Film Review: Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny is significant not only as the supposed final installment of the iconic film series, it’s also apparently the final film score we’re getting from living legend John Williams, and it’s the first Indiana Jones film to neither have a story credit from George Lucas nor be directed by Steven Spielberg. Taking over this heavy mantle is James Mangold, who also serves as a co-writer, along with Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and David Koepp. Taking place a little over a decade after the events of Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, in 1969, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) finds himself caught up in another race against time – in more ways than one – with Nazis.

We start off with a flashback during WWII with his first encounter with Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), a Nazi scientist who has his eyes on Archimedes’s Dial, which Indy manages to snag from the train full of Nazi soldiers. We push forward to 1969, Indy is retired from his job at Hunter College, he is separated from Marion, and he is constantly dealing with his loud hippie neighbors blasting rock music. While the city celebrates the return of the Apollo crew, Indy goes to a bar where he encounters Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), his god-daughter and the daughter of Basil (Toby Jones), an associate who Indy rescued during the WWII flashback.

Helena is interested in the dial, but it turns out, she isn’t the only one. The two are followed and soon chased by associates of Jürgen, now a celebrated NASA scientist, led by his right-hand man, Klaber (Boyd Holbrook). What ensues is basically a globe trotting hot potato chase as the dial goes from one side to the other, each finding out more information with each step along the way as to the nature of the secrets it holds. We find out Helena is in this for more selfish, financially driven reasons, so Indy goes along to sort it out like he did in the good old days.

To cut to the chase, the film is…fine. I would honestly say I liked this about as much as I liked the infamous fourth installment, which I did enjoy, if not nearly as much as the original trilogy. It’s curious watching this because there’s a lot of elements that seem right, but they don’t feel right. While Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull lacked the grit of the original trilogy, it kept the spirit. Meanwhile, Dial Of Destiny brings back the grit of the older films, but the spirit doesn’t feel natural. This isn’t the mode we usually see with Mangold, and I fear this material just isn’t his wheelhouse. The action scenes are certainly well done, but the Spielberg touch is missing. They feel too standard, they are edited like traditional modern action movies as opposed to the more fluid camera movements with the propulsive energy and bursts of humor Spielberg always utilized in his set-pieces.

Admittedly, with a property this beloved, I doubt Mangold was able to pull off a “no notes” situation with Disney, unlike what he did with Logan. There was bound to be a lot of cooks in the kitchen, and while it doesn’t have a lot of the problems you would associate with that issue. I think it does showcase why this film comes across a bit more bland and at times rather tedious. It’s just a little over two-and-a-half hours, and it does not fly by. Mangold’s style has always put a greater emphasis on characters, exploring their dynamics, and taking the time to do it. Him doing a snappy action adventure doesn’t fit, the only outlier in his filmography being Knight And Day, which was more overtly a comedy and was more tightly scripted.

And as much as people harped on the use of CG in Crystal Skull, there is about as much used in here. Mostly through some really inconsistent green screen work, and more notably, the de-aging effect during the flashbacks. The big one opening the film looks fine for the most part, but falls apart once you see and hear Indy talk. The mouth movements don’t feel right, and you can tell the voice is coming from a much older man. There is another flashback that takes place in between the WWII sequence and the 1969 present day that fares a whole lot better. It’s not a huge bother except for some of the action sequences, such as a chase through Tangier where we cut from exciting footage following cars to interior shots that lack the same realness and energy due to obvious green screen.

The performances are certainly strong across the board. Ford has always felt more at home with this character than that other big franchise character he’s so well known for. He’s definitely not phoning anything in here, and it’s a delight to see him really embrace everything the film throws at him. Waller-Bridge’s Helena is a welcome addition to the franchise, she’s fun, feisty, and can throw a quip like no other. Though, the quality of the actual quips did range from hilarious to try-hard, the last thing an Indy movie needs to do is try to appeal to the crowd that eats up think-pieces about Indiana Jones being a grave-robber without any consideration of what’s actually in these movies.

Of course, Mikkelsen is great as usual, but I wouldn’t say he’s really stretching himself here. It’s the kind of role he can play in his sleep, but he’s such an engaging screen presence that it works so effortlessly. Unfortunately, some of the supporting players don’t really get much to do. Holbrook is flat as the big henchman. Ethann Isidore is amusing but ultimately doesn’t contribute much as Teddy, Helena’s inexplicable Short Round-esque sidekick. The most wasted is probably Antonio Banderas as Renaldo, an old friend of Indy who helps the group along their journey, it’s a glorified cameo with maybe a small handful of lines. Shaunette Renée Wilson manages to bring some intrigue into the character of Mason, a US government agent who unwittingly helps Jürgen on his mission, but there’s not much on the page that supports anything she brings to the table.

While I’m sure it sounds like I’m not digging Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny that much, I did enjoy the film for the most part. I’ve enjoyed all these movies to varying degrees, even the previous one. There’s enough of that pure unabashed sense of entertainment and whimsy that is really appealing and hard to get annoyed by. The things that really needed to work do work in this film, I just wished it was surrounded by smaller elements that contributed something more meaningful and cohesive to the overall picture. The pieces are all solid, but the way it all comes together just never felt 100% right. I’m honestly not sure how people who really disliked Crystal Skull will react to this, but I feel general audiences will have a good enough time with it. And while this one certainly goes to some wild places by the time it gets to the climax, you have Ford as the iconic character, holding everything down like a rock. No one can do it like he does.

 

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny is now out in theaters.