Indiana Jones & Dial of Destiny (SPOILERS) — Review Thread

I'd say that considering they were trying to make an action movie starring an 80 year old man, they did a decent job.  Dial of Destiny is definitely better than Crystal Skull, but that's an incredibly low bar to clear.  I don't think I ever need to watch either film again, though.  The above video that played before the movie was the most entertaining part of the evening.  I think I'll watch the proper Indy Trilogy this weekend.

Everyone just waiting for Mission: Impossible at this point.

I don’t even recognize you anymore.

R.I.P.

Maybe.


I think this movie has the same issue as Crystal Skull. Wrong genre. Indiana Jones is supposed to be action-adventure with a dose of the supernatural. Temple of Doom was too off-balance for some, but still felt right. Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny are straight up science-fiction and that’s just not right. This is no different than John McClane turning into a superhero in the Die Hard series, and you absolutely hated those movies. So if anyone was to hardcore critique this movie it’s you.

To me this tried to feel more grounded than Crystal Skull and attempted to fix a lot of its problems but didn't really offer any alternatives.  It goes out of its way to remind us 'it's not supernatural, it's mathematics' which is fine and we aren't seeing any monkey swinging or cars landing on rubber trees or nuclear fridges.  It didn't piss me off like KotCS did and still does.  But it played it too safe and in doing so doesn't really stand out in any way.  At least people talk about KotCS, I don't think people will have much of anything to say about DoD in the future.  I can't fault it for not being offensively stupid although there are some dumb parts but it succeeds at being a pretty okay movie.  

I might be soft on this movie because it's not Crystal Skull.  It makes me wonder how we would all be reacting to it if it came after Last Crusade instead.

Just look at this movie as one of those outlandish Indiana Jones novels from the 90's like Indiana Jones and the Unicorn's Legacy or Indiana Jones and the Philosopher's Stone or Indiana Jones and the Dinosaur Eggs.  They're along the same lines of outlandishness.

And oh yes, I read some of those in middle school.

Ew.

No.

This the only 90’s Indiana Jones I accept.

Dial of Destiny doesn't really work as a proper sendoff for Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, choosing to be middle-of-the-road and ordinarily safe (par for the course for all Kathleen Kennedy produced Lucasfilm entities these days) instead of attempting to shake things up too much and operating clearly with the not so fond memories of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in everyone's present minds. At the same time it doesn't quite overdo the callbacks and cameos (though the two that are there are wholly irrelevant and unnecessary) and despite a pretty wild jump in the third act keeps things relatively grounded and avoids the eye rolls and ridicule of Crystal Skull. I suppose that's the sentiment for Dial of Destiny; it's overly safe and sometimes even a bit dull (the second act of Morocco really needed to be entirely restructured) but it won't offend the senses either. It's content with being the fourth best Indiana Jones movie, knowing it can't possibly compete with the first three but doesn't want to be on the same dreaded level with Crystal Skull.

Instead of honing in on some of the intriguing themes it presents of Indiana Jones not feeling at place with the current world and would rather be lost among the history and artifacts that he covets (an idea they bring about in the film's climax that doesn't feel earned), James Mangold and team are content with laying out surface level story beats to get him back into the hat on another rollicking adventure and not much else. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a great pairing with Ford, serving as the witty foil to his grumpy cynicism and provides much of the film's energy. I never really bought her character as either the morale less opportunist or the budding archaeologist but she's the only one outside of Ford with much to work with and provides the film's only levity amongst the bad guys and chase scenes.

One of the more disappointing elements of Dial of Destiny is the relative lack of scope and scale in the movie. While we do have the globetrotting escapades one expects from the franchise, it all feels scaled down and never miraculous. We're locked in tight in a hotel, alleyways, classrooms, boats, planes, etc. and there just isn't a sense of exploration or discovery in any of it. They're all just used to get us to our next chase sequence and little of it is very fun. The second act really doesn't need to be in the film at all, which is too bad because the film picks up a bit when it takes its huge leap in the third act and finally rouses interest again. The second act just has too many subplots and minor characters that have no impact at all, and you end up reflecting on it wishing the set pieces had been more innovative and the story beats more daring.

Mads Mikkelsen, per usual, is an absolute presence as the antagonist. But he too doesn't have a lot to work with. When his character's motivations for claiming the dial are revealed, it felt like a lost opportunity to not expand on his and Indy's similar through lines of wanting to belong to the past and the temptations that the dial presents them. Would that have shaken things up too much? For the Kathleen Kennedy regime, I guess so. But what a theme that could have been explored to really bookend Ford's titular character after all of these years. But that's where Dial of Destiny squarely lies; a film that plays it safe and isn't going to test its audience in any fashion out of fear of backlash and indignation for Ford's final turn as Indiana Jones. Mangold and Kennedy seem to be tip-toeing through the whole picture, checking over their shoulders to make sure the audience is still along for the ride even as tepid as the ride is. Is it better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Yeah, marginally. For all of that film's faults it's more memorable than this one and at least Spielberg and Lucas swung for the fences with it even if they whiffed pretty hard in the process. Dial of Destiny on the other hand is the least memorable of the adventures by a mile, resting safely in its comfy confines of being bland and ordinary while being able to quietly boast that it's not the worst of the series. It seems like that was the goal all along, and as long as Kathleen Kennedy is in charge of Lucasfilm this is what we can expect and nothing more.

6/10

What's sad is that Indy flat out tells Sallah 'nah, I don't need you, I just needed a ride to the airport.' But why couldn't Sallah have been the guy with the boat? Why did we need a new character? Why couldn't Sallah have been the one to fly the plane at the end? They definitely had opportunities to include him instead of shoehorning in a pointless cameo.

I also enjoyed how Sallah walks into Indy's apartment, does nothing and immediately walks out. Didn't have to be there at all, he does nothing except sing the song off screen that he was singing in Raiders. Remember Raiders?

Good point. It would have been a retread of Last Crusade's themes no doubt. But...isn't that okay? In this film, what does Indy have other than his love of artifacts and history? Nothing. So the idea that the allure of the dial is to bring some meaning back into his life and jolt him into a final adventure worth chasing is far, far more than any theme this film offers if it even does have one. I'd rather us sitting here talking about how the movie was pretty good even if it's a diet Last Crusade than us saying how it's middling and only slightly better than Crystal Skull.