Of heroes and franchises

I recently saw the latest installment of the Indiana Jones franchise – Dial of Destiny. I’ve seen all the 4 previous installments and have been a big fan of the series. Even though, they may not have much of a story line, with a big chunk of scenes almost near replica of each other, across every single one of them, the sense of adventure that accompanies them is contagious and is paisa vasool. Major effort on all those movies would’ve been with the art department, having been tasked to produce newer and crazier set pieces each time, which are one of the USP of the franchise. Be it the invisible single beam bridge, the Rolling boulder that Indie manages to just evade by slipping under a stone shutter of a cave, the huge underground set in Crystal skull movie, each one outwits other. His iconic hat, whip and suspender pants have made Indie a brand of his own. With Nazi Germans and Russians being the constant villains across all the 5 movies, when binge watched, it all feels likes a string of episodes. The crooked grin that Harrison Ford flashes across every movie of his, is another trademark. There are certain friend characters and supporting cast that do come as a repeat but are hardly noticeable in the mayhem and cacophony, with most of the movie running time, devoted to Indie running away from villains or chasing behind villains. It is weird to imagine a hero character using whip to survive against enemies with bullets. But like true Indian movie hero, no bullet has Indies name written on it. May be there is a reason why he is called as “Indian”a jones!!! 

In this supposedly final installment, even thought Ford is over 80 years old, he does some brisk stunts in this movie as well and even thought the final shot shows his famous fedora is clipped to dry, I doubt if they would put away this franchise. When the last installment, “Kindgom of crystal skull” was launched Shia Labeouf was introduced as Indie’s son and possibly the flag bearer in future series. But apparently that guy had a fallout with the producers and his character was written off as killed in Vietnam war in this last installment. True to prevailing sentiment where every superhero is either feminized or shown as having a non-binary gender, there is a lady character, his supposed god daughter, who does the major heavy lifting in this movie. Though Ford has announced this would be his last movie of the franchise, having completed the agreed 5-part series, I wouldn’t be surprised, if the series has a relaunch of its own. But that would be a huge I, for I doubt if there could ever be any actor who can match the on-screen charisma of Ford. In many ways he is like Rajini – very old for the roles he plays and for the stunts he performs, but his charm, screen presence and charisma, carries the movie. 

The latest installment in many ways is a tribute to the series, with the initial portions involving a train heist, been made with de-aging technique, bringing back the Ford of the 80’s. When the portions involving the present-day Ford begins, it hits you real hard as to how old he looks on screen. The story metaphorically and literally involves time travel, where the Nazi villain has devious plans to kill Hitler and lead Germany to victory in WWII. When in the final scenes, as a character, he requests for him to be left behind, the lady character literally knocks him out and brings him back to original timeline, stating that they wouldn’t want to change history. This movie, is strictly for Indiana jones fans and those who are not familiar with the series, may not get much sense out of any of the sequences which are a throwback tribute from the very first installment. But any adventure genre fan with penchant for masala movies, will surely enjoy it with his pack of popcorn.