Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Director: James Mangold
Writer: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp, James Mangold
Sequel to: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Cast: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Thomas Kretschmann, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Olivier Richters, Ethann Isidore, Mads Mikkelsen
Seen on: 29.6.2023

Content Note: racism

Plot:
Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is starting to feel left behind by the world. He is teaching his last class and his time of adventures might be over. That’s when his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) shows up. The daughter of his friend and fellow archaeologist Basil (Toby Jones), Indy hasn’t seen her in years. She is trying to find out more about an artifact her father studied before he died and hopes that Indy can fill in some gaps in her knowledge. But Helena isn’t the only one looking for the artifact and quickly, both Helena and Indy are in the middle of a hunt.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is entertaining enough but didn’t quite hold up to the old trilogy (so far, I have refused to watch Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, so no comment on this one). While you probably won’t regret watching it, it won’t leave you excited.

As most people my age (in the Western world at least), I grew up with the old Indiana Jones films. While I wouldn’t say that I am a super Indy-fan, I do carry a lot of fondness for the films (judgement is out about how much of that is nostalgia) and some scenes are seared into my brain forever (especially from Raiders of the Lost Ark). What I loved most about the old films are the booby traps and riddle solving that Indy has to get through to get to the treasure he seeks.

It is especially this that is sorely lacking in this iteration of the film. There should have been more scenes, both in terms of quantity and quality. There is barely any riddle solving and the action, whether around booby traps or just in general, just proves how good Spielberg is at this kind of thing. Mangold just can’t keep up – and neither can the editing. There were several moments where I didn’t understand what was happening exactly due to strange cuts, or where cuts just didn’t fit together with the action on screen.

Despite that, the film manages to get some entertainment value, especially thanks to Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Her take on Helena is more alive than the rest of the film feels and is a whole lot of fun. It’s also really interesting to see the difference it makes to have a woman take on the stereotypical adventurer role. Harrison Ford almost loses out a little next to her, to this older, grumpier, sadder version of Indy is still engaging.

It wouldn’t have hurt the film if it had been a little shorter (especially the action/chase scenes should have been shortened a little – or substituted with puzzle/booby trap scenes) and if it had not reproduced some of the mistakes of the earlier films – like the orientalism or the brownfacing. But there is always fun to be had when Nazis get punched and the film definitely left me curious enough about Helena to watch a sequel that would star her. So that’s absolutely something.

Summarizing: doesn’t blow away but is fine.