Indiana Jones 5. It's official.

[davejames]

I think the biggest question is can they actually come up with another good relic/maguffin for Indy to find? The two that always seem to come up the most are Atlantis and Noah's Ark, but frankly they've always sounded pretty lame to me. And they also seem to be lacking the kind of real religious power and significance that the Ark of the Covenant and Holy Grail both had (or heck, even the Sankara Stones with their mysterious dark power).

Or who knows, maybe the best approach is to do what TOD did, and have Indy basically get sucked into an adventure by accident, where he has to rescue a bunch of people or something and the relic is almost incidental to the story.

 

[Kor]

Anyone who thinks they'll do away with the character and calling the films anything but 'Indiana Jones and the Mcguffin of Something' has no conception of the difference that would make to the box-office.

Disney kept Star Wars in the title of last years movie, and that did quite well...

Spielberg has always called them 'the Raiders movies' instead of 'the Indiana Jones movies.'

So maybe going forward, they should all be called 'Raiders of the McGuffin of Something,' and feature completely different characters in vaguely thematically similar settings and adventures... kind of like all the "Airport" disaster films from the '70s.

Kor

 

[davejames]

Harrison has always had an old man's run. Seriously, even in Raiders he has this odd sort of long stride that keeps his body level at all times. His run doesn't jostle his body.

Haha, that's very true. He might run a little slower now, but the actual manner and gait in which he does it hasn't changed much at all.

Although he has always over-exaggerated his movements in action scenes, and tried to appear a bit more clumsy and uncoordinated than he probably really is. So the style of running could just be another example of that.

 

[Arrrrgggh]

I think the biggest question is can they actually come up with another good relic/maguffin for Indy to find? The two that always seem to come up the most are Atlantis and Noah's Ark, but frankly they've always sounded pretty lame to me. And they also seem to be lacking the kind of real religious power and significance that the Ark of the Covenant and Holy Grail both had (or heck, even the Sankara Stones with their mysterious dark power).

Or who knows, maybe the best approach is to do what TOD did, and have Indy basically get sucked into an adventure by accident, where he has to rescue a bunch of people or something and the relic is almost incidental to the story.

Excalibur, the Spear of Destiny or any/all of the other Arma Christi, the Ghent Altarpiece, Aladdin's Lamp, Durandal, the Philosopher's Stone, the Golden Fleece, the Fountain of Youth, Pandora's Box, the Seal of Solomon, Mjolnir... there's tons of things.

 

[Timby]

But I'd have thought that if you break a leg in your 70s, it is bound to have some medium to long term effects.

A few years ago, my grandfather-in-law broke his hip after he fell while playing tag with my niece.

He's 94 now and still playing tag with her.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Mjolnir

He could find Mjolnir and turn into Chris Hemsworth!

 

[tomalak301]

Considering what just happened with Star Wars, I guess this was inevitable. Not sure if I'm excited about it though.

 

[davejames]

Excalibur, the Spear of Destiny or any/all of the other Arma Christi, the Ghent Altarpiece, Aladdin's Lamp, Durandal, the Philosopher's Stone, the Golden Fleece, the Fountain of Youth, Pandora's Box, the Seal of Solomon, Mjolnir... there's tons of things.

Well any of those would definitely be better than a Crystal Skull, but they still feel to me more like interesting or obscure curiosities from myth than objects that have a real historical power and weight to them like an Ark and Holy Grail, that you'd imagine people willing to kill for and send an army of soldiers to go find.

 

[Arrrrgggh]

You realize Hitler himself was after a few of those, right? And most of them are every bit as historically "powerful and weighty" (whatever that actually means) as the Ark. You know, that object most people never even heard of before Raiders.

And I'm sure absolutely no one has ever heard of Excalibur or the Fountain of Youth. Doesn't get more obscure than that, amirite? o.O

 

[Gaith]

At the risk of ripping off an idea from The Last Crusade, how about: the opening sequence features a new, recast young Indy. He has a thrilling adventure scene, but then is about to be captured - how will he possibly escape?! Cut to the present, and Indy is telling Marion/Mutt/whoever the tale when he's interrupted by an urgent visitor who sets the plot in motion, a plot which coincidentally has to do with the thing the young Indy was chasing in that very story. The movie happens.

Then, in the final scene, as they're relaxing around the fireplace, Marion/Mutt/whoever says "by the way, just how did you survive that certain death from the opening sequence?" Ford grins, says, "that's a funny story"; we cut back to the past and the young Indy, something surprising happens, and -

CREDITS, with the next movie following said young Indy, picking up right where the story left off.

Yes and no, for me. The issue of KOCS was not only the overall script (by David Koepp) but mostly the story beats

There was a huge problem in its script in that Indy gets hypnotized halfway through with a motivation to return the skull to its throne room, rather than simply cutting and running at the earliest opportunity. "Because two of our heroes have been mind-controlled into finishing the mission" is not any kind of compelling or root-worthy motivation.

 

[Set Harth]

Would Indiana even be able to lift Mjolnir? Is he worthy?

