10 Characters That Single-Handedly Ruined Recent Movies
2. Helena Shaw - Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny
Say hello to Helena Shaw - cinema's worst goddaughter.
On paper, having Indiana Jones working with a more morally ambiguous character who represented the kind of archaeologist he used to be when he was a lot younger wasn't a bad idea at all; the trouble was that they completely messed up Indiana Jones' goddaughter (Phoebe Waller-Bridge).
The film doesn't allow her to grow at all and when the film concludes, she seems to be the same obnoxious, arrogant and selfish piece of work that she was at the start of the movie. She's a completely unlikable character, and that isn't helped by Phoebe Waller-Bridge's smug, arguably Razzie-worthy turn in the role.
Taken on its own terms, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny isn't even a terrible film, but it is dragged down a lot by this character, especially since the titular hero himself often plays second-fiddle to her, and Helena Shaw makes the prospect of revisiting Indiana Jones' final adventure a pretty daunting one.
Ironically, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, which came out around the same time, also had a morally grey female thief as the secondary lead and that character (Hayley Atwell) felt like what Helena Shaw would've been had she been done well. Funny timing there.