Director: James Mangold
Starring: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore, and Mads Mikkelsen
Movie Length: 2 hours 34 minutes
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny continues the Hollywood trend of mining old intellectual properties to make sequels many years later (a phenomena rivaled only by the plethora of comic book adaptations). From Star Wars to Bill and Ted to Ghostbusters (the most recent one), these films can either feel like a warm nostalgia piece or a craven cash grab. For fans of Indiana Jones, the Dial of Destiny will likely fall into the former category.
While the film primarily takes place years after the other films (I mean, it has to given Harrison Ford’s age), a significant portion of the film takes place earlier and uses a CGI de-aged Ford. I expect this to be the most polarizing part of the film, particularly given the lack of CGI in the series. For the most part, the de-aging effects are pretty good, capturing Ford’s facial expressions and being convincing enough to not be distracting if you don’t think too much about it, though there is one particular brightly lit part where it looks a bit wonky.
The Dial of Destiny has all the hallmarks of a classic Indy adventure, chase scenes, ancient treasure with an element of the fantastic, and the map with a red line to depict international travel. There are some inventive sequences that add a degree of freshness to keep the movie from feeling stale. Throw in some cameos and fans of Indiana Jones are unlikely to be disappointed. If you haven’t seen an Indiana Jones movie, your enjoyment of the film will probably be a bit restrained by your lack of nostalgia for the character. The movie is a standalone story so you don’t have to see the earlier films, but newcomers to the franchise won’t have the same level of appreciation for those cameos and a heartfelt discussion of Indy’s family (which also serves as a great way to explain away some potential inconsistencies with the prior films).
Overall, it’s nice to see Harrison Ford take one last (?) ride as the beloved character and the film feels like a breeze despite its hefty run time. The ending took a bit of a swerve, but it worked for me.
Here is my Through the Lens podcast review of the film:
Score: 8 for Indy fans, 7 if you haven’t seen the other movies.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is now in theaters.
