Indy needed her until he got the antidote. Once he and Shorty got to the airfield, he should've ditched the bitch. She was liability. And it's not like Willie was in danger. In fact, she was doing just fine until Indy tried to use her as a hostage. Ok, so Lau discarded her. So what? Why was she willing to go with this man who basically just kidnapped her and held her hostage?
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She was a rack the writers/director thought was needed.
Yeah. She nearly single-handedly ruins the movie.
She is absolutely useless. She punched one guy on the rollercoaster. That's it.
Oh yeah I almost forgot....she hands Indy a bucket to fight Pat Roach. Don't want to short change her.
Willie was a fish out of water. It added to the audience reaction to the disgusting aspect of the film. She stayed with Indy because she tended to latch onto power and influence. Lau set up a dangerous situation for her which caused her to flee and embrace a new horizon. Indy did as he always did, react and adapt. She wasn't needed but she was there. Her arc went from a woman who was sycophantic and comfortable being cared for in a position of power and influence. By the end of the movie, she was an active participant taking out a group that was embodying the very position she was in at the beginning.
Yes the screaming did get a little old, but she had the strongest arc of the movie.
The power influence latching doesn't cut it for getting on the plane. That's not a real motivation for her character to get on the plane. There's nothing about getting on that plane that would cause her to say "here's a new horizon!"
Indy adapts to situations when he needs to. There's no motivation to react and adapt just for the sake of "Hey, I react and adapt!"
I don't actually recall why Willie got on the plane. Was she in danger of Lau or his sons?
No, and that's exactly what I mean. There's no reason for her to get on that plane, and there's no reason for Indy to want her to get on that plane.
She was mad at Lau when he just tossed her to her kidnapper (Indy), but she was in no danger.
Then it's sloppy writing.
I get that they wanted a rack to follow Indy, but they could have written a single line of dialog that would have given her a reason to get on the plane.
Think of it from her perspective. Lau was her guardian and he showed that he didn't care what happened to her. So she went with the safe bet. That's it. They literally just fled a violent situation and she didn't want to go back to any of that. So she got on the plane.
But you're missing that Indy wasn't a safe bet at all. The violent situation is between Lau and Indy, she was a bystander. They didnt flee it, Indy and Short Round did. Indy was her captor at that point. It's not like "theres only option A or option B." She has infinite options by not getting on the plane. She's was just a performer. If she wanted out of any bad situation, she could've done so in a normal safe way.
Bottom line is by her getting on the plane and Indy allowing her on the plane, you can practically hear they script writer's typrewriters click and chime. There's nothing organic about it.
Until you factor in that she's pampered and goes where it's safest. When she gets on the plane, it's immediately after the shootout and things were just calming down. Of course she'd get on the plane. Staying behind would be akin to returning to the situation. This is backed up by the fact that her initial character trait is to react rather than plan. Later we see this change in the movie as she gets soldiers to help Indy out in the end. She actively seeks help and brings it back. She didn't do that before.
Disagree. She wasn't in that situation. She was just in a shootout because Indy needed the antidote. Thats all. She was in no danger from Lau. She didn't betray Lau in any way. Sure, Lau was done with her, but there's nothing to indicate Lau slaughters his women after he's done with them. Worst case scenario for her is she goes back to America with her tail between her legs. There's absolutely no reason for her to believe that this stranger who kidnapped her is her only way out.
shareAside from them actually getting out of the building and leaving a shootout?
I get your point, but disagree. Her getting on the plane makes sense to me. You don't agree. That's it. It's probably because I don't mind her in the film.
Indy knew Willie was in possession of the antidote. Thats the only reason why she was involved in a shootout between Indy and Lau's men. She had no reason to flee, she just got caught up because Indy took her.
shareShe was hot, and the film needed a woman/a love interest. I see what you're saying from an in-universe POV, but I'm one of the character's defenders. I thought she was entertaining, and I love the Indy, Willie, Short Round surrogate family dynamic, although it always bothers me that we never find out what happened to the latter.
shareYeah, I can respect an opinion that likes her. But if her very presence doesn't make any sense, it doesn't help her image of being being the useless, annoying damsel.
shareLau had finished with her, so, I suppose she had nowhere else to go.
I don't think those old serials, upon which the Indy films were based, ever thought too hard about the whys and wheres of the characters' motivations. They simply used any excuse to put various people together and move them from A to B.
Yeah I get it, but I'm not on board. A follow up to Raiders deserves more thought than "Hey these people are in a situation together. Why? I dunno!"
shareIt's clearly bad writing. There are other instances of it in TOD: shit happening because the movie says so.
From a producer standpoint, even more stupid, they obviously wanted a "love interest" for Indy. Since Marion was out, and the scrappy sidekick was Short Round (as lame as Willie btw), they went the fish out of water, useless pretty bimbo direction. She is the abysmal result of this trajectory, and like you mentioned, even worse is the way they force such character in the story.
Raiders is a masterpiece, and it's aimed at adults. TOD, on the other hand, is a teenager oriented "ride", so Lucas and Spielberg were busier thinking about excitement, rather than great writing.
Be honest, if you were in the situation she was in you would have shit your pants and screamed for help.
shareHuh? This is such a subpar entry in this series. 🤣🤣🤣
shareI didn't like her much myself. She was a bratty bitch who screamed a lot, and whose sole duty was to be Indy's squeeze for the film. To be honest, I would have cheered if she had died at some point in the movie.
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