I appreciate the kind comments from folks who enjoyed the video, and I almost equally appreciate the comments from people telling me they unsubscribed because I acknowledged that racism exists. I am so glad to be rid of people like you.

Brendan Frasier in the Mummy I'd say is a good Jones-like. He fails a few times, has emotional moments with his family in both films. Is likeable and courageous.

There's an alternate universe where we got an Uncharted movie like the Nathan Fillion fan film

"I didn't need the [Uncharted] movie to be good, but I needed it to not have Mark Wahlberg." Man, I wish I could sub twice.

Just a reminder also, the Mummy made the indigenous people badass The Majai alongside Ardith Bay are some of the most honorable and bad ass warriors in the franchise Especially in the second film for better or worse, where they take on the Anubis army head on.

I think another important aspect of why The Mummy and National Treasure also works is because like series like Pirates of the Caribbean, none of the main cast are amazing heroic people, they're motivated mainly by greed at the start and walk a fine line between smug and devious but also charming and by the end of the movie they end up growing as a person or come together to beat a greater evil. I do think we have kind of lost that edge a bit in a lot of summer blockbusters a bit and it's why movies like Bullet Train were such a breath of fresh air.

The mummy and Indiana Jones are ICONIC for what they dish out in terms of story, both having endearing characters which as you say have endearing traits like making mistakes, failing, and then struggling to succeed. They both take full advantage of amazing soundtracks and highly imaginative stories, it makes you feel like it’s an actual story instead of well…a story that feels brain numbingly boring because the end goal is secondary to the audience, it’s the characters which are the most important. Bare I’m mind the fact that a lot of movies just want to make really high pitched fast paced action.😊

The fact they didn't cast Bruce Campbell to play Sully in Uncharted is a crime. If you've ever seen Burn notice it's basically the same relationship and he essentially plays Sully in that.

I think about why *Raiders of the Lost Arc is such a good movie ALL THE TIME and you really hit the nail on the head! 1. Indy always starts at a disadvantage 2. HE MAKES MISTAKES CONSTANTLY 3. Barely surviving each trial, he shows his ingenuity, his creativity, and his determination, which are actually the things that make him 'cool'. The people making decisions in these modern movies don't want their action heroes to be cringefail losers so they skip all the important stuff (all the good stuff!) and only show the wins. Without the failure or mistakes, the win feels empty and the character is completely uninteresting. Great video!

Example of The Rock in a good Indiana Jones type movie: The Rundown. Example of Emily Blunt being a badass female lead: Edge of Tomorrow.

Another "aha" part of the church scene in TLC is him saying " X never marks the spot".

Yes! The Mummy is amazing, and it is like dividing both sides of Indy into two different characters. Evie is a indeed a great character and Rachel Weisz pulls it off incredibly, just like Brendan retains much of the vulnerability that makes this type of action hero work, just like Harrison.

In very early production Mark Wahlberg was ment to play Drake and had already signed on to feature... the film was apparently delayed and then eventually after rewrites Holland was cast as Drake and because Wahlberg was still signed up they gave him the role as Sully...

Your video essays are some of my favourites purely on based on the aesthetic, ignoring all the good stuff you've got going on other than that. 100% agree about Mark Wahlberg, always

I recently rewatched Raiders of the Lost Ark and I had never noticed him joking about how he's not actually obeying the antiquities laws and is aware of it. That had completely flown over my head in the numerous times that I watched the movie. It's kind of obvious watching him work that he isn't the sort to do a lot of paper work, but hearing him early on in the first movie be like, yeah, I don't do that and you know that I don't do that changes the character the way that character feels at the start and makes his willingness to go to all the trouble of finding the lost ark to help find his friend a bit more interesting.

I’m curious what your opinions are on the National Treasure movies? I feel like they run that fine line of being fun action movies while also incorporating some history, but Nicolas Cage can also be very over the top.

I always admire the way you analyze these productions, and put things into perspective. For example, I didn't hate Jungle Cruise, but there was something about it that made me feel "Meh". I couldn't put my finger on what it was, but now I understand. Loved the video! I hope to see more of this.

Nerd is the wrong word. He’s professionally studious with a manly swagger not nerdy at all.

