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Indiana Jones: A FIFTH movie?

In an interview with Fox news, George Lucas has let slip that he is already thinking about another movie in the recently-revived Indiana Jones series.

The twist is that Harrison Ford would only be making a cameo appearance:

"I haven't even told Steven or Harrison this," he said. "But I have an idea to make Shia the lead character next time and have Harrison come back like Sean Connery did in the last movie. I can see it working out.

"And it's not like Harrison is even old. I mean, he's 65 and he did everything in this movie. The old chemistry is there, and it's not like he's an old man. He's incredibly agile; he looks even better than he did 20 years ago, if you ask me."

Lucas is a brave man. There's little doubt that a LeBeouf-led Indy movie would meet the same widespread disapprobation that his widely (sometimes unjustly) Star Wars prequels did.

I must confess, I'd like to see him announce it formally - just for the fun of watching the baying mob form up over at Ain't it Cool news comment forums!

Indy draws cheers from world's press at first screening in Cannes

The first press audience to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in Cannes this afternoon greeted the movie with sustained applause after whooping and hollering throughout.

Watch Times Chief Film Critic James Christopher's 60 second video review

 

Make no mistake, there is no danger of this film tanking. Harrison Ford is back to his athletic, wise-cracking, combatitive best as Dr Jones in Steven Spielberg's fourth installment of the series, and side kick Shia LaBeouf is a revelation, in more ways than one.

Everything about this Indiana Jones is bigger than previous instalments. The movie is effectively a chase from its opening scenes in the New Mexico desert to a climatic ending deep in the Amazonian jungle.

Ford is greyer than before, but otherwise looks and acts much the same as in the previous installment 19 years ago. He has his usual quota of punch-ups, chases and hair raising getaways, including a frankly implausible escape from a nuclear explosion where he's blasted to safety inside a lead lined refrigerator.

In his first dialogue, Dr Jones admits that "it won't be as easy as it used to be", but for the rest of the movie he goes about disproving his own theory.

His first jump is more like a lumber than the rolling leaps of 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, but the thrills and spills get more and more outlandish as the movie progresses.

Indiana has to deal with giant waterfalls, giant red ants and the biggest temple complex he's ever had to negotiate.

Playing a Soviet agent keen to harness the Crystal Skull's powers as a weapon, Cate Blanchett is less menacing than Indy's Nazi rivals in previous movies, but the real battle was always going to be winning over the critics.

If today's hyper-critical Cannes press audience liked it, there's a good chance you will too.

Tonight on the Cannes red carpet, Spielberg, Lucas and Ford will confidently stride up the steps knowing they've delivered a sure-fire hit.

Cannes basks in sunshine at last as crowds await Dr Jones

Steven Spielberg and the cast of the new Indiana Jones movie will have woken with smiles on their faces this morning. After days of rain Cannes is basking under blue skies.

There's an unmistakable sense of Indy-mania on the Croisette, with scores of fans already surrounding the Palais (the complex of cinemas and media facilities that hosts screenings), holding signs begging for a precious "invitation" to this evening's world premiere.

Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull sees Ford back as the fedora-wearing adventurer for the first time in 19 years.

Excitement reaches fever-pitch today when the film shows out of competition, with a press conference and photocall this afternoon.

The fourth instalment in Steven Spielberg's blockbusting adventure series has taken nearly two decades to reach the big screen after the release of the rather misnamed Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, which saw Indiana and his grumpy father, played by Sean Connery, wrest the Holy Grail from the clutches of the Nazis.

The third adventure became the highest grossing picture of 1989 and of the entire series. Episode IV is expected to supersede all predecessors.

The new film sees Indy and sidekick Mac (British star Ray Winstone) escape a close scrape with Soviet agents on a remote airfield. Dr Jones returns home to Marshall College - only to find things have gone from bad to worse.

The dean of the college explains that Jones is under suspicion, and that the government has put pressure on the university to fire him.

