7 Reasons Why Jon Kasdan Is Perfect For Indiana Jones 5

A couple of days ago, Collider broke a huge news story revealing that Jon Kasdan was being brought onboard to write Indiana Jones 5.

This news was a bit shocking, considering that franchise veteran David Koepp had been attached to the film for years and it was set to go into production in early 2019. However, it has since been confirmed that the film's production and release will be pushed back substantially in order to accommodate for Kasdan's writing.

While the delay certainly isn't the most comforting news (Harrison Ford's time is precious and wasting it isn't the best idea), Kasdan's involvement is highly encouraging. Fresh off his job of writing for Solo: A Star Wars Story, Kasdan is stepping over to another huge Lucasfilm property.

Infamously, Indiana Jones' last adventure did not go so smoothly. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a box office hit but was a far cry from the quality of the original trilogy. Considering that The Last Crusade offered pretty much the perfect ending to the franchise, Crystal Skull kind of ruined that, leaving fans on a sour note.

So this fifth Indiana Jones film is everyone's final chance to give Indy the perfect ending and despite what some may think, Jon Kasdan is the perfect guy for the job.

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.