I really enjoy your video essays! No pressure to make more any time soon or anything. But I always find your perspectives to be very well-thought out and entertaining and I would not be mad if you continued to drop videos like this every so often. I totally respect your creative process and it's not like fun essays that you wanna spend a bunch of time working on pop into your head every week or anything. Great video and I hope all is well :)

Romancing the Stone and The Mummy are my favorite non Indiana Jones adventure movies. Oh and Jumanji (the recent one with Dwayne Johnson).

I think Tom Holland could have been a great Nathan Drake but the movie was genuinely lost the moment I saw Mark Wahlberg as Sully. The movie had some decent moments but was overall relatively forgettable compared to what it could have been

Sooooo looking forward to watching this. Just got off a brutal shift with OT. Seeing this in my notifs was fantastic

I enjoyed "Dial of Destiny". It wasn't perfect, but they did a good job (from my perspective) of making the characters (as you say) people I wanted to go on and adventure with, particularly at the time they happened to be adventuring; so that all worked out.

well, this youtube channel *definitively* has a likeable character.^^

Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and John Williams alongside Harrison Ford. Nuff said. Also the love, passion, and commitment with the cast, crew, writers, practical effects artists, EVERYONE

I could listen to you talk about anything forever but movies and film especially. I'm not even all that familiar with Indiana Jones but hearing you talk about why Jungle Cruise didn't work was an eye-opening delight. I also have a newly found sympathy for Uncharted fans haha. Keep up the good work!! I'm always looking forward to your next video essay. 👍👍👍

This is the kind of videos I want more of. Thank you for caring more about putting out a great exploration of a viewpoint than trying to sell content. Im happily subscribed

I really enjoyed the “glasses off/glasses on” gag at the top of the video. I got a good laugh out of it! 😊

Glad I finally got a chance to watch this! Great video! I love the format, and I think we all love the subject matter. I hope you do more like this in the future!

Always happy to see you upload :)

You really do have a knack for making video essays about movies and I want more of them, but I respect that you only make them when you have something to say. Maybe that has something to do with why yours always hit? 🤔

I think what makes Indiana Jones work so well over most other action adventure characters, is the same reason why James Bond works so well in the original Ian Fleming novels. Take the first appearance of the character in 1953’s Casino Royale, for example. In a book bond is introduced as a very experienced, and capable agent of the British Secret Service. He’s a man who has killed at least twice before he knows that in order to stay alive, he hast to be extremely careful. But in the same book, he gets overconfident and loses twice then is pretty brutally tortured. I if I was pretty hard for his female companion in Casino Royale, and his even contempt, with resigning from the Secret Service just to marry her. But when she dies, he goes to the cold in calculating secret agent we all know. He deals with depression in 1954 is live and let die, as well as 1961s. You only live twice after his wife is murdered about four hours after their wedding. Like Indiana Jones, James Bond was written in a way so we could feel like a normal person with his own flaws. A lot of riders today completely forget that in order for a character to be relatable you need to make them human. This is part of the reason why “ because feminism“ is actually in really good argument as to why a lot of movies fail. A lot of movies today that have female leads. Focus solely on the female lead being amazing that they forget to include an actual story, or make the story of the movie, so secondary to identity politics, that it’s pretty much nonexistent. A really good example of this is the entirety of the Star Wars sequels trilogy. The character of Ray is a textbook example of feminist power fantasy where you have a female character that is it amazing at absolutely everything with no explanation. Like knowing how to use a light saber that she’s only seen once for 15 seconds better than someone who’s been trained with one for 20 years. Just knows how to fix Han Solo ship better than the guy who owned it for 50 years. That’s the same problem that Emily Blunt’s character has in jungle Cruise. She’s so good at everything that she basically has no flaws. And a lot of the criticism of having films like that where they have female leads with almost no flaws is often condemned a sexist just because they couldn’t write the characters properly. There are a lot of films with actually pretty well written, female characters and female leads. Take the 2018 version of tomb raider, for example. Was it perfect? No. But the version of Laura croft regarding the film Natalie was extremely capable, but actually felt like she could be a real person and did have her own flaws and insecurities. Same thing with the 1990s version with Angelina Jolie.

