INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY Review
"So filled with reverential fan service and callbacks, it often finds itself being more derivative than faithful."
It’s been fifteen years since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. While many diehard fans of Harrison Ford’s popular character might still feel a bit burnt by that movie, others might be ready to forgive Ford and give him a chance to end the franchise on a high note. I’m sure the latter camp won’t be so disappointed by Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, but anyone hoping that what director James Magnold has done can be considered any sort of be-all end-all for Indiana Jones could feel somewhat ripped off.
Like any good Indiana Jones movie, which almost always has Nazis doing typical bad things, this one starts towards the tail end of WWII in 1944. In this case, the Nazi is Mads Mikkelsen’s Dr. Voller, who is trying to get his hands on Archimedes’ “Antikythera” i.e. the titular “dial of destiny” that can change space and time. Ford, clearly de-aged using CG, has to help his good friend Baz (Toby Jones) to retrieve it, but decades later, Jones finds himself having to protect it from Voller (who has government backing under the pseudonym Dr. Schmidt). It’s 1969 and he wants to use the dial to turn back time and help Hitler win the war that he lost. It’s 1969 and Indy gets some help from his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), daughter of Baz who is just as intent on finding the two parts of the dial and keeping it out of the hands of Nazis. Voller has put together a whole band of henchman to help him find Indy and Helena, as they seek out the Antikythera. (And if this plot sounds familiar, then maybe it’s because it’s almost exactly like the recent Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.)
I normally like nostalgia as much as the next guy, but it’s harder to convince me when it comes to a franchise that has constantly tried (and failed) to better the OG Raiders of the Lost Ark, which 40 years later, is still one of the best action movies ever made. While part of me is glad that Ford had another chance to end the character’s story on a high and I’m quite the fan of Mangold’s work, something about Dial of Destiny just never clicked with me, and I found most of it to be quite dull.
The real standout among the cast is Waller-Bridge as Helena, because she’s just as involved in the action and maintaining the humor inherent in the franchise. In fact, she brings some much-needed life and energy to the movie whereas Ford just seems to be going through the motions. The fact that she’s currently developing a Tomb Raider series for Prime Video makes this seem almost like her audition to actually play the role of Lara Croft.
That said, I wasn’t particularly impressed with the action or even the overall look of the movie, which seems to frequently forget it’s supposed to be taking place decades in the past, while still clearly influenced by more modern action such as the “Mission: Impossible” and “Bourne” movies and even Jurassic World. It leads to a few decent set pieces but nothing that doesn’t seem to rely heavily on visual effects, and it very much looks it, too. There are times when this reminded me of Mangold’s far superior 2010 action movie, Knight and Day, starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, but in this case, Ford is nowhere near the top of his game.
Beyond that, I generally hated where things went in the last act. Sure, that’s where it veers away from the formula that pervades the entire film, but it also goes to a place that just doesn’t work at all. Despite there being many movies this summer with multiple writers, this is one that really feels as if there were too many fingers in the pie, and Mangold does the best he can to keep things from spiraling out of control.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is so filled with reverential fan service and callbacks, it often finds itself being more derivative than faithful. Diehard fans (of which I thought I was one) might enjoy it more than anyone who hopes this does for Indiana Jones what Top Gun: Maverick did for Tom Cruise last year.
Rating: 6/10
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny opens nationwide on Friday, June 30