INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY

 

After I first saw INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, I wondered if the movie needed to be made in the first place. When INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY was first announced, I wondered the same thing....but a company like Disney isn't going to buy a famed product and not get some use out of it. 

DIAL OF DESTINY wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and for the most part, it's better than CRYSTAL SKULL. Better, that is, until the last part of the film, when things really go off the rails. Some may accept the wild ending, while others may do like I did and sit in a theater thinking "What the--????" 

The movie starts in 1945, near the end of WWII, with Indy trying to stop desperate Nazis from destroying more historical artifacts. This opening sequence with a de-aged Harrison Ford has gotten a lot of attention--personally I thought the filmmakers might as well just have had the whole story set in 1945. Then things move to 1969, where the aged Indy, living a desultory life as a professor in New York City, is approached by his goddaughter (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) to search for the Archimedes Dial, a device that has the power to literally change history. A German scientist that Indy encountered in the opening sequence (Mads Mikkelsen) wants the Dial as well. 

DIAL OF DESTINY feels very much like a Marvel movie (which I believe is what Disney was aiming for). Director-co-writer James Mangold of course has superhero experience, and a lot of what makes up the film will be very familiar--two and a half hour running time, plenty of CGI, and and action set-pieces that go on just a bit too long. 

It's still a treat to watch Harrison Ford as Indy, no matter how old the actor might be. He fits right back into the character as if he never left it, effortlessly portraying Jones' sardonic attitude, impatience, and frustration (even in his younger days Indy was a grump). The script bends over backwards to make Phoebe Waller-Bridge a crowd-pleasing charming rogue, but I wasn't all that impressed (your mileage may vary). Mads Mikkelsen does another of his creepy bad guy roles. 

It was nice to see John Rhys-Davies as Sallah, despite his limited screen time (honestly, if Indy and Sallah had just sat around for a couple hours recounting their adventures, I would have been totally fine with that). 

One thing that needs to be pointed out about DIAL OF DESTINY is that it's somewhat darker than the usual brand name franchise summer fare. A lot of innocent folks are shot and killed, and Indy's life in 1969 is a sad and lonely one. 

Something else that struck me while watching DIAL OF DESTINY: there's been a spate of big-name movies in the last decade that have as a major plot device an attempt by various characters to go back in time and "fix" things. THE FLASH (which I saw a few weeks ago) has this device, and the biggest example is AVENGERS: ENDGAME....but this goes all the way back at least to X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. It seems it isn't enough now for heroic characters to save the world--they have to change it (and history) as well. What this says about early 21st Century pop culture, I don't know....but it's food for thought. 

As for DIAL OF DESTINY, I'd recommend seeing it in the theater, mainly because it's Harrison Ford's last go-round as Dr. Henry Jones, Jr......but does anyone seriously believe this is the last time??