It’s been a long time since we saw Henry “Indiana” Jones Jr. onscreen, but Harrison Ford is returning to the world of the famed archeologist in Indiana Jones 5. The series, which followed Indy in his search to protect artifacts and get them to their rightful places (in museums!), has had him running into Nazis (and punching them), as well as having to work with his father and, eventually, a son he didn’t know existed. Beginning in 1981, the series turned 40 years old last year, at the same time that we, as fans, learned all about where the future was heading for Harrison Ford and the character with a new installment.
Now, Indy 5 cast member Mads Mikkelsen has given a bit of a sneak peek into the fifth film in the franchise, directed by James Mangold (who also co-wrote the film with Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth). It’s seeming more and more like a return to form from whatever Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ended up being. (Look, I don’t hate that movie. It just feels like all the worst parts of this franchise thrown into one movie.)
For Mikkelsen, though, he shared with The Hollywood Reporter that the Indiana Jones series means a lot to him and that the new film is something that would have fit right in with the first two films of the franchise. “[Raiders of the Lost Ark] was one of my favorite films, and it just oozed that golden period of serials from the 1940s — and that’s in the fifth film as well,” Mikkelsen said. “They’re going heavily back to the first and second film and getting that original feel, the original Indy, something dense and epic… It felt like a Spielberg film, though it’s obviously James making it with the same vision.”
Now, Steven Spielberg did direct all four of the original Indiana Jones movies, so it isn’t exactly saying too much for it to feel like a Spielberg film. That’s built into this franchise. But for it to go back to those original movies? That’s something worthwhile.
The future of Indy
In 2020, Mangold talked with ComicBook.com about the franchise and where he was heading with it (with what he could say at the time). After whatever Kingdom of the Crystal Skull did to the series, Mangold had to try and get fans interested in the world of Indiana Jones again.
“I can’t comment on anything like that,” he said. “But like in all my work, I’m always trying to find an emotional center to operate from. I think the most important thing is, in an age when franchises have become a commodity, that serving the same thing again. At least for me, in the dances I’ve had with any franchises, serving the same thing again, the same way, usually just produces a longing for the first time you ate it. Meaning, it makes an audience wish that they just had the first one over again. So you have to push something to someplace new, while also remembering the core reasons why everyone was gathered. And to use Logan as an example of that, when you’re dealing in a world of a very pressured franchise.”
Everyone seems to be saying pretty much the same thing with Indiana Jones 5. They’re bringing us back into the world of Indy and in a way that should have fans excited!
(image: Lucasfilm)
