After a 15-year absence, Indiana Jones returns to cinemas with the upcoming fifth entry “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”.
The gap is almost as long as the near 20-year gap between the third film “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and 2008’s fourth film “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”.
The latter scored a positive critical reception at the time and a box-office gross of over $790 million worldwide, but is now widely regarded as the weakest of the franchise.
Both writer David Koepp and producer Kathleen Kennedy have talked about issues with the film in the past, but star Harrison Ford has now hit back at the film’s rough reception in recent interviews.
Talking with THR for a recent and expansive interview, he explains why he thinks the film received the criticism it did, and it’s all to do with expectations:
“I mean, [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.”
One thing that isn’t carrying over from the last film? Cheap jokes related to age, especially self-aware ones. Ford says:
“In [‘Dial of Destiny’] there were a lot of old jokes in the script. We took them all out. There is a moment where he observes himself in this situation and says, ‘What the f— am I doing in here?’ But I hate what I call ‘talking about the story’. I want to see circumstances in which the audience gets a chance to experience the story, not to be led through the nose with highlights pointed out to them. I’d rather create behavior that is the joke of age rather than talk about it.”
The 80-year-old Ford is kind of everywhere right now with roles in “1923” and “Shrinking” and an upcoming part in “Captain America: New World Order”. Meanwhile “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” hits cinemas on June 30th.
