Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny | Review
Hold on to your fedora, folks.
The Big Picture — Harrison Ford triumphs in a fitting but imperfect finale.
I will state the clear upfront: Indiana Jones was my childhood.
As readers may know, my most formative movie-watching experience was when my folks showed me Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time in the third grade.
We had every VHS tape and, when made available, the DVD and Blu-Ray copies of the films, too. Not only that but the fourth film, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, was released on my birthday.
That’s right: I got a new Indiana Jones movie for my birthday.
It should be no surprise to readers that since 2008, I’ve hoped for a fifth film.
Fifteen years and four scripts came and went before Spielberg passed the directorial duties to James Mangold (Logan and Ford v. Ferrari). And by the time Dial of Destiny officially debuted last month, five new Star Wars movies were released, Kevin Fiege radically altered the Hollywood machine, and Batman was recast not once, not twice, but three times!
The question then becomes: Can Indiana Jones still deliver the rousing, adventurous experience that has become synonymous with his name in the IP age?
Mixed reviews from the Cannes Film Festival answered the question before I could decide.
Yes, the trailers and poster looked promising, and yes, the first clip that circulated online could have been better. But in the digital world, it’s so easy to follow whatever the majority thinks that it takes extraordinary effort to decide for yourself and buck popular opinion.
So I decided that I was going to wait and do just that. I stopped reading reviews, muted all search words on Twitter, and ignored everything.
By the time I sat down in the theater last night with my brother and two of my Cinemantics pals, the critical consensus had ticked upwards. Mixed reviews became positive ones, and not only that, but the fans began to watch and chime in.
So, what’s this fan’s verdict?
Dial of Destiny is a fun, fitting, imperfect farewell to our greatest movie hero.
The tagline for the movie is pretty straightforward: In 1969, Indiana Jones is a man out of step with the times. Vietnam, flower power, and dreams of landing on the moon occupy the minds of the world. On his last day before retirement, Indy is lured back into one last adventure to find the Antikythera — a mysterious dial that can detect fissures in time — by his goddaughter, Helena Shaw. Together, they cross the globe to find the titular dial and fight to keep it out of the hands of ex-Nazi Jürgen Voller, now a scientist involved with the Apollo Moon-landing program.
For a franchise that was known to be short, pulpy, and practical back in its prime, Dial of Destiny is too long and CGI-heavy. Sadly, it’s another victim of the two greatest sins in Hollywood right now. All fingers point to the extended, somewhat unnecessary twenty-minute prologue in which a de-aged Indy fights Nazis on a train in 1944 Europe as the most significant offense.
The Indiana Jones Adventures have always thrived when they feel real.
Think back on the previous films: any set pieces in Raiders, the bridge collapse in Temple of Doom, the tank fight in Last Crusade, and the warehouse escape in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
They relied on practical effects and ingenious craftsmanship to ground the story, creating a sense of verisimilitude that has long since been abandoned in Hollywood. Thankfully, this film has its own signature set piece: a fantastic Tuk-Tuk chase through the streets and markets of Tangier.
The balls-to-the-wall ending will surely be divisive, but, to preserve the integrity of the surprise, I’ll hold off on spoiling it. However, this fan's opinion is that — as much as it dials up the supernatural — it kind of rocks the more I think about it.
Folks who have a problem with it are warranted. It won’t be for everyone.
But Mangold knows how to stick the landing. Not in the bonkers climax, mind you, but in the quiet, character-driven moments right before the screen fades to black that brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eyes.
And the ending, and the movie as a whole, works because of the film’s greatest weapon: Harrison Ford. Even when the movie struggles under the weight of orchestrated digital chaos, Ford shines bright.
Ford's final performance as Indy is gruff and surprisingly soulful, the crown jewel in a late-career resurgence that includes Emmy-worthy work on both the Apple TV comedy Shrinking and the Paramount western 1923.
At 80, his dedication to this character shows that not only was this the role he was born to play, but it was the one he loved playing.
And we loved when he played it.
His frustrations with Star Wars are well known (Hot take: Han Solo should have died in The Empire Strikes Back), and he has always seemed indifferent about Blade Runner and the Jack Ryan films.
But Indy? Well, it fits him like a glove.
Like the greatest movie stars of the past, Ford is the film’s foundation and frame. Without him, none of it works.
He’s older and wearier now. He doesn’t run as fast as he used to, and some of the more daring stunts are left to Phoebe Waller Bridge’s Helena (who is genuinely delightful in this movie), but Jones is still the story's beating heart.
If Raiders was a non-stop adventure movie, Temple of Doom was a horror picture, Last Crusade was a buddy comedy, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was science fiction, then Dial of Destiny is a mortality tale.
Visually, it fits comfortably alongside the original trilogy of films. But thematically? Well, it does something altogether new.
Yes, the movie is funny and often exciting, but also bittersweet.
Throughout the movie, I recalled my favorite line from Kingdom of Crystal Skull, when Dean Stanforth tells Indy after he’s been fired amidst the Red Scare, “We’ve reached the age where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away.”
Dial of Destiny explores what happens when life has taken everything away.
As the world looks up to the stars and wonders in awe of what the future will bring, Jones is stuck in the dirt with the relics of the past he’s spent his life studying. When Waller Bridge’s Helena appears in the first act, Indy has no job, family, or purpose.
For a globe-trotting adventure often told at a breakneck pace, it’s incredibly thoughtful and, more than once, genuinely moving as our hero tries to wrestle with a world that no longer wants him.
But by the end of his final adventure, Indy has found his place in history — and a second chance at peace. It’s not as picture-perfect as a literal ride into the sunset, but it makes me happy that our hero found a place to hang up his hat.
After five films and forty-two years, he’s earned it.
Readers, are you watching the latest Indiana Jones movie this weekend? What is your favorite film in the series? Let us know in the comments below!
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is now playing in theaters nationwide. Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, language, and smoking.
Loved Indy 5! My favorite will always be The Last Crusade!