In our Steven Spielberg poll from last year, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” was one of only six films from Spielberg’s vast filmography to not nab a single vote from any critic.
In a THR cover story, Harrison Ford discusses the upcoming “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” due in theaters this summer, but also decides to defend the much-despised ‘Crystal Skull.’
"[The critics] were harsh on it, but what are they doing now? I understand. But those were their rules — not [director Steven Spielberg’s and co-writer George Lucas’] rules. They were imposing their rules on what the movie should be. I don’t feel it’s necessary to address those issues. I think that everyone has a right to their opinion. The film was not as successful as we wanted it to be, perhaps. But it didn’t create an attitude or a behavior that carried over into this film."
“Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” was supposed to be the sequel that killed off the Indiana Jones franchise. It attempted to pass the torch (and the franchise) to Indy’s son Mutt (Shia LeBeouf), but not many bought that idea.
The film received mixed reviews, but did make nearly $800M at the global box office. According to Kathleen Kennedy (via Cinemablend), the Lucasfilm CEO believes that a weak story was the reason why the fourth instalment failed to register with fans.
The other factor people fail to consider is that the first three films, all released in the ’80s, had a vintage B-movie matinee vibe that I don’t believe you can necessarily replicate in these self-aware times.
When you strip out the high expectations, ‘Crystal Skull’ wasn’t a terrible movie, but it was a disappointing one. Spielberg admitted it. Kennedy admitted it.
The ‘Crystal Skull’ screenplay was clunky; it took them almost 20 years to write something concrete and all they could come up with was a half-cooked plot about aliens and nazis. You also had to suspend disbelief and pretend that a 70-year-old Harrison Ford could pull off those stunts.
Ford completed this upcoming fifth Indiana Jones when he had just turned 80. He seems to be in good shape for his age, but it will again look preposterous seeing him perform those stunts at his age. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m a little skeptical that filmmaker James Mangold and Ford can pull this latest one off.
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.