It doesn’t take a smart guy or a film critic to tell you that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (or Indy 4 for short) wasn’t a very good film. However, it does hold a certain legacy in cruelly staining an otherwise widely loved franchise in spectacular fashion.
Steven Spielberg appeared last night at a special screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark in Los Angeles, as the topic of the little Indiana Jones film that couldn’t was inevitably brought up. On the topic of nuking the fridge (which is now an synonym for jumping the shark), Steven Spielberg felt the need to confess that the fridge segment was entirely his fault. Here’s a direct quote via First Showing from someone who attended the screening.
‘I know in Indy 4, you didn’t buy the refrigerator and the atomic bomb… I know! I know! But we tried! We tried! I was pushing the envelope! By the way, I take FULL responsibility for that — that was COMPLETELY my idea! Even Harrison said to me: ‘Nobody is going to buy this’
As foolish as trying to imply one can survive an atomic bomb in a refrigerator is, and as relieving it is to hear Spielberg say that, it doesn’t exactly excuse the other several major faults in the film. If there’s something to take from this though, it’s that Spielberg and possibly George Lucas realise were they went wrong. Just maybe they’ll think a bit more rationally if Indiana Jones 5 ever comes to fruition…
Originally published October 23, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
