If 'Indy 5' is indeed happening: 5 ways to make it good

Today I had the pleasure of watching the best (and what will probably always be the best) Indiana Jones movie ever made -- 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark -- on the big screen.

The movie still works wonders and is a master class in visual filmmaking (director Steven Soderbergh once refashioned it as a black and white silent movie to demonstrate how well-constructed its narrative is).

Harrison Ford created a hero for the ages, so much so that I have virtually no interest in seeing anyone else play him, even though he is in his 70s now.

Steven Spielberg has expressed interest in returning to the series, which is promising news. And Disney, who now owns the rights to the franchise, seem bullish as well. Why wouldn't they be? Even with all its haters, the last Indiana Jones film was actually the biggest hit of the series to date.

Still, this project, if it really does get off the ground, will be met with a reasonable amount of skepticism and it's easy to see why. The series finds itself in very much the same predicament the Star Wars films did prior to The Force Awakens.

The last film -- 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull -- despite all its financial success, left a lot of fans unhappy and the feeling that persists now is that if you're going to do another one of these, it's going to have to redeem the series, to a certain extent.

Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark

This has happened before.

Rocky Balboa and Creed more than made up for the crappy Rocky V. And we're all still basking in the glory of The Force Awakens, which managed to both wipe the slate clean of the stinky George Lucas prequels and generate excitement for new characters in follow-up chapters.

If Disney is as shrewd as I think they are, they will adopt a similar formula with Indy 5 -- keep Harrison Ford front and center but also let him gracefully bring his tenure to the character to a close.

There was some expectation that Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would do that. For better or worse they established Shia LaBeouf as Indy's greaser son Muff, and seemed to imply that he might be at the center of future films. But the character wasn't strong enough, LaBeouf trashed the movie -- and then went on one of the more extended career flameouts of recent Hollywood history -- and well, let's just say no one was interested in returning to that territory.

I was pleased to see that Spielberg wasn't interested in replacing Ford with someone younger. I get the appeal of Chris Pratt and Bradley Cooper, but they are no Harrison Ford. He is this character. Just like he is Han Solo. And The Force Awakens proved Ford still has plenty in the tank as an actor and as an action hero. He doesn't look silly in these films as older actors often do -- and I think if he had a script on the same par as The Force Awakens, he could do wonders, maybe even score a long deserved Oscar if they give this Indy adventure some gravitas, as they did in Raiders and later in Last Crusade.

Here is what I think they need to do:

1) Make sure George Lucas is not involved - I know it's popular to pile on George Lucas, and the thing is, I don't hate the guy. But, it's clear he has hit a creative wall. Most of the worst elements of Crystal Skull's plot and conception appear to be traceable back to him, and if his sour grapes reaction to The Force Awakens is any indication, he is stubbornly opposed to changing his ways or embracing a more exuberant style of filmmaking. The less he has to do with this installment the better.

2) Acknowledge Indy's age in a compelling way - The first misgiving anyone is going to have with this project is Ford's age. Even if it's rushed into production he will likely be 73 or 74 by the time it gets made. He is fit and looks phenomenal but it would be ludicrous not to make his age an aspect of the story and I don't mean in a corny "let's make jokes about how he's an old man" sort of way. His being older makes him more vulnerable, perhaps more reluctant to take the chances he once did. This would be an interesting new element of the Indiana Jones character to explore.

You call him Dr. Jones

3) Return to their roots - I, for one, had no problem with Spielberg and Lucas' decision to make Indy 4 more of a sci-fi B-movie as an homage to the 1950s. But the movie veered so wildly into supernatural CGI territory that it started to feel less and less like an Indy film as it progressed. Watching Raiders reminded me of how straightforward the storytelling was in the original trilogy and how much more they relied on practical effects and stunts. I know there are limitations, especially when your star is a senior citizen, but I think this is a series that is built on nostalgia for the past so they shouldn't shy away from it.

4) Give Indy something worthwhile to chase - The best Indiana Jones films have him pursuing an object of enormous consequence -- think the Holy Grail -- and we need that kind of epic so-called MacGuffin to feel more invested in story. Hopefully producers will dig deep and come up with something worth getting excited about. In fact, I wouldn't be opposed if Jones were lured out of retirement because say, the Arc of the Covenant has gone missing, and he is the only man capable or locating it. The first film and the most recent film suggested it was languishing in government storage,  but what if it was stolen and wound up in the wrong hands?

5) Let this be the final chapter - I don't think you necessarily need to kill off the character, but I think it would lend the new movie more significance if there was a clear sense that this would be his last adventure, at least in this iteration. It would again raise the stakes and make the action feel less inevitable and predictable. It would give Spielberg and company license to try something different, and God forbid, edgy. Without the pressure of setting up further sequels, the filmmakers can focus on what's most important -- making a strong, self-contained story which stands on its own.