No wonder Tom Holland announced a break off acting. Uncharted as a production had to have been stressful as hell

Thanks again for a really great video Stephan. I people with the money can really mess up a project. When those people look at charts to determine where they want a money to go it can hurt it.

Jungle Cruise is still enjoyable, and I find both Lily and Frank relatable with their flaws, which still matter because it’s part of what has them be them, and the movie shows that there’s nothing wrong with having flaws, especially if other people just don’t like them for whatever reason, because that’s what we all literally go through. Literally every single thing in life It’s always truly going to have at least one person who’s not going to like it no matter what no matter how otherwise it may seem. And I actually like it better than the first 2 Indiana Jones in the mummy overall

Great essay, nice editing

The Indiana Jones films work because they are really relationship dramas disguised inside an adventure. That's why 1 and 3 work better than 2 and 4; much more effort was made to show us the importance of the fractured relationship between people we care for (thanks to good writing and acting) and then we are given what we hoped for - a happy emotional ending and as almost an aside the quest is also completed.

You are right! It is all about character story and acting performance of the actors. This was brilliantly analysized with the Star Trek movies.

Haven't read every comment, so apologies if this is repetition, but part of the development hell 'Uncharted' experienced was that Mark Wahlberg was attached to the project for so long he was originally supposed to play Nate. He aged out of Drake and into Sully by the time they were ready to make a movie.

When she says she was a child, she doesn’t mean she was under age. She means she was young and he was older. That’s it. She wasn’t a “child”

Your point about needing the main guy to be flawed is so accurate. And that’s why Daniel Craig in Casino Royale is such a great reimagining of James Bond. You go from Pierce Brosnan, flawless and effortlessly cool, to a rugged, fallible Bond in Daniel Craig. And you get a phenomenal movie and one of the best in the long history of 007.

The doc oc edit is underrated

Love your work man. Also looking forward to more Fist Master

My brother-in-art, this was an excellent video! Your film theory & criticism is by far your best content. Please keep it up!

That was a great review and detailed analysis! Never seen your videos before but you definitely got an intrigued subscriber now!

This was a highly enjoyable video. I actually laughed out loud a couple of times, which is rare for me when watching these sorts of videos. I thought your analysis was really strong, your editing was also really good and I’m surprised that I haven’t seen one of your videos before, but I am subscribing because this was excellent stuff!! Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the lost Ark and Indiana Jones, the last crusade or two of my favourite movies, and I also love the Mummy. I feel like you did a great job explaining what makes them so good and what made those other films weak. ❤

Another Stephen video essay let's gooooooo!

Oh my god theres a stephan video this year? Sweet!

The Mummy with Fraser is a good substitute and Romancing the Stone with douglas is also a good adventure flick

He didn't sleep with Marion until they were on that boat.

Thank you for being so honest in these.

Just making the main character immortal is such a big mistake. I suppose it is possible to make it work and let him remain interesting and vulnerable despite such a predicament but I can't recall a single immortal character that managed it. Closest is probably Captain Jack from the Doctor Who universe.

Babe, new Stephan video essay came out. Tbh I’m still waiting on one for Dead Man’s Chest. That Curse of the Black Pearl video was a great one.

Love the first three movies, but "Raiders" it's the crown jewel of modern action Adventure cinema! Ask Stephen Sommers, The director of The Mummy, and of all these three gems; Raiders, Temple of Doom, and Last Crusade, he will say the first Indy movie

Now that I gave my opinion on a small section of the video, I did watch the rest. I found Stephen's take on these films to be spot on!

Jungle Cruise should have been the Tale Spin cartoon show but on a boat. Hugh Jackman should have been Victor Sullivan in Uncharted.

words good you have. talking happens. great time.

Your video was great, but I also feel like you missed an opportunity analyzing Tintin, which along with The Mummy probably comes the closest to capturing that Indy Magic.

I believe Mr. Stephan is right: To make kickass characters relateable you do not even have to give them internal flaws; what works as well is stacked odds against the characters. But then again you need an equally strong motivation for that character and noone can be bothered to come up with something like that. (Btw, I had Pocahontas in mind writing this comment. Never watched the movie though. Does it apply?)

