REVIEW: Indiana Jones and the Relic of Destiny is pure nostalgia

Adventurers on duty, get ready to closely follow our review of the new film in the Indiana Jones franchise. First of all, it is worth alerting you that this text contains spoilers of the plot, mentioned purely as a complement to our review of the film. If you're planning to go to the movies knowing little or nothing about the story, here's a warning.

Indiana Jones is back (again)!

There's no way around it: just play a few notes of the fanfare that is the Indiana Jones theme song composed by the master John Williams, so that everyone who grew up watching the adventures of the most famous archaeologist in cinema will get goosebumps. The greatest treasure of the Indiana Jones franchise is not an ark, a precious stone or even a holy grail, but nostalgia, and for the protagonist, his worst enemy is undoubtedly time, inexorable and unshakable.

And time is exactly the theme of his new film, Indiana Jones and the Relic of Destiny, with a premiere scheduled for the 29th in theaters across the country. Directed by James Mangold, same as the excellent Ford v Ferrari, the fifth film in the franchise recounts one of, if not the greatest adventure yet for Dr. Henry Jones Jr. It takes us from the days of the end of the Second World War to the year of the landing of the man on the Moon, and it is also, possibly, the last escape of the aged university professor and adventurer.

The film opens with a long segment that takes place in 1944, where a rejuvenated Harrison Ford, in the role of Indy, is in search of yet another valuable artifact: the Spear of Longinus, or as it is more commonly known, the Spear of Destiny, which is in possession of the Nazis. With her, Hitler hopes to change the course of the war, which at that moment was already going from bad to worse for him.

Jones has the help of a fellow archaeologist, the clumsy Basil Shaw (Toby Jones, from the Harry Potter franchise) while in the clumsy way that only Indiana Jones can do, he ends up getting his hands on the artifact only to discover that it is nothing more than a cheap copy. from the original. In pursuit of him are dozens of Nazis, but his main opponent is the German physicist Jurgen Voller (Madds Mikkelsen, from the series Hannibal and the already classic 007: Casino Royale), as he has in his hands part of a relic of even greater power: the Antikythera, invention of Archimedes. Upon learning of its existence, Indiana decides to get it back at any cost.

As is customary in the franchise's films, there is a sequence of action-packed scenes sprinkled with humor as the much-coveted treasure repeatedly changes hands, including a chase and fight on top of the train in which the Nazis are carrying not only the treasure in game, but several valuable prizes stolen by them, reminding a lot of Indy's childhood rush, the one portrayed in The Last Crusade. In the end, as the train passes through the French Alps, Indiana and his friend manage to escape, and, by some miracle, in possession of the treasure, while Voller ends up being left behind.

A man out of time

Already in 1969, in New York, we see an old Jones, tired, grumpy and ready to retire. Short-tempered and awakened by the noise of his neighbors, he goes down the stairs of his building armed with a baseball bat, but is soon left in a vacuum by the young people partying downstairs when he receives the news of the moment, the arrival of the astronauts who stepped on the moon.

About to divorce Marien (Karen Allen's character in Raiders of the Lost Ark e Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull), whom he married at the end of the last film, but who ended up estranged after the death of the couple's son, Mutt (Shia Labeouf), our elderly hero moves on with his life as a university professor. A day that would be nothing out of the ordinary turns upside down when he is approached by his old friend's daughter, Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge, from the series Fleabag), with whom Jones has not been in contact for nearly twenty years.

Nonchalantly, Wombat, as she was nicknamed by Indiana in her childhood, wastes no time in revealing the reason for her so sudden visit: she is in search of the other half of Archimedes' invention, and based on her late father's notes, she has how to find her. But her motives prove murky, and as soon as Indy hands over the treasure, she's on the run, pursued by CIA agents led by Mason (Shaunette Renée Wilson). Black Panther), along with henchmen that we soon learn are Voller's men-at-arms, who worked with NASA on the creation of Apollo 11, under the pseudonym of Dr. Schmidt.

