Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny has all the necessary ingredients for a sequel to completely suck. It’s years after the franchise was in the limelight, sparking talks of the film being merely a cashgrab or nostalgia project for those involved. It’s repeating the formulas and tropes that fans know well, offering no interesting changes or shakeups to make it feel worthwhile, and it has elements to appease a more modern moviegoing audience, such as a lighter tone and a more frenetic pace.
More to the point, the original creatives have gone. This is the first Indiana Jones film without the involvement of either Steven Spielberg or George Lucas, and without the guiding hands of those two, plus the lukewarm reviews, I went into Dial Of Destiny braced for impact. However, what I got instead was a reasonably solid time at the cinema, and a far cry from the anticipated soulless product than it could’ve been.
It’s been fifteen years since the return of the character in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a movie that already suffers from the time gap that I previously mentioned, since it was made twenty years after the franchise had been left to collect dust. Its biggest sin though was that it tried to do too much – the new addition of Shia LaBeouf was lambasted and practically ruined the poor guy’s career, there were too many villains and supporting characters leading to a confused narrative, and it felt like it lost sight of the true spirit of Indiana Jones. I’m not just referring to the aliens in that comment either – there was just something that felt off, and a bit desperate.
Director James Mangold must have been aware of this going in, as the only element that Dial Of Destiny and Crystal Skull have in common is the exploration of Indy’s increasing age, something that this film tackles far more elegantly than its predecessor. Crystal Skull mostly uses the ageing angle to make jokes at Indy’s expense, while the first hour of this film does a good job of showing his character as a bad-tempered has-been. I don’t consider this a spoiler since it’s mentioned in the promotional material, so I will say that Indy has reasons to be dejected – his marriage to Marion has fallen apart and his son Mutt died in the Vietnam War. Seeing the character brought down to Earth like this is a great choice, and while it’s not the strong character development we saw in Last Crusade with the relationship between Indy and his father, it’s still enough to suck us back into his world, and it shows just how reinvigorating it is for him when he goes off on this adventure.
The first twenty minutes I thought were fantastic – a flashback to 1944 where Indy and his friend Basil Shaw, played by Toby Jones, attempt to retrieve a stolen spear from the Nazis while stumbling upon an artefact even more powerful, the titular Dial Of Destiny. It’s classic Indiana Jones, not just in the pursuit of a MacGuffin object but in the pace and scale. It’s a constantly moving action set piece, going from a castle, to a chase through a forest, to sneaking through a train full of Nazis and stolen loot. It really gets the adrenaline going and while it is diving back into the safe Indiana Jones formula, particularly the nods to Last Crusade where an opening flashback is important for later on, it’s a formula that works so why change it?
If there’s one main way I can describe it, it’s like a nostalgic hug. It’s a bit safe, and you know what you’re getting, but it still leaves you feeling decently warm and happy.
The only thing that could realistically take you out of this scene is the de-ageing effects on Harrison Ford. It definitely goes into uncanny valley once he opens his mouth, as we hear a 80-year old voice coming out of a 40-year old face, but since I was having fun while watching, I don’t think I minded that my protagonist was a Call Of Duty character with a Harrison Ford skin.
The retreats into classic Indiana Jones tropes are all throughout this film. The globetrotting from one place to the next sees us go from Nazi Germany, to a chase in New York that goes right into the subways, to action in Tangier, and even a cool bit of underwater exploration that builds a great sense of dread, where we know something’s happening on the surface but we don’t know what. The action was pretty strong throughout, even if the over-reliance on CGI from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull sadly carries over to this. I don’t think it’s as egregious as it was in that, but all of the action has a very polished sheen to it that takes away some of the grit. If you look at the cinematography in the first three films, it always looks dirty and worn and lived-in, while in this everything looks really bright and saturated, a look that suits Indiana Jones themes as a franchise.
The film’s side characters function well enough. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is basically playing Phoebe Waller-Bridge if she had an interest in archeology and had to flee from Nazis every ten minutes, but she is a likeable presence here and her humanity bubbles up more as the film goes on. It does feel like she’s in a different film to everyone else and I highly doubt a character like her would have been in the original films, but as a plucky female sidekick she is good fun. She’s accompanied by Teddy Kumar, basically her version of Short Round from Temple Of Doom, and let’s just say I’d take Ke Huy Quan over this guy any day. I found Teddy kind of boring and surplus to requirements, but I don’t think it’s anything against the actor, Ethann Isadore, who does a good job. It’s mainly that the script doesn’t embue him with the same charisma as someone like Short Round or even the interesting backstory of Mutt.
Throughout this review I’ve been dancing around the core point that the film is predictably fun Indiana Jones, but now time for the most predictable sentence of the entire review: Mads Mikkelsen is a good villain. He can always be relied on to play a vain and heartless foe and he is indeed the safest possible choice for a villain you could’ve gone with, but again, he works and he services the story. He’s also responsible for easily the most insane third act of all five films, and how much you enjoy that will come down to how fantastical you think Indiana Jones is allowed to go.
His all too predictable death is a bit disappointing though. Like come on, this is an Indiana Jones film. I doubt you’d be able to get away with melting heads and being aged to death by the Holy Grail anymore, but you already pushed the limits of reality enough in this film, you can go the whole hog if you want to.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is nowhere near the level of the first three films. It doesn’t have the sense of danger of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the striking imagery and memorable look of Temple Of Doom isn’t here, and the emotional core present in The Last Crusade simply isn’t as strong. However, it still delivers us the goods in a way that Kingdom of the Crystal Skull couldn’t. The plot is easy to follow and moves along at a brisk pace, the performances are all solid, the action is thrilling if a little lacking in stakes, and the heart of the franchise and the spirit of adventure is there in spades. If there’s one main way I can describe it, it’s like a nostalgic hug. It’s a bit safe, and you know what you’re getting, but it still leaves you feeling decently warm and happy. And that’s the verdict – it’s not fantastic, likewise it’s not a mess. It’s simply pretty decent.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) is playing in cinemas nationwide
Alex’s Archive: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
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