Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Review

“I miss the desert. I miss the sea. I miss waking up every morning wondering what wonderful adventure the new day will bring to us.” – Sallah

It’s like 1989 all over again! Michael Keaton is Batman, Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones, and I’m right there in my favourite cinema seat, eagerly feasting my eyes on their latest adventures. Other than the fact that we’re all 34 years older, not a great deal seems to have changed. Though, to be honest and open, I had a few misgivings about this new Indiana Jones film that I really didn’t have about Keaton’s reappearance as Batman.

I think it’s because I hold the original trilogy in such absurdly high esteem, they’re up there with Star Wars and Back to the Future as practically how I spent the eighties. When the fourth, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released in 2008 – it came across as kind of a faltering mis-step. (And I can’t believe that movie was released 15 years ago!) I don’t dislike the film, but it has always struck me as a haphazard stew of different ideas all chucked together, with the result being at times, incohesive and incoherent. It doesn’t seem to know what direction it wants to go in to reach its flying saucer finale. There are chunks of that film that I just don’t get, I don’t understand why they’re even there. And I didn’t want any more of THAT, thank you very much.

But, the fact of the matter is, I’m not going to miss an Indiana Jones at the cinema. Never have, and as this is the last in the series, I know now I never will.

So, my misgivings were centred around my reaction to the previous film, my reluctance to see the trilogy diluted any further. Plus, Harrison Ford’s advancing years, and most importantly Steven Spielberg stepping away from the director’s chair. All of that seemed to make this one a bitter pill to swallow.

Now, I’m going to make this as spoiler free as I possibly can.

This doesn’t dilute the trilogy. This is a better bookend to the series than Crystal Skull was. It’s definitely in keeping with the spirit of the original films. It’s set in 1969, with flashbacks to the end of WW2. Harrison Ford’s performance is perfect. The digital de-ageing that’s carried out for the flashback sequences is the best I’ve seen. Obviously, Industrial Light & Magic have advanced their techniques even beyond what they pulled off with Samuel L. Jackson in Captain Marvel.

James Mangold takes the directorial reins, and as the director of Wolverine and Logan, he fills Spielberg’s shoes with comparative ease. Despite my often-repeated assertions that Spielberg is the greatest director of all time, I can’t say I missed him here, which is the greatest compliment I can give to Mangold.

The film has one omission though – the traditional start with a gag involving the Paramount mountain logo morphing into something on-screen is missing. But the fact that John Williams composed the score more than makes up for that and now there’s another CD I need to go looking for and buy.

Plot? It’s standard Indiana Jones fare, with an incredible opening, harking back to WW2 and Jones foiling the plot of a group of Nazis, let by rocket expert Voller (Mads Mikkelsen). This carries over to 1969, just after the Moon landing and a New York ticker tape parade for the returning Apollo 11 astronauts, coincidentally the day Dr Henry Jones retires from his career as a college professor. He’s soon lured back into an adventure by the appearance of his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) involving the two halves of a clockwork device designed and constructed by Archimedes himself. Voller is still after the device, having concocted a nefarious plan to use its supposed power when complete. So, it’s back to caverns, temples, burial chambers – and a diving expedition. Even the map graphics, showing the route from country to country are there. There is of course a LOT of CGI in the film – but most of the stunts and effects were actual physical effects and stunts, which despite the fantastical nature of the storyline, gives a little more grounding in reality.

All the beloved and expected Indiana Jones tropes are visited in an affectionate and action-packed homage to what has gone before, one that was certainly a crowd pleaser with the audience I saw it with on opening day. The screening I attended had that palpable enthusiastic big movie opening feel that I’ve rarely experienced since the Covid pandemic. I think the last time was the opening of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Rating, I’ve had to think long and hard about this one. It falls just short of a 10, but I’ll happily give it…

Rob Rating 9