Leaving a trail of destruction at the university where our hero teaches, who ends up accused of murdering some employees at the hands of bandits, Indy seeks the help of his old friend Sallah (John Rhys-Davies, from Raiders of the Lost Ark e The Last Crusade), who now lives in the city as a taxi driver. From there, the adventure takes our beloved archeologist and ancient adventurer on yet another journey across the globe, starting with Morocco, where Indiana finally catches up with Helena participating in her unique way of being in the auction where she tries to sell the artifact. The two, together with Teddy (rookie Ethan Isidore), Wombat's partner and aspiring pilot, participate in yet another crazy chase through the streets of Tangier aboard a tuk tuk.

friends everywhere

Eventually, they end up resorting to the help of Captain Renny (Antonio Banderas), another of Jones' friends, as they are looking for the map that will lead them to what they are looking for, and it is found in the depths of the Aegean Sea. It is there that Jones again finds himself face to face with his greatest fear, snakes, or rather, in this case, eels, and after getting rid of Voller and his henchmen, the trio learns of their next destination, which coincidentally is where it all ended for Archimedes, Syracuse, Sicily.

In another beautiful shot, now on the coast of the Italian island, a still reluctant Helena remains beside her elderly godfather, accompanied by Teddy, and with the two minds obsessed with archeology together, they deduce that Shaw was right about the dangerous treasure of Archimedes and that this, in addition to detecting the location of temporal cracks, would also give access to them, that is, time travel. A date always scribbled in Helena's father's notes shows Voller's desired destination: the year 1939, the day before the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany.

It doesn't take long for Voller to get his hands on both parts of the Antikythera, and together with a wounded Jones at gunpoint with his Luger, he boards a plane heading for the rift, as he seeks to change the course of history, correcting the Fuhrer's great mistake. which was the trigger for the fall of Germany in the war, by killing the Nazi leader. But he didn't count on a miscalculation by the consecrated Greek mathematician, and the unusual journey of the villain, the hero and the heroine, who infiltrated the plane in one of the craziest scenes in the film, has a totally unexpected destination.

From this point forward, there's not much reason to go into detail and the surprise is worth appreciating when watching the film. The last twenty minutes of Indiana Jones and the Relic of Destiny circle around to connect to their firsts, with Indy questioning their value as he is now old and according to him, useless, and Helena is practically taking his place as the adventurous seeker of priceless treasures, now, to put them in the rightful place – at least in the old man's opinion, some disagree – the museum, getting rid of its ambition and greed in the process. 

Conclusion

Indiana Jones and the Relic of Destiny it is indeed a film watered by the purest juice of nostalgia, that cannot be denied. But unlike the last installment in the classic trilogy, crystal Skull, this fifth film brings a message, even if somewhat corny, but still quite strong that even when old, a person still has his value, and that despite being outdated, his life experience is valuable for those who will come in then. 

Everything indicates that this will be the last Indiana Jones adventure, and as Harrison Ford himself has stated in several interviews recently, no one but him will be able to wear the leather jacket and his famous fedora hat. Before Shia Labeouf freaks out and is cut off from any possibility of quotation of his now deceased character to take the place of Indy, now is perhaps the opportunity for the series to go in a new direction, with the endearing character of Waller-Bridge taking over the role. his godfather's place.

Mangold's direction brought exciting action scenes with the same charm that fans loved to see in the original trilogy, only now with the protection of special effects technology. They not only enhance the chaos surrounding Indy and his friends, but also give Ford, at 80 years of age, another opportunity to embody the younger version of himself, as Mark Hamill had on the series. The Mandalorian. The final result of this transformation is reasonable, as there are times when the magic proves to be flawed and the illusion ends up being undone. 

Even so, having the chance to see an Indiana Jones in full physical form, at least for a few minutes and obviously knowing that it only happens through technology, is still exciting, and the film as a whole is a lot of fun. The franchise was inspired by the 1930s action series shown in matinees in theaters, from which George Lucas and Steven Spielberg borrowed the entire look for their hero and his motivations when fighting all kinds of villains.

Indiana Jones and the Relic of Destiny follows the same formula and manages to deliver 2 hours and 22 minutes of emotion and nostalgia for those who have been following the character for almost 40 years. Anyone who has never even seen any of the adventures of the best-armed archaeologist in the seventh art may end up missing some of the references to old movies, gags e easter eggs contained in The Relic of Destiny, but even without knowing them, there's a lot to draw from the film itself.                

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Sources: Disney, Good Morning America, Wikipedia

Text proofread by: Pedro Bomfim (26/06/23)