On his way out of town, Indy meets rebellious young Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), who carries a grudge and a proposition for the archaeologist - if he will help him on a personal mission, he could make one of the most spectacular finds in history - the Crystal Skull of Akator. The archaeological treasure is an object of fascination, superstition and fear.

As Indy and Mutt set out for the most remote corners of Peru, they realise they are not alone in their mission. Soviet agents are also hot on the trail of the Crystal Skull. Chief among them is ice maiden Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), whose elite military unit is scouring the globe. They believe the find could help the Soviets dominate the world - if they can unlock its secrets.

Indy and Mutt must find a way to grapple with enemies and friends of questionable motives and stop the powerful Crystal Skull from falling into deadly hands.

At the age of 65, Harrison Ford recently tied with Die Hard star Bruce Willis for the top spot in a Pearl and Dean poll to find the greatest ever action heroes.

If the new film is also a smash hit, it could spark a renewed interest in archaeology.

Ford has been elected to the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA)'s board of directors after glamorising the subject on the silver screen.

AIA president Brian Rose recently said that Ford, in his role as Indiana, had played a major part in stimulating interest in archaeological exploration.

The group promotes archaeological excavation, research, education and preservation around the world.

Crystal skulls are intricately-carved artefacts which have been linked to the Aztec and Mayan civilisations.

Some people believe they have magical healing properties.

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is released in the UK on Thursday, May 22.

"This is the Indiana Movie that you were dreading"

No one in Cannes apart from a select few movie executives has actually seen Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but the buzz here tonight is as gloomy as the weather (it's been raining all day).

A poster called ShogunMaster on leading movie website Ain't it Cool News said: "I remember seeing the two trailers and though I was excited to see the old man in action again, I was kind of worried that they seemed to be missing 'something'. That something was tension. During the whole of the movie, there was not a single moment that I thought our hero Mr. Jones (actually Colonel Jones as he was a hero in WWII now) was in any sort of peril or even significant inconvenience. In most cases, you were so many steps ahead of the characters that it was really just an arduous wait for them to get through it."

You can read the full review here: but be warned, there are plenty of spoilers.

Check back tomorrow afternoon for James Christopher's review.

Can 65-year-old Ford still cut it?

Apart from "is it any good?" the other question on everyone's lips out here, is whether 65-year-old star Harrison Ford can still cut it as an action hero.

Taking questions from journalists ahead of the tomorrow's premiere, Ford said there had been no attempt to hide his real age.

"We don't handle the age question, we ignore it. We've moved 20 years deeper into history. We're no longer dealing with Nazis, but we have Russian villains.

"Age has its virtues and it has its disadvantages. I think we embrace the reality of the passage of 20 years. We're not coy about it."

Indiana Jones and the Sharpened Critical Knives

On Sunday afternoon Indiana Jones faces his most gruelling test ever, something even more challenging than giant runaway boulders, Nazis on sidecars or chambers full of snakes.

This nemesis? The hyper-critical massed ranks of the world's most serious film critics and most important movie executives, lined-up in the Grand Theatre Lumiere in Cannes to judge the first Indiana Jones for 19 years.

Two years ago, Tom Hanks climbed the red carpet steps for the world premiere of The Da Vinci Code already knowing critics' damning verdict was in. Hanks and director Ron Howard had to smile for the tuxedo clad paparazzi through gritted teeth - and they looked similarly shell-shocked at the afterparty.

To avoid a similar scenario on Sunday, director Spielberg, producer Lucas and studio Paramount have adopted a different strategy.

Leaked screenings have already dampened expectations. Junket interviews are scheduled before the screening, rather than the usual practise of letting journalists see a film before they question its stars, and access to Spielberg is strictly limited to the official press conference.

In contrast to the huge and heavily criticised Da Vinci Code party, where stars had to mix with hostile critics, Sunday's Indy party will be a "film-makers' party" for a strictly controlled 250 guests - with no press.

So why even open in Cannes given the possibility of a hostile reception?

It's a trade off worth making. Spielberg and Lucas cement their position as Grand Old Men of Cinema on a carpet trod by masters such as Fellini and Bergman.

