Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Krystal Skull was easily the movie I had greater anticipation for than any other coming out this year. In a year when Christopher Nolan was feeding my Batman-obsessed brain The Dark Knight, that says a lot. I stuck through all the early groans regarding Harrison Ford's age, and waited with baited breath for the film itself.
You can imagine what a great delight it was when all the smack talk being circulated regarding Ford's age turned out to be untrue. Even at 64, Ford was still Indiana Jones like nobody else could be. It definitely was not Harrison Ford's age that ruined the movie. It was George Lucas.
Now, Lucas reported to AP that while he has no intentions of passing the torch from Ford to Shia LaBeouf (who played Mutt, Indy's son in IJ4), he claims that he still intends on going after Ford for a fifth installment, especially if he can find a "good" story.
"The franchise really depends on me coming up with a good idea," Lucas said. "And that series is very research-intensive. So we're doing research now to see if we can't come up with another object for him to chase ... hopefully we'll come up with something."
So why is this such a bad idea? And why does this signal that George should just retire already? After the jump!
Well first of all, George and his "good" stories are what sunk the Indiana Jones franchise in the first place. While certain other things hindered the film (lame alien CGI, Steven Spielberg seemed to have mailed in directorial instructions from Malibu), it was the story itself that weakened the film the most. Krystal-skulled aliens? No wonder Steven and Harrison held out for so many years. This was the best George could come up with?
I was willing to go with the alien plot until it strayed too far away from the whole idea of Area 51. The first 20 minutes of the film were brilliant, and then it receded into a brainless plot with even more brainless action sequences (the scene where LaBeouf swings on vines through the jungle with monkeys was particularly brutal).
But does this really mean that Lucas should get out of the movie making business now? In a word, yes.
Why? Well let's first establish the fact that the only new idea Lucas has come up with in the past 20 years was 1994's Radioland Murders, which tanked. Everything that has been a Lucasfilm production during that time since has been a Star Wars or Indiana Jones affiliated production. While Lucas certainly isn't the first filmmaker to get a lot of mileage out of a particular franchise (did anyone actually ask for the upcoming Saw V?), is it too much to ask for something new? Hell, even Terence Malick came out of hiding during that time and started making new films again.
The other issue seems to be that Lucas has become pretty curmudgeonly in his old age. As the story writer and producer on the Indiana Jones films, it is his responsibility to come up with the maguffin that drives the plot. However, he fully admits that while both Ford and Spielberg came up with ideas of their own, it had to be Lucas' way or the highway. Lucas has become notorious for maintaining painstaking creative control over his projects, which is why he independently produced the Star Wars prequels himself. Several other directors refuse to relinquish creative control either, Quentin Tarantino coming to mind. This would be all fine and dandy, except the problem is that unlike Tarantino, Lucas can't seem to make a good movie to save his life.
So Indiana Jones and Star Wars have made Lucas a very rich man. Indiana Jones helped make Spielberg a very rich man too, but at least Lucas' counterpart still continues to challenge himself with artistic and poignant films in between his commercial fare. Is it too much to ask that Lucas do the same? With the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars opening this weekend, I suppose we'll see in a few days whether the clamour for more of the same stories is still there. Regardless of its success though, it has come high time that either Lucas show us something new, or show himself the door.
You can imagine what a great delight it was when all the smack talk being circulated regarding Ford's age turned out to be untrue. Even at 64, Ford was still Indiana Jones like nobody else could be. It definitely was not Harrison Ford's age that ruined the movie. It was George Lucas.
Now, Lucas reported to AP that while he has no intentions of passing the torch from Ford to Shia LaBeouf (who played Mutt, Indy's son in IJ4), he claims that he still intends on going after Ford for a fifth installment, especially if he can find a "good" story.
"The franchise really depends on me coming up with a good idea," Lucas said. "And that series is very research-intensive. So we're doing research now to see if we can't come up with another object for him to chase ... hopefully we'll come up with something."
So why is this such a bad idea? And why does this signal that George should just retire already? After the jump!
Well first of all, George and his "good" stories are what sunk the Indiana Jones franchise in the first place. While certain other things hindered the film (lame alien CGI, Steven Spielberg seemed to have mailed in directorial instructions from Malibu), it was the story itself that weakened the film the most. Krystal-skulled aliens? No wonder Steven and Harrison held out for so many years. This was the best George could come up with?
I was willing to go with the alien plot until it strayed too far away from the whole idea of Area 51. The first 20 minutes of the film were brilliant, and then it receded into a brainless plot with even more brainless action sequences (the scene where LaBeouf swings on vines through the jungle with monkeys was particularly brutal).
But does this really mean that Lucas should get out of the movie making business now? In a word, yes.
Why? Well let's first establish the fact that the only new idea Lucas has come up with in the past 20 years was 1994's Radioland Murders, which tanked. Everything that has been a Lucasfilm production during that time since has been a Star Wars or Indiana Jones affiliated production. While Lucas certainly isn't the first filmmaker to get a lot of mileage out of a particular franchise (did anyone actually ask for the upcoming Saw V?), is it too much to ask for something new? Hell, even Terence Malick came out of hiding during that time and started making new films again.
The other issue seems to be that Lucas has become pretty curmudgeonly in his old age. As the story writer and producer on the Indiana Jones films, it is his responsibility to come up with the maguffin that drives the plot. However, he fully admits that while both Ford and Spielberg came up with ideas of their own, it had to be Lucas' way or the highway. Lucas has become notorious for maintaining painstaking creative control over his projects, which is why he independently produced the Star Wars prequels himself. Several other directors refuse to relinquish creative control either, Quentin Tarantino coming to mind. This would be all fine and dandy, except the problem is that unlike Tarantino, Lucas can't seem to make a good movie to save his life.
So Indiana Jones and Star Wars have made Lucas a very rich man. Indiana Jones helped make Spielberg a very rich man too, but at least Lucas' counterpart still continues to challenge himself with artistic and poignant films in between his commercial fare. Is it too much to ask that Lucas do the same? With the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars opening this weekend, I suppose we'll see in a few days whether the clamour for more of the same stories is still there. Regardless of its success though, it has come high time that either Lucas show us something new, or show himself the door.
No comments:
Post a Comment