While Indiana Jones 5 is currently in development with a planned 2022 release, it must avoid the mistakes made by Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the fourth film in the franchise. Sadly, Crystal Skull did not meet the expectations and hopes of audiences and critics alike, which is unfortunate considering how much of a staple of pop culture the beloved franchise has become ever since Raiders of the Lost Ark arrived in 1981. After having a solid trilogy of films that ended with 1989's The Last Crusade, Lucasfilm and director Steven Spielberg decided to produce Kingdom of the Crystal Skull nearly 20 years later in 2008, seeing Dr. Henry Jones Jr. on a journey in the 1950s to return a crystal skull to a sacred temple in the Amazon.

Indy would also reunite with former flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) who introduces Dr. Jones to their son Mutt (Shia Labeouf). Together, they seek to return the skull while also keeping it out of Soviet hands seeking to use the skull's supposed powers of telepathy to control the world. While this certainly sounds like a good premise for an Indy adventure, the execution left much to be desired and the film inadvertently treated Harrison Ford's heroic archaeologist as a joke.

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Now, Indiana Jones 5 has the chance to do things right, making sure the legacy of Dr. Jones is well and truly honored with a much stronger narrative in the same vein as the original trilogy.

What Went Wrong With The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones standing in front of a nuclear mushroom cloud in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

As previously mentioned, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had a strong premise. The jump from the '30s to the '50s saw Indy facing down the Soviets instead of the Nazis for relics of the supernatural, though the Soviets lacked dimension and were fairly stereotypical in their depiction, particularly with their leader Colonel Dr. Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett). While this isn't to say that the Nazis weren't stereotypical in the past films, much was made up for with the primary antagonists such as René Emile Belloq, the French archaeologist and rival to Indy from Raiders, or Dr. Elsa Schneider in The Last Crusade who reluctantly betrayed Indy despite their romantic connection. In contrast, Spalko had no real dynamic with Indiana Jones beyond the fact he was a means to an end, though her motives remained fairly ambiguous throughout the film.

However, a much bigger criticism of Crystal Skull was the lacking action sequences combined with the abundance of lackluster, over-the-top CGI, making the fourth chapter feel out of place with the much more practical action films that preceded it. No other scene exemplifies this mistake more than the opening act when Indy finds himself in a nuclear testing site in Nevada. In order to escape the blast of an atomic explosion, Indiana Jones enclosed himself in a lead-lined fridge which was cartoonishly blown back to safety and he somehow survived.

Lastly, one of the biggest mistakes many Indy fans see as unforgivable was the narrative focus on the "not-aliens", "inter-dimensional beings", or whatever name the film's aliens were given by George Lucas to convince Spielberg to direct Crystal Skull. Reportedly, Spielberg was not interested in touching the concept of aliens, as he had just done the War of the Worlds remake. As such, the explanation for the "inter-dimensional" beings was just confusing as a result, and yet they still looked like classic aliens who flew off in a literal flying saucer. In any case, many saw the introduction of these beings as a step too far, and the poor execution certainly came across as being off-brand for the Indy franchise considering the nature of the relics viewers were used to seeing Indiana Jones searching for.

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Indiana Jones 5 Needs A Much Better Story

Clearly, all of these presented issues are symptomatic of a story that needed to be stronger - which no amount of CGI or nostalgia could fix. A strong and dynamic narrative is going to be critical for Indiana Jones 5, as well as one that's more reminiscent of the first three films, creating opportunities for more practical effects and action that feel natural for the character of Dr. Jones himself. It's probably for the best that George Lucas isn't involved with this upcoming sequel, as he was the one largely responsible for writing duties on the previous entry (alongside Jeff Nathanson and David Koepp).

Likewise, while Spielberg was originally signed on to direct as he had with the other Indy films, the director's chair has since fallen to Logan's James Mangold. While Indiana Jones was the brainchild of Lucas and Spielberg together, it seems as though Crystal Skull was proof enough neither really have much more to say with the franchise, especially now that Disney and Lucasfilm are determined to have it continue. In Spielberg's case, it's likely he didn't really want to rehash his own work so long after the success of the first three, despite eventually agreeing to direct the fourth film.

Indiana Jones 5 Needs To Remember Who Indy Is

indiana jones game based on a cancelled movie?

Last but not least, Indiana Jones 5 needs to remember who Indiana Jones is: a professor of archaeology who's dually a perfectly imperfect hero. While he may have his own personal flaws and made his fair share of mistakes, he still manages to do the right thing by the journey's end. Sadly, Crystal Skull made Indy into a joke, spending far too much time focused on his age. Furthermore, Jones wasn't nearly as challenged as he should have been given all of his expertise and experience. When boiled down, the plot simply had Indy following the notes of another archaeologist, which isn't really all that engaging or dynamic compared to his past exploits.

Hopefully, Indiana Jones 5 will have a much stronger narrative than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and it will also honor who Indiana Jones is and all that he has done in the past. The upcoming sequel is most likely going to be Harrison Ford's final outing as the iconic movie hero, which means legacy is likely going to be a critical element. Hopefully, the next film will be able to learn from the last film's mistakes in order to stick the landing when it releases in July 2022.

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