Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. As someone who thinks Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a career-worst film from Steven Spielberg I'm very optimistic about a 5th installment of that franchise. Despite that fourth film missing the mark so spectacularly, there are still moments of inspiration and magic. Harrison Ford's Indy was still there. Some of the stunt pieces were thrilling (especially in the warehouse) and even though it's not popular to give Shia LaBeouf props I think he really tried to make that father/son dynamic work and just couldn't do it with the material he had to work with.
My point is that on a concept level Crystal Skull failed. Not because they went '50s sci-fi, but because they decided to go cheesy '50s sci-fi. That would have been like if they decided to have impossible 'Did-Indy-Survive?' cliffhangers every reel in Raiders because they were basing it off of the cheesy serials Spielberg and Lucas loved as kids. What they did with the first three Indy films was take inspiration from the past, but told real, present stories with real life stakes and consequences.
The thin line between fun and stupid is nearly impossible to land, but Spielberg, Lucas, Ford and team Kennedy have done it three times out of four. The chances of them nailing it again are definitely high enough to keep me excited for another outing.
Collider has a chat with David Koepp about the writing process on the new Indiana Jones adventure where he says that Lucas is not involved creatively and that he's had no contact with him while exploring this new film.
Believe it or not I don't celebrate that. Lucas has always been bold with his ideas. I may not have liked where they've led in his later career, but I always give him credit for those ideas. Hell, you guys know how much I love Temple of Doom and that's directly Lucas' decision to not just simply remake Raiders and take a risk on something much darker.
Lucas might not be involved creatively right now, but I wouldn't rule out his involvement in some form as the film comes closer to reality. Disney might be making the Indiana Jones films now, but I don't think they quite have the leverage they did to lock him out creatively like they did on Star Wars. JJ Abrams was happy to make his own movie, but Steven Spielberg wouldn't take kindly to the company shutting out his good friend.
All is good if George just wants to stay retired, but I think if he wants to help and the studio doesn't let him then they risk losing Spielberg in the director's chair and if that happens I think you'll see things fall apart pretty quickly.
No matter what you can bet your ass that Steven is still running things by George and getting his advice. Indiana Jones is their baby, afterall.
What do you folks think?
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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