Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

4 outta 5

There’s a weird release pattern to the (now five) Indiana Jones movies. The Steven Spielberg directed trilogy ran through the 1980s, and then almost two decades for the 4^th movie Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and then another long gap until this fifth and apparently final movie, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Due to the years passing, this is more a rumination upon Indy’s age and his lack of place in a modern world (well, “modern” as in now he’s in 1969). But even with Indy complaining about aches and loss, there is still some fun action and wild twists. The end of Dial is probably up there with some of the craziest ideas in the series and the last movie had aliens in it! This is still a solid entry in a fun series, although not as good as Raiders or Last Crusade but, really, what are? Anyway, Dial still has Indy doing Indy stuff for most of the somewhat overlong running time, although he is somewhat frustratingly sidelined in his own movie.

Professor Henry “Indiana” Jones (Harrison Ford) is living a solitary life in 1969 New York and is settling into his retirement. He unexpectedly gets a visit from his goddaughter, Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who is trying to find an ancient mystical artifact known as the dial. An artifact that also drove her father, Basil (Toby Jones) crazy. Also looking for the dial is Nazi turned US space engineer, Dr. Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), along with Voller’s squad of goons led by Klaber (Boyd Holbrook). Voller believes the dial can turn back time, but Helena wants to auction it off to the highest bidder. Soon Helena and Doctor Jones are jumping across the world to try to obtain the pieces of the dial but if it falls into Voller’s hands, it may cause untold chaos across the world.

The film opens with a rocking flashback to the end of World War II in 1945 where we see Indy in his prime. Using some fantastic digital de-aging VFX trickery, which was enhanced because Lucasfilm has a ton of footage of Harrison Ford in his 30s and 40s during his Star Wars and Indiana Jones heydays, it really does look like a missing piece of the Indiana Jones series. While Raiders and Last Crusade are set in the 1930s when the Nazis are at their peak, this is Indy fighting off the crumbling Nazi regime as the Nazis grab as much loot as they can. While de-aged Indy looks great, Ford’s vocal performance sounds mostly like his older current voice. The 1945 sequence features lots of quirky moments like Indy disguising himself as a Nazi officer, or just a cool action beat where Indy throws his fedora in Voller’s face before knocking the Nazi out.

The predominant setting is Indy in 1969, and the cut from ’45 young Indy heroically walking off with his buddy to ’69 old Indy drunkenly passed out on his chair and being woken up by the Beatles blaring is effective. Director James Mangold, taking over for Spielberg, uses the same tactic he did in Logan by using an aging iconic pop-culture character to ruminate on age and loss. Now, that worked perfectly with Logan because he’s cursed by longevity. Maybe not so much with Indiana Jones, as he is about adventure. Since Harrison Ford is in his 80s, Indy should be complaining about age and ignoring it like Crystal Skull did would be jarring. But it’s not really that Indy got old, it’s more that his existence is miserable. Revelations of what happened to the family he acquired in Crystal Skull is dramatic but also a downer. Ford is still great as he has some awesome line deliveries, and he sells frustration and being punched perfectly. Indy’s decision at the climax is emotionally affecting based upon what has happened to him, and Ford sells the moment effectively.

Since Indy is older, even shot and bleeding for a significant portion of the climax, a lot of the adventuring is up to his sidekick, Helena. Waller-Bridge makes for an entertaining foil to Indy, if sometimes annoyingly hyper-competent. Indiana Jones always has a sidekick; arguably in Crystal Skull had way too many. Helena comes with her own smaller sidekick, Teddy (Ethann Isidore), which is sort of a repeat of the Indy and Short Round dynamic from Temple of Doom. Jones as Basil has an effective scene showing his obsession with the dial. Mikkelsen’s Nazi is trying to change the Nazis losing the war, and there’s a scene where Voller disrespects a hotel worker that shows how evil Voller is. Holbrook as his main goon is a ruthless killer like he was in Logan. There’s a complex relationship between Voller and his government handlers that ultimately it doesn’t matter.

The opening action scene is so great, the rest kind of falters. There’re a few decent chases although nothing as good as some of the bits from the original trilogy. An underwater action scene is too murky to follow. But the finale twist involving the dial is large scale and enjoyably bonkers. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a fun way to revisit an iconic character that may falter in a few spots, but it pays off emotionally at the end. Indy may be older, but he can still crack the whip with style.