An Older, Wiser Indy?

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Silvor said:
I would love for the movie to a bit more sombre with Indy reflecting on his mortality and going on a final important adventure.
And personally I think giving the film a smaller budget in line with the originals would be a good idea. Maybe that could bring back a little of the old Spielberg who had to think on his feet and be smart about the movie.

You're not alone in your thinking. This article ponders an older wiser Indy and I was hoping to hear some of the venerated readers thoughts on it:

...This is the broader universe that Indy, by simple dint of survival, finds himself in. It?s also thematically near identical to the moral dilemma explored (and shot at, and exploded) in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. There you had a man out of time faced with an amoral choice by the country he?d given his life, in every way, to defend. The end result remains one of the most satisfying and well produced Marvel movies to date.

It?s also, I?d argue, a blueprint for how a fifth Indy movie could and should be done. Have the villains as not simply Communists or foreign spies but the auspices of the US military industrial complex and government: terrified of global nuclear annihilation, convinced of the superiority of the other side, absolutely prepared to end the world even as their hand trembles on its way to the button. The villainy not just a product of evil but of fear.

Now, drop a veteran with a clear set of morals, an academic world view and a family to think of into the middle of that....

Joe?
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Pale Horse said:

Oh mod, what happened to the good old days of thread proliferation?

That's one well-written article interesting enough to warrant it's own title.

Interesting -- but wrong (and not just for giving serious analysis to Crystal Skull's idiocy).

'Yes' Indy's passivity/reactivity is one of Crystal Skull's fatal flaws -- no new news there -- but everything that follows is troubling. Here's my two biggest pain points:

#1. The suggestion that 5 should be about Indy taking on the military industrial complex. Yawn. We know Indy likes Ike (who warned of the complex) but how many times have we seen that story in various guises? Plus it implies a North America focus and seems to tie more to Indy war hero than to Indy grave robber. Not to mention that history tells us who wins this one -- and its not the guy with the fedora.

#2. Referring to the "complex moral ambiguities of the Cold War" as if that's something new and unique. Ambiguity? Hello? Did this writer ever even watch Raiders?

While my thoughts around 5 are swirling and half formed, I know an Indy Winter Soldier remake is not the answer. Right now, I think we need to get Indy out in the world and in radically different global settings and contexts at near warp speed. Use different settings and situations to compensate for Indy not being able to go the distance in a fist fight. I'm thinking something like Around the World in 80 days on Steroids or It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World without Ethel Merman. These types of stories are age appropriate and something Spielberg could surely sink his teeth into it -- let's just hope he can resist the urge to put Merman in it.

PS: You know what really irked me about the article? There's nothing 'amoral' about Captain America's conduct in Winter Soldier. From day one in the service soldiers are taught their affirmative duty to disobey unlawful orders. So one of the cooler elements of Winter Soldier is showing Cap rallying agents to his side. He is the moral center. So how does Marvel follow it up? (And this is why I really respect Marvel) With Civil War -- which flips the switch and puts Cap on the other side in a real ambiguous situation.

PSS: I still have yet to respond to Finn's post by this article got my goat.
 
Last edited:
Top