The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The African Queen. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. There was a time when the modern blockbuster was synonymous with a filmmaking style that emphasized a sense of wonder and discovery, epic quests for wealth and glory, and the exploration of exotic, tangible locations — in other words, the adventure film.
That time has come and gone, however. The adventure film is a fading relic of a bygone era; superhero films have overtaken the genre’s box-office dominance, while its tropes and narrative beats have been assimilated by science fiction and fantasy franchises like Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. Since the start of the 2020s, the genre’s only notable mainstream releases have been Uncharted, a video game adaptation, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, a fifth installment in a 45-year-old franchise. Back in 2003, however, Disney and relative newcomer Gore Verbinski breathed fresh life into the genre with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and its 2006 sequel, Dead Man’s Chest, brought the franchise to its zenith while also setting up what should have been its swan song.
