Latest 'Indiana Jones' installment has longtime fans eager for adventure

Nineteen years after riding off into the sunset at the end of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” Dr. Henry Jones Jr. is back.

      He’s better known as Indiana Jones, the fedora-wearing, whip-snapping archaeologist who hates snakes and has a knack for finding rare antiquities.

      “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” will be released Thursday in more than 4,000 theaters across the country.

      Regal Sun Plaza Stadium 8 on Mary Esther Cut-Off and Rave Motion Pictures at Destin Commons are hosting midnight screenings tonight for the diehard fans who can’t wait until Thursday.

      “Guaranteed, by the end of the night (today) it will be sold out,” said Ericka Harmon, manager of Regal Sun Plaza.

      While midnight showings might sell out, finding a showing after that should be fairly easy. Sun Plaza alone will have the film showing on four screens.

      “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is the fourth film in the series about the globe-trotting archaeologist that started with 1981’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” The new adventure takes place in 1957 and finds Indy thrust into a race against the Soviet Union to find the Crystal Skull of Akator, which is supposed to bestow untold powers to the person who returns it to its temple.

      A large part of the new film’s appeal is that it reunites star Harrison Ford, director Steven Spielberg and executive producer George Lucas.

“The other three (Indiana Jones films) were favorites of ours,” said Anthony Jeffries of Crestview, who plans to see the new film. “You’ve got Harrison Ford in there. I feel like they can pull it off again.”

      “It’s been so long it’ll be interesting to see if they can capture the magic again,” said his wife, Dee Jeffries.

      The new film also stars Cate Blanchett as Soviet agent Irina Spalko, Shia LeBeouf as greaser, new sidekick Mutt Williams and Karen Allen, who returns as Marion Ravenwood, Indy’s love interest from “Raiders.”

      Choctawhatchee High School junior Ruben Parks wasn’t born the last time Indiana Jones appeared on screen, but he grew up watching the first three films on video with his uncle. He plans to see the new movie at one of the midnight showings.

      “I think it looks good. I think it might even surpass the originals,” Parks said.

      Indiana Jones is usually a topic of discussion at some point in Dr. Elizabeth Ritter’s archaeology classes at Okaloosa-Walton College. With the release of the new movie, she said many of her students this year have asked about the crystal skull.

      Real crystal skulls exist, but their origins are not really known. With the film’s release expected to draw interest to the mysterious artifacts, Archaeology Magazine recently did an article on crystal skulls, which is available at www.archaeology.org.

    Ritter has also talked about the Indiana Jones method of archaeology in her classroom.

      “I have to tell my students this is not real archaeology. It’s really more of grave-robbing. Archaeology is very meticulous.”

      Rather than collecting an ancient artifact in an exotic location to put in a museum such as Indy does, real archaeologist must file permits, conduct thorough research and carefully document each site and dig.

      Despite having very little in common with real-world archaeology, Ritter is a fan of the series. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was released while she was an archaeology student and she’s looking forward to Dr. Jones’ return to the big screen.

      “I’m anxious enough to see it that I’ll go the first week,” Ritter said. “I think it will be entertaining.”