The fifth Indiana Jones movie is finally here, and I think we can all agree, we never really believed it would happen, but it’s fun to see the character we’ve loved for over 40 years one last time. I want to start out by saying that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is certainly not on par with the first three Indiana Jones movies. It just isn’t, but it doesn’t mean that it’s a bad film… It’s a great “swan song” to our favorite archaeologist. This film perfectly bookends the Indiana Jones story compared to how we were introduced to him in Raiders of the Lost Ark. For fans of Indiana Jones, you may be wondering whether this movie is worth seeing, it is, and no, it’s not as bad as the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I had fun watching this movie despite its problems and I know that I’ll get the same enjoyment when I watch it again. Harrison Ford may not be the action star that he once was, but he still knows how to dazzle as Indiana Jones and makes this movie better than it probably should be and worth watching in the theater.
It’s always tricky when you deal with time-travel stories. Most are just hokey! There are a lot of things that can be screwed up with dealing with a time travel story and to a point that’s what this film is about. You have a bad guy who’s using an ancient artifact who thinks he can go back and change history. It’s not an original story and as James Bond SO accurately pointed out in the film Doctor No, “world domination, the same old dream!” That’s very true, great villains think they can change history to make their evil agenda come true. Somehow, they think they’re going to do it better than their predecessors. That’s what Indiana Jones is fighting against. The artifact that he’s looking for is filled with mystique and a bit of supernatural, something we’re used to seeing with the great adventures of Indiana Jones instead of a Sci-Fi / X-Files adventure that we got in the last movie. One of the things that makes this movie work is this is much more of an archaeological story. The best Indiana Jones stories always center on ancient heirlooms and why people want to use them for destruction. Indiana Jones is a man who likes to preserve history. He uses it for good so that people will understand the world around them and not be doomed to repeat the worst parts of history, especially when fighting villains who want to change that history for their own personal agendas. I won’t say that this story is as good as finding the Holy Grail or searching for the Lost Ark, but it’s a good story that’s very fitting for an Indiana Jones Adventure. While Harrison Ford is not the main action star, it was nice for the writers to joke about his age in the film and to respectfully point out that he is not the same old archaeologist he once was.
This is the last adventure, and he knows it. Phoebe Waller Bridges becomes the main sidekick in this film and her character is in a lot of ways a combination of a young Marion Ravenwood, Willie Scott, and Elsa from the Last Crusade. She’s fearless, and feisty, and holds her own with Indiana Jones, but of course, it takes her godfather to make her realize that the most important thing in the world is not money. She’s a good character even while trying too hard to be a combination of all of Indiana Jones’s greatest female sidekicks. And the chemistry is certainly there with Harrison Ford, which makes this a better movie. There are two things that make this a better Indiana Jones adventure than Indiana Jones 4. The artifact that they’re looking for and the story behind it as well as a great cast. Mads Mickelson plays a great villain, even a sympathetic villain to a point, but in the end, you still love to hate him and root for his death. He’s definitely a better villain than what we got in the last film, and I mean no disrespect to Cate Blanchett, but her character in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull just wasn’t very exciting. At the heart of any great Indiana Jones movie is an adventure story that takes you from one part of the globe to the next. Part of the reason Temple of Doom wasn’t as well received in 1984 is it didn’t have the same kind of adventure compared to Raider of the Lost Ark and then of course they had to rectify that situation when they made a globetrotting adventure for the Last Crusade. But you get a great adventure story that adds a lot of personal touches to Indiana Jones’s own story and what he’s dealing with at this point in his life. He’s basically 70 years old and retired, while still grieving over his son’s death and going through a divorce. He has certainly seen better days, but a good adventure is always what’s needed to restore Indiana Jones back to greatness even in his twilight years.
The film is certainly not bad, but it does have its fair share of problems. Since it’s the last Indiana Jones film it’s trying to encapsulate all the nostalgia from previous films and have the same kind of adventure were used to seeing with Indiana Jones all in one movie. To some degree, it works, but the first half of the movie is filled with more action than dramatic scenes that make the audience sympathize with the characters and unfortunately, it’s almost laughable seeing an 80-year-old Harrison Ford try to be the same kind of action star he was 40 years ago. I’m always criticizing movies for pacing, and you have to slow movies down a little bit to give the audience time to know the characters. It’s almost halfway through the movie before we finally get that and before we start to finally sympathize with Helena Shaw. There are a lot of great comedic scenes that make her entertaining, but we need a reason to sympathize with her and it isn’t until she and Indy have some emotional conversations halfway through the movie.
That could have been done earlier. I don’t think there are any truly unique characters. As I said before Helena Shaw is the combination of three female characters that have been in other movies and to add a young kid is just trying to make us feel the nostalgia for the character of Short Round from Temple of Doom. The character of Teddy is cute and has some great moments, especially when he finally gets to fly a plane, but there’s not anything unique about him. He’s the “Short Round” of this film. They obviously needed to be some action in this film, but I don’t need to see Harrison Ford riding a horse through a Subway and nearly escaping two trains, and then we’re left to assume the horse is completely fine as they navigate a Subway in New York City. This is a scene that tries to capture the same magic as Indiana Jones stealing a truck and rescuing the Ark, but feels more like the ridiculous jungle scene in the last film with bad CGI and the unbelievable near-death escape by the main characters as they diver over a waterfall. Action scenes should be believable even if they seem far-fetched, we can absolutely see Indy, commandeering a truck and stealing the ark. It’s even believable seeing Indy riding train carts and escaping bad guys in underground tunnels like in the Temple of the Doom. The opening adventure was a lot of fun and nostalgic, but too much of a de-aged Indiana Jones isn’t necessarily a good thing. The opening sequence just felt long and repetitive, but I completely understand when you need to set up the story. However, it’s still not as bad as Indiana Jones surviving a nuclear explosion in a metal fridge. Jesus, I still can’t believe that made it into an Indiana Jones movie. It’s a fun film. but also felt long. Did it really have to be two and a half hours to tell this story, great Indiana Jones adventures can be told in 2 hours. The first 3 movies were two hours or just barely over.
Overall, it’s a good movie, not the best Indiana Jones adventure, but definitely not the worst. It’s a fitting end to a great character and the cameos work on all levels. Having Salah back was great and a Cameo by Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood at the end of the movie adds to a fitting end to this character. There’s also a great nod to Raiders of the Lost Ark between the two characters. Harrison Ford may not be the action star he was 40 years ago when he was first Indiana Jones, but this is still a good adventure for the character. Some things in the story may be unbelievable, but there’s always been a bit of suspension of disbelief with Indiana Jones when dealing with the mysteries of History. And one of the reasons we love the character is because he’ll stop at nothing to protect history. This film doesn’t have to be on the same level as the first three Indiana Jones movies, we just wanted to be better than the last and it certainly accomplishes that. The film is nostalgic, humorous, filled with a lot of love for the character, and allows Indiana Jones to face his own mortality gracefully. Don’t worry, he doesn’t die, but he is an aging archaeologist on one last adventure, that leads the way to a younger generation. He finally becomes the older character we know from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles that simply tells the stories of his youth. Great characters are always better in their prime, but they can have one last adventure and go out on top. We sort of got to see that with Han Solo, Rocky got to have one more fight and Clint Eastwood has had quite a few swan songs with his character. Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny is not a great movie, but it bookends the adventures of Indiana Jones in a perfect way that it’s easy to say goodbye to the character while still appreciating what made us love Indiana Jones in the first place. And more importantly, this is a movie that’s meant to be seen on the big screen as we say farewell to a beloved character. The fifth Indiana Jones movie is a perfect goodbye to the greatest adventure on the big screen!
