Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Starring: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridges, Mads Mikkelsen, Ethann Isidore, Boyd Holbrook, Antonio Banderas, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Shaunette Renee Wilson, Thomas Kretschmann, Nasser Memarzia
Directed by: James Mangold
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure
2023

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) must find two mysterious artifacts before a former Nazi officer (Mads Mikkelsen) can retrieve them, giving him the power to change history.

Review:

Tim: It's so bizarre to me that a new Indiana Jones movie came out in 2023 and I didn't go see it in theaters. When I finally did watch the film, I felt justified in my decision. Oh sure, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a better movie than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. That's not surprising. What's surprising is how close it was. The previous film (shockingly, 15 years ago now) had some absolutely terrible moments in the script. Moments like nuking the fridge or the monkey swing through the jungle- stupid scenes that ruined the film. This one doesn't have any of those, thankfully. So why didn't I like this film more? That's somewhat complicated, but let's go.

I have to admit, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny feels precisely like a movie in the franchise should feel. James Mangold steps in for Steven Spielberg and it feels like he copied his every move. That's a big problem I had with this film- it feels like a copy. It goes through the motions, giving us exactly the kind of scenes we'd expect. The problem is Harrison Ford is now 15 years older than the last time, when he was arguably too old to play the role. This movie does everything well and nothing outstanding. It feels like a pure continuation of the story and themes from the previous film, it offers nothing new. By aping every move from previous films, it gives us watered down versions of those actions. The stunts feel less impressive (Ford is 80 years old, for Pete's sake), the story is a slight variation of things we've seen before. None of it is bad, which is why I liked the movie. The downside is that none of it is especially exciting, nothing is urgent about this film. That's why I was perfectly content to wait for it to come to streaming. I had a fun time watching it, but I'll likely rarely ever think of this movie again.

Playing it extremely safe might not have been the worst idea. The story is solid and feels appropriate for this franchise. What makes things worse is the constant, heavy use of CGI. Everything in this film felt artificially created. I get the de-aging technology for Ford (which actually looked amazing, it's come so far!), but so much of this film wasn't real and it shows in most every action sequence. The whole thing feels inauthentic. This film needed to feel grittier, more real-life. None of that took place. I cringed at some of the visual effects here. At times they were impressive (the ancient battle is wonderful) and at times, they were so obvious that it took me out of the story. You can't make a movie like this and computer-generated most of it.

I always love seeing Harrison Ford in this role, so it was a big plus. He felt comfortable in the role here. I complained about his performance in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but it felt like we got the old Indy back here. It's just a shame he is so old at this point. I wish they started making sequels decades before they did. Still, Ford is iconic in this role and it was great having him back. I'm surprised by how much I disliked Phoebe Waller-Bridge here. I thought her character was awful, insufferable, and her performance didn't help. I know people have been raving about her, but my first time seeing her on screen was a disappointment. I didn't enjoy her performance at all. Mads Mikkelsen always makes a great antagonist, but the casting did feel a little on-the-nose. He's a talented actor and plays the part well, but it was likewise an extremely safe choice. I loved seeing Antonio Banderas in an Indiana Jones movie, but his role was so small. Shaunette Renee Wilson was really impressive, but alas, her role likewise was too small. I wasn't a big fan of Ethann Isidore. I felt like the whole story with his character and Waller-Bridge's felt lackluster. It was an obvious recreation from Temple of Doom, just incredibly less effective. It did not work and it was one of the worst parts of the film. I loved seeing John Rhys-Davies, we can never get enough of him. Toby Jones was a wonderful addition, he always makes every film better. Boyd Hollbrook did a great job elevating his villainous character to unexpected levels. I loved the inclusion of Karen Allen for a brief scene. As a whole, the cast was good, but mixed.

I thought the story was generally quite good. The idea of a dial built by Archimedes that impacted time was brilliant and it felt perfectly suited for this franchise. It was certainly much more believable than the whole aliens fiasco in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The problem in both these late sequels was less the story, and more the execution of the story. As I mentioned, the previous sequel had utterly idiotic moments that sunk the film. This one just has subpar action scenes and an inability to create meaningful suspense and excitement. It was all fine, but the supposedly most exciting moments felt a bit flat. I will state that Dial of Destiny is one of the worst titles I've ever heard. I honestly thought it was a joke when I first heard it. The idea and the story behind it is pretty cool, but that's a terrible title.

In summary, despite my complaints, I enjoyed Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. This is likely the last film in the franchise for a while (we all know it'll get rebooted a decade or so from now). It's a good movie, but this franchise looks at "good" as a disappointment. It should have been much better. However, we did get one last ride with Ford as Indiana, and I appreciate that. After the critical failure of the last film, I doubted that would ever happen. I feel thankful to have gotten to see this film and the conclusion of this character's story. This is a good movie, for sure, but I so desperately wanted it to be better.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; Six Days, Seven Nights