By Mike Collett-White
45 minutes ago
There are plenty of jokes about 65-year-old Ford's age, and
he reunites with Karen Allen, co-star in the first Indiana
Jones movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark" released in 1981.
"Not as easy as it used to be," Jones mutters early on.
His young sidekick Mutt Williams, played by Shia LaBeouf,
at one point bluntly asks: "What are you, like 80?," and there
are strong hints he will take over the mantle from Ford.
Australian actress Cate Blanchett, with severe fringe, dark
hair and over-the-top Russian accent, plays evil Soviet agent
Irina Spalko who races Jones to the secret of the crystal
skull.
"I apologize to the entire Russian populace for my Russian,
but hopefully it will be dubbed," Blanchett, her hair back to
blonde, joked at a press conference.
Warm, though not loud applause broke out as the credits
rolled at the first press screening ahead of a glitzy evening
red carpet event, and early online reviews were mostly
positive.
"Nineteen years after their last adventure, director Steven
Spielberg and star Harrison Ford have no trouble getting back
into the groove with a story and style very much in keeping
with what has made the series so perennially popular," wrote
Todd McCarthy of trade publication Variety.
But Kirk Honeycutt of Hollywood Reporter told Reuters:
"They (the audience) got a rollercoaster that didn't seem to
want to stop for nearly two hours and they didn't get much
story, or character, or wit or plot.
"We're all kind of bewildered about what they thought they
were making."
OLD AND NEW
Thousands of people, many wearing Indiana Jones-style hats
handed out for free, crowded outside the Grand Theatre Lumiere
cinema in a sun-kissed Cannes to get a glimpse of the stars.
The film, conceived by George Lucas, is a familiar recipe
of thrilling chases, spectacular stunts, mystical symbols,
ancient civilizations and jokes about Jones's fear of snakes.
But it also ventures into the realms of extra terrestrials
and parallel worlds, and tackles issues including McCarthyism
in the United States in the 1950s, the destructive power of
nuclear weapons and even the disappearance of forests in the
Amazon.
Ford told reporters he was more worried about the reaction
of the public than that of the critics.
"I expect to have the whip turned on me. It's not unusual
for something that is popular to be disdained by some people
and I fully expect it and I'm not really worried about it.
(To read more about our entertainment news, visit our blog
"Fan Fare" online at http://blogs.reuters/fanfare )
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