This Oscar Nominee Could Be the Next Indiana Jones

It seems every year more movie sequels and franchise remakes hit the silver screen. Often these reboots are reduxes of iconic movies, the type of cinema classics that will never be in need of a makeover. This reality leads top film critics like A.O. Scott to wonder, "Have the movie studios completely given up? Is originality extinct?" It seems so. 

If the Latino Review fueled rumors are true, the next un-necessary movie remake will be Indiana Jones. Talk is circulating that Disney wants to extend the Indiana Jones franchise in the same manner as James Bond — i.e. into infinitely — and their eye is on Bradley Cooper for the lead. 

If you saw the most recent Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the idea of yet another film in the franchise is likely to cause much distress. (It turns out that you can’t survive a nuclear blast inside a refrigerator.) Can't Indiana Jones just remain the '70s icon and action hero legend? Can't he always look like this? 

Twitter is taking none too kindly to the Cooper rumor, largely calling out the actor for not having the Ford gravitas. 

Jones isn’t the only beloved character on the reboot block. Variety reported that Pacino’s Tony Montana, the star of Scarface, is getting a new little friend. Pablo Laorrain, the director of the acclaimed Chilean film No, has been tapped by Universal to direct a "a re-imagining of the core immigrant story told in both the 1932 and 1983 films." The world is his!

A few of the recent reboots have been successful: The Christian Bale-Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy is the most prominent example, though Daniel Craig’s Bond updating was also well received (the first one, at least). However, the majority of these projects are painful; — see the Jeremy Renner Bourne Legacy, most of the Mission Impossible movies, or pick a superhero hero film any superhero film.

Right now the Indiana Jones rumor is nothing more than that. But if Hollywood insists upon an Indiana Jones remake, Cooper is a pretty benign choice — (squint hard enough and the rugged, scruffy, sun-kissed man could be a Harrison Ford relative). But do we really need to see anyone else putting on Ford's legendary get up and saving the day? Signs point to no.