This is Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
This is Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.If you'll note, Harrison Ford is fucking old as hell in the second photo. On July 13 he turns SIXTY-SIX. When he filmed Raiders, he was a spry young man of 39.
This is precisely why I dreaded Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Like Phantom Menace, Clone Wars, and Revenge of the Sith before it, I really feared that Kingdom would ruin an already incredible trilogy of movies. I watched The Empire Strikes Back so many times as a little kid that I would literally memorize huge chunks of the script, and Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade were some of my favorite films.
How terrifying, then, to learn that George Lucas was making another Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones differs from Star Wars in that the movie would be a total flop without Harrison Ford playing it's eponymous character. What I feared the most from the new Indiana Jones was that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg would burden another legendary franchise with an overwrought, CGI-laden disaster. Even worse, I feared that the Nazi punching, whip wielding archaeologist that I know and love would be a feeble, impotent, doddering old geezer in this new installment, completely robbed of his power and charm.
Hell, Indy didn't even HAVE Nazis to punch in this film. It's set in 1957!
How surprised I was, then, to find myself enjoying the film as it went along. I could go on about the refreshing "minimalist" treatment Spielberg gave the film when it came to CGI (there's still a hefty amount, but it's tolerable), the two hundred well deserved "Harrison Ford is old" jokes, the old school car chases, but the deciding factor for me was the first time Indy took a punch. I take a perverse pleasure in watching Indiana Jones get beat up: it makes his victory in the end that much more satisfying. Not only did he take a lot of abuse in the film, he dished it out too, and nary a stunt man was used during the filming! Ford did all his own stunts, and put on fifteen pounds of muscle for the role, which at sixty-five is quite a feat.
And so, even though many critics were disappointed with the film, citing it's formulaic plot and predictable plot twists as weaknesses, Crystal Skull didn't fail to live up to the other three movies. After all, when have the plots for any of the other three movies been at all believable? It was total camp when the chieftain in Temple of Doom rips that guy's heart out, and it was absolutely goofy when Sean Connery took down that Nazi airplane by scaring a flock of seagulls into the propellers in Last Crusade. While Crystal Skull stretches the traditional plot elements of the first three movies to rather fantastic proportions (I won't give anything away by saying what), it was a satisfying experience in the end.
This is precisely why I dreaded Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Like Phantom Menace, Clone Wars, and Revenge of the Sith before it, I really feared that Kingdom would ruin an already incredible trilogy of movies. I watched The Empire Strikes Back so many times as a little kid that I would literally memorize huge chunks of the script, and Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade were some of my favorite films.
How terrifying, then, to learn that George Lucas was making another Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones differs from Star Wars in that the movie would be a total flop without Harrison Ford playing it's eponymous character. What I feared the most from the new Indiana Jones was that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg would burden another legendary franchise with an overwrought, CGI-laden disaster. Even worse, I feared that the Nazi punching, whip wielding archaeologist that I know and love would be a feeble, impotent, doddering old geezer in this new installment, completely robbed of his power and charm.
Hell, Indy didn't even HAVE Nazis to punch in this film. It's set in 1957!
How surprised I was, then, to find myself enjoying the film as it went along. I could go on about the refreshing "minimalist" treatment Spielberg gave the film when it came to CGI (there's still a hefty amount, but it's tolerable), the two hundred well deserved "Harrison Ford is old" jokes, the old school car chases, but the deciding factor for me was the first time Indy took a punch. I take a perverse pleasure in watching Indiana Jones get beat up: it makes his victory in the end that much more satisfying. Not only did he take a lot of abuse in the film, he dished it out too, and nary a stunt man was used during the filming! Ford did all his own stunts, and put on fifteen pounds of muscle for the role, which at sixty-five is quite a feat.
And so, even though many critics were disappointed with the film, citing it's formulaic plot and predictable plot twists as weaknesses, Crystal Skull didn't fail to live up to the other three movies. After all, when have the plots for any of the other three movies been at all believable? It was total camp when the chieftain in Temple of Doom rips that guy's heart out, and it was absolutely goofy when Sean Connery took down that Nazi airplane by scaring a flock of seagulls into the propellers in Last Crusade. While Crystal Skull stretches the traditional plot elements of the first three movies to rather fantastic proportions (I won't give anything away by saying what), it was a satisfying experience in the end.
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