The scissoring part is why i am subscribing to the channel.

Enjoyed the heck out of this. Good job.

Dude, just wanna say, big props for admitting that Crystal Skull’s opening is fun. Indy silhouetted against the mushroom cloud is breathtaking. Props, man.

13:41 Frank should think the Jaguar is domesticated but every time he comes back from feeding it he's covered in claw marks, and he just is way too over confident about it, then it could pay off later with the Jaguar eating a guy. And Frank has to let the Jaguar go, and it bums him out but it's not supposed to be tamed because it's a ton of muscle that wants to be free in the jungle, like a metaphor.

as a women my input on the Jungle Cruise thing is, well for one i haven't watched the movie but hearing you talk about it and knowing the kind of strong woman writing common in big budget things I have to say, like, what if it was more of a struggle? I mean it should be a serious imposition and WHY she has to be so forceful and strong willed to get anything. Her against the world more or less. It feels like it should be something thay chafes and hurts her and honestly if that's how it is in the film that's a decent writing choice because sexism sucks now when it's not wild to have a woman be a scientist. Maybe she also has a hard time letting people in because she has to maintain a tough exterior to be respected also that one scene of her brother you showed was incredible, thank you

Anyone remember the 90s live action Jungle Book movie? Romancing The Stone. Cutthroat Island. The Mask of Zorro. When I think of those films I remember real characters in authentic real settings and environments with raw physicality and earned spectacle. And I'd agree that The Mummy is still among the best of these, even with it's heavy use of cgi, at the time it was cutting edge visual effects and really the only way of bringing that story to life.

Good work, mate.

Have you seen the Uncharted fanfilm? That is what the movie should have been. ;_; That feel when a fanfilm manages a cast so spot on you can't believe it's happening - and that's ontop of staying completely true to the emotional experience of the games.

This guy says he doesn't like movies by committee, but does he realize his entire personality is built by committee. It's like watching an AI output of the prompt. Millenium youtuber explains movie archetype to show he went to college.

I think the lack of dynamic filmmaking in modern action adventure flicks has something to do with it. Maybe that's because filmmakers are trying to go back to basics because they feel like everything has been done already or they are told they can't by the people holding the money.

I haven’t even watched yet and I have the answer: Harrison ford is cool. That’s it. He’s fucking cool

Raiders had a clear cut, simplistic and false villain. Indiana Jones is also imperfect and the movie doesnt try to hide his imperfections, making him that much more relatable

X marks the spot scene in the last crusade is both for showing what Indy see but also as a joke from a scene he had in the classroom where he said that: X never ever marks the spot. Still better than Uncharted movie ;) But nothing will ever top Indiana Jones. Great video essay.

The "Oh No!" at 3:27 killed me

It's you, Dwayne the rock Johnson, you've been the Jungle Cruise this whole time

What do you mean by Indy doesn't always get the girl? He sleeps with every woman in the films except his students and Irina Spalko. He slept with Marion so much they had a kid. Oh sure Elsa died, Willie didn't last long, but there is no way you can say he did not "get the girl", even if he didn't keep her. If you include games and books and comics there are tons where he does not, but I thought you were talking about the movies. In the movies, which are to an extent borrowing this from Bond, he absolutely 100% gets the girl, through a combination of his being awesome and engaging then mentally and emotionally, it's not a reward for his saving the day, it's always genuine interest on their part. His attractiveness in this respect is an essential part of the formula, so that statement really stuck out to me and I had to write this essay. Now I'll watch the video, that it's off my mind. Nope, I'm out about halfway through. You do not understand Indiana Jones, and you should not have made this video. Down vote and goodbye.

The best way to describe Jungle Cruise is the cutscene compilation of the Jumanji video game.

20:00 Since you are also reviewing video game characters, I would love to see your take on Amicia de Rune from the "A Plague Tale" franchise. After playing the game a lot of commenters call her one of the greatest female protagonistic characters created in fiction, because she is a VERY flawed character (that even makes some call her a mass murderer), that constantly tries to overcome her weaknesses and pushing through, and has a very tragic character arc, that leaves players in tears (look up some of the ending playthrough videos, that show some players literally breaking down).

