7 Reasons Why Jon Kasdan Is Perfect For Indiana Jones 5

7. A More Youthful Approach

Even the most avid fans of the franchise have to admit; everyone was looking a bit long-in-the-tooth come Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

No one expected Ford to be able to step right back into the old fedora-and-whip combo and be the exact same Indy that he was in Last Crusade, back in 1989. But the movie did. Rather than craft a movie around Indy's age, Crystal Skull largely chose to simply ignore it, except for a few throwaway jokes. Thus, we get a film that sees Ford and Spielberg attempting to be the exact same people they were twenty years ago.

Unsurprisingly, the results were mixed at best. Ford's performance was solid but it was more than a bit ridiculous seeing old man Indy crashing into oncoming trucks like a wrecking ball. And Spielberg's direction was at its absolute laziest, lacking the distinct clarity he's always insisted on and resulting in muddled action sequences that do a whole lot of nothing for nobody.

Trying to force a sequel that felt like the prior films was a huge part of Crystal Skull's relative failure. With Kasdan coming onboard, he's fresh blood and he's got a more youthful approach than someone like Koepp does. He can see the franchise and its legacy in an entirely different way, and hopefully help usher it into a more graceful aging process. And that's a very good thing.