5) A Decade Later…
Pretty much the only thing that has been revealed about the new movie’s plot is that it will be taking place a decade after Crystal Skull. That throws us into the late ‘60s, so there could be Soviets again. But after Blanchett, let’s hope not.
A large part of what made the three original Indiana Jones films so great were the bad guys. As they say, a hero is only as good as their villain, and Indy has certainly had his fair share of vigorous adversaries – no one can forget that buff German mechanic and the airplane that took him down. But there obviously won’t be any Nazi’s in this one.
Of course, the success of these movies do not rely entirely on the involvement of them. There were no Nazi’s in Temple of Doom, and that was well received (sort of). The filmmakers must find a way to create another story in the same time period as the last one, without copying Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, for if connections can be made between the two, backlash is inevitable. That means that Soviets are obviously not the way to go. They must also be sure to avoid mimicking any of the other adventures (think back to Temple of Doom).
There are certainly substantially fewer roads the new writers can take in Indy 5, and it’ll be interesting to see which ones they choose. Please, just no more ants, refrigerators, monkeys or aliens. I don’t know if my heart can take it again.