Indiana Jones, Revisited

I've realized it's actually been a while since I last saw an Indiana Jones movie. With Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull already out, I thought that it might be a good idea to watch the three previous Indy films before I watch the latest installment in the Indiana Jones series.

So I was able to round up the DVDs of the first three movies, and watched 'em all last week. Here's a quick review.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Note that the first time this movie came out, I was probably 7 or 8. No, I didn't know the entire film was actually set in the 1930s- hence the Nazi Germans and Indy's choice of handguns.

This movie set the tone for all the other Indiana Jones movies, painting us a picture of what Indy is all about- respected archeologist/professor and occasional adventurer. With the trademark fedora hat, bullwhip, leather jacket and WWI-era revolver.

In Raiders of The Lost Ark, the Nazis are scouring the world to recover the legendary Ark of the Covenant (yeah, the one in the bible), with the idea that it makes an army unstoppable. As such, we see Indy prevent them from doing so, and finding the Ark before the Nazis do.

We were also introduced to Rene Belloq, Indy's nemesis in the movie- an archeologist just like him, but in league with the Nazis. We also meet Marion Ravenwood, Indy's love interest, Sallah- an ally in Egypt, and the sinister Gestapo officer Toht.

For its time, the movie did very well: it cost US$20 million to make, but raked in US$384 million worldwide- making it one of the highest grossing films of all time. Raiders of the Lost Ark also bagged a whole lot of awards, including four of its eight nominated Academy Awards. Almost overnight, the Indiana Jones character became a pop culture icon.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

No, I didn't know that it was a prequel- set before the first Indy movie. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was set about a year before, in 1935. This time, Indy has to deal with a bloodthirsty cult, and saves the day by rescuing children and the occasional sacred artifact.

Compared to the first movie, this one had more adventure elements and is more horror-oriented. In fact, we hardly see Indy at his day job as respected archeologist/professor. Rather much more of Indiana Jones the adventurer.

Here's something I didn't know: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom actually came up with the PG-13 classification. According to Wikipedia, because of the movie's particularly gruesome scenes,

Spielberg spoke to the MPAA about creating a new rating that would cover the middle ground between a clear PG and a clear R that his films often found themselves on. This led to the creation of a new rating category: PG-13 (which you can read more about here).

Though not as huge as the first, the film was nevertheless, a success. It cost US$28 million to make, and made more than US$333 million worldwide.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

For some reason, the producers decided to go back to the original Indiana Jones formula. Not only do we see the whole Indy character (as a professor and as a globetrotting adventurer), we also get flashbacks into Indiana Jones' childhood- and explains a lot of the trademark elements: why he's scared of snakes, what's up with the fedora hat and the bullwhip, etc.

Some characters from the first movie come back for this one, and once again, Indy is up against the Nazis, who are after the Holy Grail this time.

As we all know, River Phoenix plays the young Indiana Jones (during the backstory elements) and Sean Connery plays Indy's father.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade had a production pricetag of about US$48 million. It turned out to be the biggest movie in 1989, and came back with US$474 million in worldwide box-office sales.


So there you have it. Without a doubt, Indiana Jones does have a reputation to live up to. And personally, I wonder if the latest movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull can hold up its own and achieve that sort of legendary status that the previous three films had managed to accomplish.

Cheers, everyone!

Whatever Happened To Michael Biehn?

Just a few days ago, I saw the first Terminator movie and then Aliens for the umpteenth time. Aliens just happens to be one of my favorite flicks of all time, incidentally.

I noticed that Michael Biehn played supporting roles in both movies: as father-of-John Connor, freedom-fighter-from-the-future Kyle Reese in 1984's The Terminator, and as the last Marine standing in Aliens (1986). Wow, it seems James Cameron likes this guy enough to cast him in two movies.

Turns out he was cast in yet another Cameron movie: 1989's The Abyss. Besides those projects he also had several others. He played the role of a Navy SEAL in two other movies (first being The Abyss): in 1990's Navy SEALs, and The Rock from 1996.

Other memorable movies he appeared in were The Seventh Sign (1988) as husband to Demi Moore's character, as Bob Hargrove in the David Caruso/Linda Fiorentino suspense thriller Jade (1995), and as Johnny Ringo in the 1993 Western, Tombstone.

I was just wondering: the dude starred in two of the biggest sci-fi flicks of all time. In fact, 20th Century Fox even lobbied hard to get Biehn nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (for his performance in The Abyss), but that didn't work out.

In the 80's up to the mid-90's, he might have been able to land more lead roles in action films. But he didn't. At the time, it seemed that you had to be a Sylvester Stallone or an Arnold Schwarzenegger, or maybe even a Bruce Willis to bag the big projects.

I couldn't help but feel that he might have been able to squeeze a little more from his accomplishments- though he managed to star in a few other memorable projects lately. He was in 2002's Clockstoppers, and in the Robert Rodriguez project Grindhouse/Planet Terror (from 2007).

Word is, he's being considered for a role in the upcoming James Cameron project, Avatar. This new sci-fi epic movie is due out on December 2009, and stars (among others) Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Giovanni Ribisi. Supposedly, Michael Biehn entered talks with James Cameron for a possible role in the film, but his involvement is not confirmed.

Guess we'll have to wait and see.