 

[auntiehill]

Bite your tongue, heathen!

 

[Leviathan]

Might be ok...

Opening scene he wakes up and retcons Crystal Skull as just a dream?

 

[Owain Taggart]

Then, in the final scene, as they're relaxing around the fireplace, Marion/Mutt/whoever says "by the way, just how did you survive that certain death from the opening sequence?" Ford grins, says, "that's a funny story"; we cut back to the past and the young Indy, something surprising happens, and -.

Have to say, that I do love that idea. Kind of along the lines of what I had been thinking.

 

[mos6507]

The fact of the matter is that while Ford's overall bankability isn't that much anymore (think Cowboys and Aliens), when he decides to step back into one of the roles people know him for, he is still box-office gold.

They paid him handsomely for SW:TFA and I think his presence in the film (he really is almost the protagonist at times) was key to the film's success. I mean, just having him say "Chewie, we're home" in the trailer was causing millions of grown men to tear up. If he had been perceived as "too old" then TFA would not have worked. He pulled it off, just like he pulled off Indy in Crystal Skull despite the naysayers (he was not the weak-point of that film).

He's one of those living-fossils who can bank on their own nostalgia, sort of like Sly Stallone in Creed and the Expendables movies, and it looks like he's going to do the final victory lap across all three characters he's best known for. He's ticked Han off the list and he'll be doing Indy one more time and Deckard from Blade Runner.

You can question the artistic integrity of this approach, but it seems to make perfectly valid business sense on the part of the studios.

I guess by extension you could also say that Spielberg and Ridley Scott are the director equivalent of living fossils in helming their own victory-laps going over past glories.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Considering what just happened with Star Wars, I guess this was inevitable. Not sure if I'm excited about it though.

I'm not. And Ford inevitably going to be 75 years old doesn't have my interest at all. Maybe they can pull... No, I can't see this, yeah I'll skip it, like TFA, because Disney normally makes safe films.
I thought Saucer Men from Mars was a better script than what I saw in Crystal Skull, and it's not fair to just blame Lucas and not Spielberg, as least part of the blame, he's made bad movies in his career. What will be lost for me is the format of taking risks, Lucasfilm took risks some failed and some were successful. I liked The Last Crusade but it has always felt to me like Raiders-lite, bringing back the Nazi's again. I didn't like Crystal Skull either and I thought some ideas should've never existed like Marion returning.

Gosh, I don't want to see an ancient Indiana Jones on screen, while Disney playing safe with the story. But no matter, it's going to make a lot money.

 

[Phoenix219]

20 more years and Ford could play the old Indy from the 90s series.

And re record all those book ends. And voice an animated series to finish out the stories.

 

[Phoenix219]

I'm not. And Ford inevitably going to be 75 years old doesn't have my interest at all. Maybe they can pull... No, I can't see this, yeah I'll skip it, like TFA, because Disney normally makes safe films.
I thought Saucer Men from Mars was a better script than what I saw in Crystal Skull, and it's not fair to just blame Lucas and not Spielberg, as least part of the blame, he's made bad movies in his career. What will be lost for me is the format of taking risks, Lucasfilm took risks some failed and some were successful. I liked The Last Crusade but it has always felt to me like Raiders-lite, bringing back the Nazi's again. I didn't like Crystal Skull either and I thought some ideas should've never existed like Marion returning.

Gosh, I don't want to see an ancient Indiana Jones on screen, while Disney playing safe with the story. But no matter, it's going to make a lot money.

I really enjoyed Crystal Skull when I saw it, and was a defender of the film, until I read the script for "City of the Gods", an earlier treatment of the same storyline, but done without a son, and in a more serious, darker manner. I couldn't be more impressed. That was the Indy film that needed to be made.

 

[HIjol]

I am one that can suspend the hell out of my disbelief when I need/want to, but the alien story line in "Crystal Skull" put me right off...plus, I had just watched "The Fifth Element" for the umpteenth time...

...I think someone else must have seen that movie!

 

[sttngfan1701d]

The fact of the matter is that while Ford's overall bankability isn't that much anymore (think Cowboys and Aliens), when he decides to step back into one of the roles people know him for, he is still box-office gold.

They paid him handsomely for SW:TFA and I think his presence in the film (he really is almost the protagonist at times) was key to the film's success. I mean, just having him say "Chewie, we're home" in the trailer was causing millions of grown men to tear up.

Yeah. Even with my doubts I know people are still going to see this. I mean, it would be great to see some younger guy try to get the better of Old Indy, but Indy just outsmarts him with a smirk on his face. Or knocks him on his ass with a punch. Or get in trouble with that "Oh no, not again!" look on his face...that's only part of why this character has endured -- along with the grit and determination -- and why Ford plays it better than anyone else.

I don't know if they'll use him for a framing device and have a "younger Indy" played by another actor for most of the film. While that would work, I don't see Ford signing up for that. And people would come to see Ford as Indy. If they restore the sense of adventure, there's no reason why the film can't work.