DetectiveFork said:I don't think this is petty criticism at all. It's a basic rule of drama that it's better for your main character to be taking action rather than just reacting to it or being carried along by it. The Indy in KotCS feels more like he's along for the ride than undertaking a quest on his own,
Reluctance has been a defining aspect of the Indiana Jones character from the beginning. It became more prominent in the Last Crusade though and went even further in Skull. In Raiders we see the reluctant action hero creep up in the fights with the Swordsman and German Mechanic. We see him not revel in victory over his battles, but suffer wearily in pain after them. This was something that helped humanize the Indy character and made people love the movie more than the usual action flick.
My favorite characterization of Indy is that seen in the opening of Raiders and almost all throughout Temple of Doom. He is a real go-getter in most of these scenes, pursuing treasure, fortune and glory of his own free will. In Temple of Doom, he rises to the level of a true hero, going back into the temple to rescue children he doesn't even know, and giving up the treasure he was pursuing at the end to help a poor village. I don't think this film really is as "dark" as people often say, even though it is the most violent Indiana Jones film. It has a very uplifting, positive message and portrays Indiana Jones at his most noble, selfless and heroic.
In Crusade, we see real reluctance began to seep in. After the young Indy intro, he's almost never really interested in searching for anything, not even the grail. He is simply pulled into the quest because he wants to save his father. Even at the end, the only reason he retrieves the Grail is because the Nazis have him kidnapped and force him to. This all seems to be a far cry from the treasure-hunting Indy we knew before. However the father-son relationship does work, and provides decent enough story momentum even though the grail quest just comes off as rehashed Raiders lite.
Skull simply takes this to the next level. Indy is constantly on the defensive. He spends at least half the movie being kidnapped and rekidnapped by the Russians. He's constantly running away from things rather than moving towards something. Like in Crusade, he only finds the skull because of clues that have been calculated by someone else and left for him. He seems to find the temple of Akator completely by accident. The only reason he wants to return the skull and find the aliens in the end is because someone "told him to." You would think this basic lack of character motivation would've raised some red flags with someone at the screenplay level. I agree it is a drain on the movie's storytelling momentum and gives you that feeling when it's over that you didn't get to watch Indy do very much at all, even though he's pretty much onscreen continuously. Unfortunately this lack of character action does make Indy seem older in this film, even though I think Harrison would've had the ability to successfully play him even younger than he was supposed to be here.