From December issue of Christian Fiction Magazine
Craft Tips and Techniques from Today’s Blockbusters
Indy and the Great Promise: A study of the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
…who can argue with the magic of Connery and Ford as father and son…
I’ll never forget the first time I met Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Fresh from the Stars, Han Solo—um, er, Indy was exactly my kind of hero—a little bit arrogant, a little bit unassuming, a whole lotta cute, and best of all, he was searching for the ark of the covenant. In an age when most people still knew their Sunday school dogma, it was a quest worth investing in. And the premise, keeping the most holy of artifacts out of the hands of an evil empire—the Nazis—well, right there the franchise became a classic.
But Indy two—remember it? I didn’t think so. Sure, we all went, hoping for a continuation of the fun from Raiders, but in the Temple of Doom, what we got was a dark, mystical, creepy quest in the Far East, where Indy suddenly begins to speak a different language when muscled and sweaty priests try to rip his heart from his chest. I hated it.
Thankfully, the franchise took the clues and ended the trilogy with the formula that worked: Indy going after the relics of our faith in the Last Crusade, my personal favorite (who can argue with the magic of Connery and Ford as father and son?).
Another hit, and it revived the magic of the Indy Chronicles.
Fast forward a couple decades and the old believers still love Indy. Yet, it’s time for a new guard. So, Indy is revived, and still looking good, despite a few years on him, enters the screen the same old arrogant, lip-curling rebel, this time taking on the Russians. (And, as a gal who lived in Russia, I can tell you that the accents are good!)
Read the rest here!