The new Indiana Jones movie is simply perfect.
For fans of Indiana Jones, the past four-plus decades since the franchise has been in existence has been a veritable emotional rollercoaster.
The Raiders of the Lost Chest, presented in 1981 , entered the history of cinema as one of the best films of all time, a genre-defining work, followed by all similar works made since then.
The following, 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom , received a much more mixed reception, many were unable to process that the sequel, in which Harrison Ford took up his lasso and archeologist's hat again, received a horroristic presentation. Something that woke up the little kids watching it a couple of times in the middle of the night.
In the third one, the in
, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade , which concluded the original trilogy and was shown on the screen in 1989, put the finishing touches on the i, it is no wonder that the production duo, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, did not push for the fourth part until 2008. In The Last Crusade, everyone was at their peak, Spielberg directed amazing action scenes, the script written by Jeffrey Boam rushed forward with serious twists and turns, not to mention John Williams' brilliant music. And Harrison Ford, perhaps needless to say, acted as an adventure hero with as much vigor as never before, and we even got Sean Connery as a foolish, but knowledgeable and lovable father figure.
In comparison, the fourth Indiana Jones film turned out to be a huge stretch, whose sci-fi, alien concept was avoided not only by Steven Spielberg, who returned as director, but also by the protagonist, the much older Harrison Ford. Shia LaBeouf, who was brought in as Indy's son, was horrible, he had no chemistry with Ford, let's add to that the eye-hurting, crappy special effects, the confusingly written script, and the finale lacking any kind of catharsis.
It's no wonder that 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull put Paramount's hen in the ground, and since then Spielberg has been more cautious about whether there will be a fifth installment.
Now we know. Became.
That's right, Disney brought it to us after they bought Lucasfilm and got the rights. The bottom line is, Hungarian cinemas showed the last Indy movie on June 29, 2023, under the title Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Fate, and although foreign critics tried to scare everyone away, in our opinion, this conclusion was very necessary.
Ford last, Mangold first
This is Harrison Ford's last Indiana Jones film, and we've been eyeing it not only to see if he can repair the damage done by Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but also because it's the first act to be directed by another director. Together with George Lucas, Spielberg took a back seat to give way to James Mangold, who won huge critical acclaim with the Logan , and who also released the terribly successful Ford v Ferrari (Kings of the Asphalt) in 2019.
Indiana Jones 5 managed to return to its roots by entrusting the film to a new generation. It seems that the Mangolds understand what this franchise has always been about:
about how the protagonist fought with Nazis, ran around the world in search of relics, and sometimes even had to fight otherworldly forces.
It's hard to think that Harrison Ford is already 80 years old (Indy's character is only 70 according to the story of the wheel of fate), but he still rides with such elegance and confidence, races with his tukuk, climbs walls and solves puzzles that only Chris Pratt can they can stalk, but they can never catch up.
If we say that Tom Cruise is the last action hero, then Harrison Ford is the last adventure hero, and we can feel lucky that we can still see the legendary actor's swan song in the role of Indy on the big screen.
Like the first three parts, Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Fate begins with a grandiose action scene, we are in 1944, the Second World War is still raging, and Indy and his partner Basil Shaw, played by Toby Jones, are of course searching for a legendary weapon, the spear that wounded Jesus . The pair's mission is not successful, in fact... they run into a dangerous Nazi, Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) and the disc he cherishes, made by the ancient mathematician Archimedes, and they attribute magical powers to it.
It's no coincidence that everyone who sees it loses their brains from this introduction, even with the digitally rejuvenated Indy, the horse's leg does not stick out as much as with Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian series. For about 25 minutes, we can see our favorite archeology professor running on top of a train and slapping Nazis in his prime. If someone asks us, it was worth turning the wheel of fate for that reason alone.
Fortunately, the continuation of the film does not disappoint. We make a big jump in time, to 1969, when Indiana Jones is in a very depressed state: his family has fallen apart, the students at the university don't pay him as much attention as they used to, and the professor's retirement is not an event that Harrison Ford's character even celebrates . Well, a young woman appears on the scene, a certain Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Shaw's daughter mentioned in the previous paragraph, and asks for Indy's help. A well-hidden twist in the film's previews is that Indiana and Helena are more like rivals for a long time, competing not only with the sneakily returning Nazis, but also with time.
The latter is so true that it can be compared to Indiana Jones and the Fates, which became a time travel movie.
At the same time, James Mangold and his production team paid close attention to the theme matching the style of the first three films. This is due to the fact that it is not sci-fi time travel, but rather based on fantasy. Anyone who watches the film will understand why we are writing this. The high-tech science-fiction line was very bad for the kingdom of the crystal skull, but in the disc of fate, like the ark of the covenant, the Sankara stone, and the Holy Grail, the object the adventurers tried to acquire is again of mythical origin, and this is a very good decision.
Starring forever
Harrison Ford is the highlight of this film, the actor is simply stunning, while in the 2008 film the Hollywood legend played Indy terribly bored, here he gives his father and mother. The writers of the wheel of fate took spectacular care to show that the main character is a hero of another era who has aged, slowed down, and while his enemies are racing cars and motorbikes and shooting guns, he is riding in the subway and snapping his lasso.
In a supporting role, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, whom we really liked in Fleabag, is a great addition to the Indiana Jones team, fortunately the character of Helena Shaw was not put together as someone who wants to take the limelight away from the veteran grave robber, or perhaps take his place. Phoebe Waller-Bridge remains a kind of sidekick, an enthusiastic beginner who, despite being arrogant, has something to learn from Indy. These two are the ones who ultimately take up the gauntlet against Mads Mikkelsen's evil Nazi, crying out for the past, across space and time.
After the film series has mapped all the existing tropical landscapes, hidden earthly paradises and dangerous jungles, this time, in a refreshing way, the running from A to B takes place mainly in European locations.
Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Fate is more restrained than we expected, it's really an old-school adventure film, in which our heroes solve difficult puzzles, fight, shoot, and at the end we get such an emotional last scene that we wipe our eyes from the emotion.
It is clear that the wheel of fate gives the greatest experience to those who are aware of Indy's adventures, it does not hurt to refresh our memory before the new movie, even by watching it again. The Mangolds mention not only the second film, but also the fourth, a surprising amount, sewing up the threads and characters introduced in the latter, while not mentioning the UFO crap charitably.
Without Indiana Jones, the world of cinema will be emptier from now on. We are convinced of this.
Adventure movies like Disc of Fate are no longer being made, compared to which Uncharted or any Tomb Raider joke is bad. It is a big question whether posterity will ever think of the fifth Indy film as a classic, they will have to decide that in ten or twenty years. However, one thing is certain: we thoroughly enjoyed Harrison Ford's last appearance in the role of the legendary archeology professor, from the first minute to the last, and we will watch it again many times.
Featured image source: Forum Hungary
