Rent Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth and David Koepp and James Mangold (written by), George Lucas and
Philip Kaufman (based on characters created by)
Directed by: James Mangold
Starring: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Mads Mikkelsen
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
Archaeologist Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary artifact that can change the course of history.
Verdict
It's better than the last Indiana Jones movie, but it has many issues. This is too long, too focused on action instead of discovery, and the ending is completely underwhelming. It's claimed to be the final installment of the character, and because of that it's difficult not to want to watch this. The series has built a lot of good will due to the first three movies. I hoped this would be better than the fourth, and it is better despite the outlandishness of time travel. I guess that's better than aliens.
It depends.
Review
Nineteen years after The Last Crusade, we got the sequel Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I was excited for that movie right up until I started watching it. I didn't have high hopes for this movie, and then I read that Ford was injured and the movie was rewritten to remove him from many scenes.
This movie doesn't dig deep for villains. It's Nazi's again, and the first scene shows off impressive de-aging technology as Harrison Ford is a good thirty to forty years younger than he should look. It's a fun opening sequence with Indy getting into and out of trouble as he tries to liberate a spear. This opening adventure is outlandish, but the franchise always tries for a fun start. I don't know if this sequence is to show off the technology or introduce the dial of destiny. The object at the center of this movie is the antikythera, an ancient Greek object that did exist and tracked cycles of the sun, moon, and planets. I don't think the movie ever calls it the "dial of destiny," but that's easier to say than antikythera (an-ti-ki-theer-uh).
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| The dial of destiny, or as it's referred to in the movie the antikythera |
Indy teams up with his god-daughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). She's
out to make some money on the object, while Dr. Voller (Mads Mikkelsen)
wants to utilize it's potential power. This movie is a lot of chase scenes which only add to an already long movie. The chases seem like they are filling time. I wish this would do some real investigative work.
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| Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Harrison Ford play Helena, Indiana Jones |
This stretches credibility often, especially with time travel later in the movie. Indy and Helena find the key to find the other half of the dial in a Roman boat. I don't know how it wasn't found sooner since the boat was so close to the ocean's surface. The search for Archimedes tomb feels the most like an Indiana Jones movie. It's a rare break in action chase scenes. How has nobody found the secondary cave that contains Archimedes tomb when it's so easy to find? The main cave is a big tourist attract.
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| Mads Mikkelsen plays Dr. Voller |
This movie feels like a tribute at times, with at least a few callbacks to older movies, but I wish it were more creative and more to the point. This wants to be a big budget action movie, but not a good Indiana Jones movie. The final sequences of this movie are a bit ridiculous. Voller's plan is to time travel and help his party win with his knowledge of events. It sounds silly because it is.
Instead of a satisfying conclusion we jump cut to a healing Indy and Karen Allen appears because why not. I expected more from the ending. Instead the movie decides to just cut it and leave.
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