Christian Toto is a film critic who thinks he’s a right-wing pundit — and the Media Research Center is giving him space to indulge that. For instance, we’ve caught him complaining about a film about early abortion rights activists, whining about cartoon shows being too black, having a fit of Brian Stelter Derangement Syndrome, cheering Bill Maher and Elon Musk for ranting about the “woke mind virus” (whatever that is), and trying to exempt “Bosom Buddies” from right-wing culture wars against transgender people and drag queens. As a right-wing pundit, Toto is compelled to spout right-wing talking points — the chief one these days being labeling everything that doesn’t neatly fit in his highly biased worldview as woke. He rushed to hang the “woke” label on the new Indiana Jones movie in a May 27 column — never mind that he had not seen the movie yet:
Social media hasn’t been kind to “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” despite no one having seen the fifth film in the franchise.
It’s woke, users cried, citing early snippets, test screening rumors and other minutiae. Co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge of “Fleabag” fame is the new Indy, they cried, supplanting Harrison Ford’s beloved hero to appease Hollywood’s female empowerment mandate.
Except no one had actually seen the finished film to confirm those rumors, and director James Mangold indirectly refuted the film’s replacement theory.
That changed this week.
The sequel’s Cannes Film Festival premiere allowed select film critics to screen the movie, slated for a June 30 release. And the early notices are less than kind.
And what purportedly makes the movie “woke”? It sets up someone who isn’t a white male and not as studly-looking as Harrison Ford to take over the franchise. No, seriously, that’s it. Toto was soi shook up by this development that it declared it a “fear”:
Variety confirms what many suspected about the belated sequel – it’s a vehicle for Disney, Inc. to replace Ford’s Indy with Waller-Bridge’s heroine.
[…]Others feared Waller-Bridge’s character would be Hollywood’s latest Mary Sue figure — a flawless heroine lacking the shades of gray that make heroes pop off the screen. Think both Rey and Rose Tico from the recent “Star Wars” sequels.
Here’s The Hollywood Reporter confirming those fears, too.
[…]Jones may be riding off into the sunset, but the reviews suggest his replacement has already been found. Now, will audiences embrace Indy’s goddaughter, or will she become the latest example of a woke figure alienating the masses.
Toto needs to talk with a mental health professional if feels so threatened by someone who isn’t a white male being an action hero.
Toto spent his July 8 column gloating that the film is unlikely to make back its production and marketing costs (which even he admits were overly high), going on to rant that “elite Hollywood news outlets leave out critical reasons for the film’s failure. Again” — which is to say that the film is “woke” because it sets up somone who isn’t a white male to take over the franchise:
The film endured reshoots during the production process, which isn’t abnormal in La La Land, so it’s possible that baton-passing ending got nixed in the end.
Team Disney could have handled those rumors better. Instead, director James Mangold attacked “trolls” for spreading misinformation.
It’s Marketing 101. Don’t insult your audience. The “Ghostbusters” crew learned that lesson the hard way.
Those “Destiny” rumors registered with both conservatives and die-hard Indy fans. Early reviews, even from liberal outlets like the BBC, shared how Waller-Bridge’s character dominates the action at Indy’s expense.
“Destiny” turns Ford’s character into a “Damsel in Distress” waiting for Helena to rescue him during another sequence. She even decks Indy with one punch at a critical moment in the film.
Did reporters mention these worries in their post-game analysis, which traveled at the speed of social media for months on end? Of course not.
Did Toto mention that Ford is pushing 80, so it makes little sense to force him to do stunts and other action-hero things the way he did 40 years ago? Of course not.
Toto never explains how, exactly, not having a white male take over the franchise is “woke” (let alone his definition of “woke” in general) or why it offends him and the “Red State USA” he purports to be speaking for. Instead, he closed with another rant:
You are 100% correct, we are sick of this woke trash.
Maybe now Disney will clean out Lucasfilm and get people in there with some fresh ideas, they’ve ruined Star Wars and Indy. It’ll be too bad they’re going to leave the place a mess.
Toto thinks Star Wars got “ruined” by “woke trash” because “Disney turned one of film’s most iconic heroes, Luke Skywalker, into a burned-out hermit who rebelled against The Force in ‘The Last Jedi.'” He’s clearly not a fan of storytelling that conflicts with his narrow right-wing worldview — a close-mindedness that would seem to make him a bad movie reviewer.