Earned a subscription. Also, he succeeds in Temple too, and then willingly gives back the stone. He went to hell looking for fortune and glory, he ascends a new man, as the man saved rather than the savior.

Enjoyed the video, just felt the video would benefit from more direct comparisons of each movie to Indiana jones and why it worked better in jones.

One other movie that I feel should have also been brought up here was the Adventures of Tintin, another excellent adventure movie made by Spielberg that genuinely captures the feel of Indiana Jones. The main character Tintin may be presented as a five-star badass that excels at almost anything, yet he is balanced out by the more vulnerable Captain Haddock who is portrayed as a bumbling alcoholic who slowly develops into a better person as the story goes on. In a way, the movie felt like it was centered more on Haddock than the title character himself. That's not to say that Tintin wasn't a vulnerable character at all, though. He had his moments such as being on the receiving end of slapstick a few times, getting the MacGuffins taken from him near the end, and does end up taking the brunt of Haddock's bumbling antics. He even outright declares he's given up before Haddock snaps him out of his funk when his development kicks in. The dynamic that those two characters had was really good. And it's all tied together with great set pieces, animation, and action that absolutely does wear the spirit of Indiana Jones on it's sleeve. Still waiting on that sequel 12+ years later!

That intro remix goes unreasonably hard

Curious have you seen The Librarian movies?

i get the impression that, that version of Sully was written with Bruce Willis in mind, and then somebody convinced somebody that Mark Whalberg was a Bruce Willis type.

Haven't watched yet, but the answer is John Williams. :P

Your comments on the "made by committee" productions are much appreciated. Also that brief edit of Always Sunny in Philadelphia was perfect. I've found myself in an unfortunate yet completely comfortable situation where I really can't trust someone's opinion, ethics or priorities if they aren't an Always Sunny fan . . . because of the implication. Lol

Sam elliot should have been sully in the uncharted movie.

Worked. Not so sure it still works given the recent films.

Haha the blurred foot😂😂

It’s been a hot minute and I saw you uploaded a video so imagine the look on my face tuning into this video for the first time XD

Antonio Banderas is wasted outside comedy. I mean, Mask of Zorro? (you put the pointy end into the other guy) The Mariachi? c'mon

I would also say Lovecraft Country captures the spirit of Indiana Jones just as well as the mummy

Pulling a Critical Drinker at the end there lol

Silent hero - INDIANA JONES

Mark was supposed to be Nate 11 years ago (when this movie was supposed to release) but was delayed time after time, and they moved him up to Sully ig. I was so excited for uncharted and it hurts it sucks

I admit I've never seen any Mummy films and have vague memories of Jungle Cruise. I will try to form my own opinion about Dial of Destiny when it comes out because the reviews tend to either be prejudiced or make blanket statements and paint the film as inherently good or bad. I liked Gregory in Jungle Cruise as well because he was written like an actual human being rather than a a vain token to tick boxes.

My brother, dad, and I all went to see Tom Holland Uncharted, I thought it was decent enough at first but I’ve increasingly disliked it ever since. My brother was disappointed from the get-go and probably wonders why I love the games so much, my dad has been getting peeks and glimpses at Uncharted since I started the first game and he at least gets the appeal. He immediately knows who I’m talking about when I mention “Nathan Drake” and even “Sully”! I actually love Uncharted and Indiana Jones for mostly-different reasons despite them being my favorite video game and film franchises, respectively, playing the LEGO Indy games and the little I’ve played of Staff of Kings kind of shows me why- unfortunately, there’s so no adequate film adaptation of Uncharted (bar the Fillion short that I still haven’t seen) so I can’t compare it to Indiana Jones in that way.

I love Indian Jones. Who's this other guy?

Because the franchise was created by 4 talented people 1) Steven Spielberg 2) The person who created Indiana Jones: George Lucas 3) The person who IS Indiana Jones: Harrison Ford 4) The person whose is the glue to the Franchise: John Williams

I think another reason why the “X” scene from Last Crusade works is because earlier Indy say that x never ever marks the spot

Dude, you gave me a brain aneurysm with those first 30 seconds 😂😂