull” – Have you even seen Raiders of the Lost Ark? Did you not hope that they could somehow return to form? Do you not realise that the series of movies have gotten progressively worse, from a starting point that is almost a perfect movie to what is basically a lame parody of itself, riffing off a ‘National Treasure’ franchise which is itself a lame parody of Indianan Jones.
And congratulations on being the only person on the planet who thought that nuking the fridge was a masterstroke, rather than burying their head in their hands and trying to forget that they actually just saw it with their own eyes.
What movie franchise do you prefer, Phil? Except for Toy Story, Lord of the Rings, Mad Max and Harry Potter, they’ve all logged worse installments than Indy 4, according to Rotten Tomatoes. Life must be trying from perpetual futile attempts to unsee things.
The nuked fridge was wonderful to finally see, having first appeared in the 1981 draft of Back to the Future.
Phil, you criticize Indy 4, (and the SW prequels), yet you never actually gave any argument as to why you don’t like them. Here, I’m going to explain why Indy 4 is a perfectly worthy addition to the Indy series.
Nuking The Fridge – The movie more or less begins here, and I think this is possibly the most criminally misunderstood scene in the whole film. The nuclear blast serves as a demonstration of man having achieved a certain level of “Godlike” power. In this sense, finding another power-filled religious artifact would almost seem mundane. We’ve harnessed the atom — the building block of (God’s) creation. We’ve superseded him. Ragging on the silly fridge survival tactic is an easy way of avoiding the fact that this scene establishes a completely new time in history. A time which Indy will have to adapt to.
The “aliens” – The time period of Crystal Skull happened to be around the time that UFO/Flying Saucer/etc. sightings got to be a big deal. Whereas the previous movies played against a backdrop of Nazi threat, and their real-world fascination with the occult, Crystal Skull takes a similar, yet updated tack of playing against the backdrop of Soviet threat, and their real-world fascination with supposed UFO technology. Perhaps the argument can be made that the Soviets depicted in the film (Spalko especially) were more caricature-esque than the Nazis were, but then the Nazis and Soviets were completely different in real life anyway.
Old Indiana – Many people found the idea of a 70-year old man fighting and gallivanting around like a younger man ridiculous. I found it satisfying. Indiana Jones wouldn’t suddenly give up simply because he’s older; Dr. Jones is a fighter. Always has been, always will be. He didn’t roll over for the Nazis, and he sure as hell isn’t going to roll over for the Soviets. Besides… he *did* take a drink from the Grail, so… I’m sure there’s a little more life in him than the average 70 year old. The idea that your hero needs to always be a young, ripped, ageless specimen is ridiculous. Capt. Kirk’s best moments came as he struggled to reconcile his advancing age with the ever-burning flame in his ever-expanding belly. Dr. Jones faces a similar challenge, and frankly, that makes for compelling storytelling.
Miscellaneous — While I’m generally not a fan of Shia LeBouf (which I have no idea how to spell), I found his performance in the movie to be surprisingly good. While I –ultimately– could have done without him, it’s interesting to watch Indy 3 and 4 back-to-back, and see Indy’s progression from an approval-seeking son, to a somewhat overbearing father. Also, Karen Allen was a joy to see. I wish she’d had a much bigger role in the movie… maybe next time? Mercifully, she looked her age, and was both beautiful and sensational in her role.
I’ll admit, there were low points, too. The soft-lighting was just awful. Indy 4 seemed less “real” than the others as a result. Mutt swinging in the trees was also awful, as was the generally poor CGI (outside Area 51 at sunset, especially).
But overall? Crystal Skull ranks right up there with Raiders, both of which pale somewhat in comparison to the Grail. Temple of Doom was a disaster.
I’d also tell you why the SW prequels were pretty damn awesome, but that’s another story…
I am all for a 5th Indiana Jones movie. In fact George Lucas or Steven Spielberg can contact me and I will help with the story; I have an idea. The argument since 2008 is getting old; yes, Crystal Skull was not up to the previous movies standards. However, it is still a good no-brainer entertainment wise. I put it in the same category as the Mummy franchise; ‘big dumb fun’. No movie is ever going to appease all fans. There will always be a 50/50 split. I must admit that when I first saw Crystal Skull in the cinema I was bitterly disappointed. I think primarily because my expectations were so high after the long wait. When I watched it the second time, I put the expectations aside, along with the possibility of absurdity and just enjoyed it for what it was, ‘big dumb fun’.
It saddens me that people are so willing to accept the notion of a fifth Indiana Jones film. The fourth film negated nearly everything that made the others so great. It wasn’t an Indiana Jones movie; it was a movie with Indiana Jones in it.
I mostly agree with the article. Indy4 is not as great as the original trilogy, but I do appreciate the effort to give it the same feel, most of the time. Attended the Indy marathon yesterday (all four movies in one shot) and came home saddened that “this is it”, that’s all we are ever going to get… In that perspective, Indy4 is better than no Indy at all, and the same goes for Indy5 which I still hope is not entirely ruled out yet..
Whoa whoa whoa. An uncynical author that likes Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Temple of Doom, Shia LaBeouf, Trasnformers (Well at least one of em), Tron: Legacy and had no issues with the Fridge Scene?! I applaud you sir for your level headed article that does not do what most every other website does and continunes to bash things that weren’t even bad to begin with. You have just gained a new reader. Bravo!
No that that’s out of the way, I totally agree with all of your reasons. I think it would be extremely interesting to see a Father and Son flick like The Last Crusade. Yea you could say we got that in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but there relationship wasn’t fully fleshed out yet. They had just met each other. It would a much more interesting, and fun, relationship in the next one.
Hopefully with Karen Allen’s resent comments we are getting extremely close to an Indy V.
I think that if they do a 5th, they should do it Temple of Doom Style–set it a few years BEFORE “‘Crystal Skull” where it would be a prequel. This will accomplish a couple of things:
It would allow Indy to fly solo without Mutt.
It would allow for a new love interest since Indy and Marion tied the knot in Skulls.
There is already a precedent for this in TOD since they set it chronologically before the events of Raiders.
Just a thought on settings–what about Australia or Pacific islands or even Easter Island? It could deal with Aboriginal mythology or maybe cargo cults or Maoi