The Earth-Toned Pill

So here in the Walters household, there's a serious air of anticipation surrounding the premier of the 4th Indiana Jones film this week. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull made its initial debut at the Cannes film festival yesterday, supposedly to a lukewarm response by critics who generally called it 'more of the same' (in a good way, I'm assuming?) and 'a bit creaky', as Harrison Ford is visibly quite old and they don't make much effort at hiding that. All this aside, I'm still extremely excited about seeing the film and I plan on wearing a fedora to the premier in true movie geek style. The only thing that is really turning me off at all, and actually kind of ruining the mood for me, is the way George Lucas is handling himself as we get closer to the US premier on Thursday.

George Lucas was never a really great director, and he has said as much himself. I would go a step further and say that he is a mediocre director at best, and a weak writer. The latter point is particularly painful for me, as Lucas co-wrote the story for the 4th Indy movie, which he originally wanted to name Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men From Mars. Saucer men from Mars?!? What the hell was he initially thinking? I understand that he wanted to originally do a 4th Indy movie that was a tribute to 1950's sci-fi 'B' movies, but didn't the world already have more than enough of this when Mars Attacks! raped our eyes and minds back in 1996? And really, is an homage to 'B' movies how you want to remember Harrison Ford and Co. after all the dust settles? I think not, and thank god Steven Spielberg agreed and told Lucas to 'go back to the drawing board' and come back with a real movie.

I was pushed further down the path of the 'Lucas Haters' after I read this recent snippet, describing a conversation between Lucas and Spielberg regarding the hype surrounding this kind of film:

"I explained to Steven when we sat down on this, I said ... when you do a film that's this anticipated, people have a tendency to believe it's going to be the second coming and no matter what you give them they're going to be disappointed. We're all going to get people throwing tomatoes at us. But it's a fun movie to make. We love it."

Well, George, did you ever think that all your Star Wars fans were actually expecting good films when you instead handed them three pieces (ep 1-3) of forgettable schlock? I think most would agree that George Lucas choosing to write and direct the Star Wars prequels was a huge mistake, and when combined with poor casting choices for central characters like Anakin, the result is without a doubt going to sour a lot of fans' stomachs. I'm sorry, but this film will be the second coming if it is written well, cast well, and directed well, while also respecting the spirit of the previous installments in the series.

My sense of annoyance and dismay with George Lucas just continued to grow following this interview with him, Shia LeBouf, Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg:

When Diane Sawyer asks the question around 2:55 into it about their 'favorite scene or quote', Lucas' answer made me want to punish my TV. He may have been genuinely trying to be funny, but there is definitely (at the very least) a touch of seriousness to it. Plugging a new DVD set? Are you serious??? Whatever. To me, the interview on the whole was kind of uncomfortable to watch, but plugging a DVD set like that wasn't exactly appropriate. Besides, doesn't he have enough Star Wars money to last him well into the afterlife?

I guess in the end I shouldn't worry too much about Lucas, because at least in this case he has the sanity of Steven Spielberg to balance out his faults. And in the end, I think the movie will depend more on Harrison Ford than on any other person in the cast or crew.

Lets just hope Harrison Ford still has the magic...