The man in the hat is back! It's been a long time since Harrison Ford returned to his Indiana Jones persona, and a lot of negotiating over scripts, but nearly 20 years since his last outing we will finally be treated to his adventuring once more. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the fourth and most daftly titled Indy movie yet, and all eyes are going to be on whether the once golden partnership between Hollywood heavyweights director Steven Spielberg and producer/writer George Lucas can turn back the clock for Ford to ensure this isn't a film too far for the much-loved franchise.
The plot has been shrouded in mystery deliberately, but what is known is the film is set in 1957 – 19 years since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and so making it accurate to the time Ford has aged. This is certainly good news as no one wanted the unavoidable fact the star of the show has aged significantly to be glossed over, however the passing of two decades brings with it a dubious change of direction. Lucas’s insistence on the use of a particular way to get the story started resulted in numerous rewrites, including efforts by Frank Darabont and M. Night Shyamalan, before Spider-man scripter David Koepp produced a screenplay deemed worthy. Apparently Indiana Jones will be fighting the against Soviet Union agents for the possession of a crystal skull made by higher powers. The rumour mill has it that there could well be an element of science fiction as that was the popular B-movie genre of the 1950s, moving the Indy series away from its adventuring roots. Could this be a major error of judgement?
Lucas has gone on record to say the critics and fans alike will probably hate The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and the time shift could displease both. Also rather worrying is the inclusion of Shia LaBeouf who exploded into public consciousness after Transformers last year. His character is called Mutt Williams, however, he could well be lined up as a successor to Indy in a possible continuation of the series which would be unpopular with the Indy followers. Even with Raiders of the Lost Art co-star Karen Allen reprising her Marion Ravenwood character, Indy has generally been seen as a bit of a loner rather than family inclined. However, the lack of Sean Connery may have led Lucas, whose most famous father-son relationship featured in the original Star Wars trilogy, to move down a generation to revisit the theme.
John Hurt, Ray Winstone, Cate Blanchett and Jim Broadbent all add a touch of class to the rest of the main characters and Indy will travel to New Mexico, Connecticut, Mexico City and the jungles of Peru to provide the all important mix of varied destinations. Hopefully Spielberg will be projecting various modes of transport onto a progress map like old times. That's probably the best way to approach Indy 4 – think about how it'll remind us of the old times. The official site shows Ford in his classic outfit in typically exotic locations so whatever happens story-wise, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull should provide more than enough whip-toting adventuring to entertain us all in May. Look out for the first trailers appearing soon.
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