Not Bad Prognasticating!

So, a little over a year ago (April 12 2007) I spoke of how I was looking forward to the new Indy movie, and how I thought it should embrace his age and not overlook it. We're a little less than two weeks away from it arriving, so let's look back on it with what we know. Now, I got some things wrong, obviously. It doesn't seem like he "hung up the whip" at all. But I did say they should set it in during the Cold War era and have the enemies be the Russians. Nailed that (though I did say 70s...missed that by 20 years, but still). Said he should have a hot shot son. Well...I might have nailed that. We won't know what Shia LeBeouf's actual role is until May 22nd, they're being pretty secretive about that, but it's widely rumored that he's the child of Indy by way of Marion Ravenwood, being played once again by Karen Allen (which is awesome by the way). But his character is definitely a hotshot guy, so if he turns out to be his kid, I got that, too. Plus, in the trailer, they definitely had a moment where the music kicks in as he puts the hat on, which I said would be a goosebump like moment.

That's not bad for knowing ZERO about the movie at the time.

And a big shout out goes to Chewy, who in the comments suggested maybe an alien artifact could be used, also a good prediction. Now, the Crystal Skulls may or may not be alien, but it's definitely been reported that the movie itself will definitely explore the possibility that they could be. Which is a parallel to the time period, it's going to be a little more sci-fi than the others, because it takes place in the 50s when sci-fi serials were popular, since the other movies were based on Lucas and Spielbergs love of serials when they were kids.

For those Indy fans that poo-poo the sci-fi thing...oh shut up. You had no problem with the Ark of the Covenent spewing avenging angels and melting faces, or with Mola Ram ripping out the still beating hearts of sacrifices with his bare hands and the victim still living to be burned alive, or with the Holy Grail healing the gunshot wound of Henry Jones, Sr. There's always been sci-fi elements to these movies, but they were masked by "religious mythologies" (whether Western or Eastern) Now they're dropping that aspect (maybe). Don't get all worked up. I understand that it's trepidation from what Lucas did with the Star Wars prequels and such, but lets remember that Spielberg was on this, too, and actually directed. Not to mention that Harrison Ford is a bit of a persnippity guy and wouldn't sign off on something simply to do it. He's said he wanted to play Indy again, but he also had been turning down the script treatments for awhile.

For those that haven't seen the trailer. Take note of a few things...one, looks like the warehouse from end of Raiders, doesn't it? Also, there is a shot of a box that says Roswell, NM on it...a clear indication of the alien aspect. I love the "Damn, I thought that was closer" moment. That's classic Indy. But yes, note that thing with hat and the music kicking. Damn that gets me.