Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is not the mess Crystal Skull was but it’s also rather disappointing for a James Mangold film. But at least the perplexing title makes sense now and doesn’t leave me scratching my head, wondering if Indy was going to spend two hours in front of an old tv set.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny follows our aging hero as he is chased by the CIA, Nazis, and relic hunters. Phoebe Waller-Bridge plays his goddaughter on a hunt for an Archimedes device that he rescued from the Nazis during WW2. They are pursued by a nefarious Mads Mikkelsen who is looking for the device too. Punch, kick, shoot, whip… and hobble about a bit.
Dial of Destiny seems keenly aware of Crystal Skull and does everything it can to avoid comparisons. It isn’t a huge CGI mess and it avoids corny comedy and even cornier action. But they probably overcorrect… in their desperation to not nuke the fridge or drop perfectly good cars over three waterfalls, they forget that Indiana Jones movies are both fun and funny. Even the grim Temple of Doom is funnier than anything in this film.
It’s not a crime to play it serious, but they lose too much of the adventurous spirit in the process. The action scenes are not bad, but they don’t live up to the franchise’s past… or even Mangold’s own output like Ford v Ferrari, Logan, or even Knight and Day. It’s largely one “I guess this is good enough” set piece after another.
And one set piece after another is about right. The movie needed to be a little more streamlined, especially given what they have to offer. If there was more meaning – and more fun – to the chases and stunts, then sure… pad it with more and more elaborate scenes. But what they have doesn’t really justify the runtime.
Harrison Ford does about what he can at his age. He’s still enjoyable in his dialog scenes but I kept having to remind myself that it wasn’t Ford doing most of the stunts in the previous movies either. But it’s just more noticeable now… especially with the de-aging (or face swapping) they do in the pretty good (but suspiciously dark) opening action set piece set during WW2. I thought the younger Indiana Jones effect was pretty terrific… but it also reminds you that Harrison Ford wasn’t on set for any of these shoots.
The finale is ambitious and interesting but ultimately a little underwhelming. It dispatches with the villains too quickly and gives us what should have been a more emotional and meaningful scene with Indy. And I respect the hell out of what they were trying to do, but the Indy we see in these movies doesn’t really earn this sense of historical curiosity. Maybe it’ll hit harder for others but it felt a little unearned to me.
To the movie’s credit though, given its plot and the opening scenes, I expected them to have gone much harder on the nostalgia. On the one hand, it was a missed opportunity to play more with the de-aging techniques and our love for the first three films. On the other hand, they didn’t do exactly what a bunch of other franchises would have done in its place. They showed restraint and went for a finale that was about the character, not the audience.
Sadly Dial of Destiny doesn’t achieve great heights but it also doesn’t go to great depths. It’s a more fitting farewell to Indiana Jones than Crystal Skull without really being the great finale we hoped for.
Score: 78