Indy IV

[poliphilo]

Indy's back. The IVth Indiana Jones movie has just started filming- with Harrison Ford putting on the famous hat and Spielberg directing and a crowd of famous Brits in supporting roles. It was ever thus.

Indy doesn't seem to  exercise fandom the way Star Wars does. I suppose thats because imagination can range more freely over a galaxy far far away than around archaeological sites in the near East. Nevertheless the Indy films are better than the Star Wars films. The first of them remains the peerless avatar of the summer blockbuster- fast, furious and- what so few of them are- endlessly inventive.

The sequels fell off a bit. Number II with its Kali-worshippers- straight out of Wilkie Collins- had a distracting whiff of racism about it. Number III- with Sean Connery  pumping up the star power- clawed back a fair bit of lost ground and was everything the Da Vinci Code should have been but wasn't. 

It's almost too obvious to need saying, but the reason the Indy films remain the best things of their kind is that Spielberg is a very great director. 

There's a picture from the set here. Harrison has the peachy skin and softened features of the undeniably old codger he now is.  Here's hoping the storyline takes account of this. I hate movies in which men in their sixties hang by one hand from ledges while young women cling to their ankles. What I want from this movie- apart from the thrills I'm sure it will deliver-  is an acknowledgement of failing powers- a touch of poignancy.

Comments

[queen-in-autumn.livejournal.com]

I love the caption of the page: The Man With the Hat is Back!

Raiders of the Lost Ark came out the summer I was sixteen years old and dating for the first time. We lived in a smallish town long before the days of multiplexes, and we saw it at least four times because there was not a lot to do -- and because it was so very much fun.

I completely agree with your assessments of the other two films -- although I would add that Kate Capshaw's shrill, whiny, vain Willie is another reason to avoid it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Raiders of the Lost Ark was a hard act to follow. Sometimes there's room for sequels to improve on their originals, but not here. Raiders is as near perfect as it's possible for a film to be.