Coming Not-So-Soon - Indiana Jones 4!

After enough rumors, crew changes, script rewrites and release date changes to put even our Tamil movies to shame, Indiana Jones 4 finally has an official release date. As expected, it will be a Summer release and will hit screens May 22, 2008. As in the previous 3 films, this one too will be directed by Spielberg and will star Harrison Ford in the lead role.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is the only Indiana Jones film that I have seen on the big screen. I clearly remember seeing the movie at Madras' Casino theater (that was a story in itself. As the show was sold out the first time we tried, we ended up watching the Sivaji-Prabhu starrer Sandhippu at Shanti theater that day and then returned much earlier the very next day to be the first in line at the ticket counter for Raiders of the Lost Ark!). It was an enormously entertaining film that barely let us catch our breath as it zoomed from one adventure to the next. The rolling boulder sequence, the 'snakes in the underground cave' segment and the truck chase were just some of the scintillating scenes that left me dazzled. And ofcourse, the scene where Ford casually shoots the sword-wielding attacker was already legendary and would probably count as the most popular scene in the film.

The film was popular enough to make Indiana Jones an instantly recognizable name and so, not surprisingly, subsequent films were named after the character itself. I didn't much like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It was too dark and too gross for me and the fact that it perpetuated very stereotypes about India didn't help. It had its own wonderful action sequences like the rope bridge sequence and the chase in the mines and had an effective turn by Amrish Puri but on the whole, the film got a thumbs down from me.

Spielberg made amends in a big way with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Including a hilarious Sean Connery as Indy's dad was a fantastic move on Spielberg's part and Connery and Ford shared great chemistry as their constant bickering never hid their mutual admiration and love for each other. It went without saying the film had great action sequences like the blimp chase and the tank chase(with a hilarious punchline). But the film also had probably the best climax in the series and Indy figuring out the clues and surmounting each level(especially the 'invisible' bridge), still makes me get goosebumps each time I see the film.

This Summer has enough movies to look forward to like Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Die Hard 4. But this news item about Indy 4 has already made me look forward to Summer 2008 to see Ford don the fedora and crack his whip again...