Every international media outlet interested in film has a presence in Cannes, so the film is guaranteed huge global exposure.

And even if the Crystal Skull is a turkey, it's unlikely to affect the movie's box office numbers. Cinemas report huge numbers booking in advance. Despite the critical mauling after its Cannes premiere, The Da Vinci Code earned $758m worldwide. 

100 hours to go to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

In 100 hours time those clutching a precious Invitation for the hottest ticket in Cannes - the world premiere of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull - will climb the steps to the Grand Theatre Lumiere and sit in eager anticipation of Spielberg's blockbuster spectacular.

What's taken him so long? This week the director revealed that it was Oscar night in 1994 when Indy star Harrison Ford first asked "When are we going to make another Indiana Jones movie? I'm ready." A whole fourteen years ago.

"That was five years after The Last Crusade," remembers Spielberg, talking to the press last week in LA. "I said I didn't know, you have to call George [Lucas]. So Harrison called George and about a week later George called me and said Harrison is serious. He wants to do another picture. So the development of this film started in 1994."

So why the 14 year wait? "It took all that time before David Koepp [the writer of Jurassic Park and SpiderMan] came on board and wrote a script that knocked my Indiana Jones hat off basically," says Spielberg.

"But you know, it had to be right. I was just trying to recapture the magic we were able to achieve in three movies in the 1980s. I wasn't trying to improve on the Indiana Jones character. I was just trying to authentically re-animate the character and that was done through the right combination of the correct writing, the correct tone and Harrison Ford's singular contribution."

On Sunday afternoon Cannes will be the first to see if the 19 year wait since the last Indy movie was worth it.

Indiana Jones: How long is too long?

No, when I say 'how long is too long?' I'm not talking about the 2 week layoff we've had from your regular diet of exclusive news piffle from the world of noisy movies, we're talking about the next instalment in Dr.Jones' adventures.

Slashfilm has today reported the final running time for the forthcoming Indy movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It reportedly clocks in at a bladder-bursting two hours and twenty minutes.

Movies have been getting longer and longer for years now. What started as a trend among art-house directors for testing the endurance of their audience has infected the world of normal peoples' films too. S James Snyder, writing for the New York Sun last year, quoted Chad Hartigan as saying that the tendency of studios to rapidly green-light sequels for successful films has precipitated a trend for longer sequels of lower quality.

"Increasingly, if something's successful, sequels are being green-lit and rushed into production as quickly as possible, If the opening weekend numbers are huge, they want to rush the sequel, and that leaves almost no time for editing oneself or for filtering through everyone's ideas. In the end, it means everything is getting put out there. What they're not asking though is: ‘Okay, it's longer, but is it better?'"

Ultimately, of course, the issue is not how long the movie is so much as whether it's any good. Early reports are not promising, but here at Blockbuster Buzz we think that, until you're given a good reason not to, it's always best to side with the guy holding the whip.

Exclusive: Inside the home of Indiana Jones

There’s a lot more to moviemaking than just running around with an old KFC bucket on your head. Modern blockbusters employ veritable armies of grips, dolly grips, key grips and, for all I know, hair grips. One of the more important jobs is making sure that the sets are convincing, and if it’s a movie with a period setting, historically accurate.

Indiana Jones: The poster is keeping it old-school

Notice how they've highlighted the stubble on Indy's chin? That's the only sign of age in this classic-looking poster for this summers'  Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls.

Shia LeBoef's Outsiders hairstyle and motorcycle emphasises the movie's 1950s setting: markedly later than the first three Indy outings which were set in 1936, 1935, and 1938.

The eerie crystal skull sits at centre-stage and looking distinctly alien, which does seem to bear out the suggestions from some quarters that we're looking at some sort of Chariots of the Gods concept here.

Just to the left of the skull is our own Ray Winstone. Nice hat Ray.

Best news of all though? Karen Allen is back! And looking, at least in the poster, not a day older!