Movie Review - Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

After the abomination that was Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull this latest (And last?) Indiana Jones movie only needed to avoid being an abject embarrassment. Mission accomplished. I'm not saying Dial of Destiny was great, but it was mostly good. And that's good enough.

And so, I've been sitting here for fifteen minutes trying to come up with something positive to say about anything. All I can come up with is that the acting was pretty good. I just really want to stress that I didn't hate this movie, because the rest of this review is going to make it sound that way.

7:42●●● 95%

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Inspirational

Harrison Ford was inspirational in this movie. Not his character, or his acting, but just getting on set and rolling with the punches to get this movie made. I know he doesn't do his own stunts, but the dude is 80 years old and still bringing it. Here's a man that has taken care of himself and is an inspiration to me.

Out of Character

I noticed a few times that characters did things that didn't fit with their roles. The most obvious one is Indy giving the half of the Antikythera mechanism to Basil Shaw. How many times have we heard Indy say, "That belongs in a museum."? But in this instance he lets a friend take an ancient relic created by one of the most famous people from antiquity and keep it in his house? That doesn't track at all. The argument could be made that the relic was too dangerous for the public to know about, but they didn't know that when they found the relic in the first place. It was only after a great deal of research that Basil determined its use. So no, Indy would have never let Basil keep it privately.

Emotionally One Dimensional

We only get to see Indy for about five minutes of screen time before he gets swept up in the action. The trouble with that is it's hard to know where Indy is emotionally at this stage of his life. A few lines are dropped here and there in the movie, but it's not enough for us to bond, or re-bond, with him. And that's a problem, because it's hard to care what happens to him in the end.

Grade: C+

A second take from Rob Williams

I’ll be honest, I had concerns going in to see Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny. I love the franchise. I can still remember seeing Raiders Of The Lost Ark in the cinema and I’ve seen every one on the big screen before going on to buy them for home viewing. I even have a soft spot for Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. Admittedly, it’s a bit like the way you have a soft spot for the runt in a litter of puppies but, soft spot there is. I’d heard no end of rumours about how badly test screenings had been received and what the basic plot was going to be.

There was one particularly scathing report from last November. Amongst other things it said that Phoebe Waller-Bridge was playing Helena Brody (Marcus’ daughter) and ended up replacing Indy after his noble sacrifice. The team get hold of the titular Dial of Destiny which takes them first to ancient Rome and then to the mid thirties. Mads Mikkelsen was playing a younger version of Ronald Lacey’s Toht. Marion appears at the beginning, Sallah appears only once, Mutt never appears at all, and the film ends with a “Helena will return” card at the end indicating how the franchise will move forward.

Give 'em Hell, Indiana Jones!

Obviously, I can’t say too much about what happens because, you know, spoilers, but I will just say that, of all that list of scenarios in the last paragraph, only one is actually true. I will also say that all the opprobrium heaped upon Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny must have initiated a lot of re-editing and, possibly, some reshooting. Because I have to say that the film that I saw this afternoon was fantastic. To be honest, certain elements highlighted in the disastrous test screening may well have made it through to the final cut but they’ve been moved around or re-shot and, now, it works!

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny is a film in the style and feel of the opening episode of the franchise and, to my mind, a perfect conclusion. Of the, just over, two and a half hours running time I would say that about two hours is action! I may be over egging the pudding but it definitely felt like that. I usually try and squeeze in an early Peetime for the benefit of the people who either like to arrive early but like to watch the adverts and trailers or arrive as the lights are going out and the film is underway. The opening sequence was a non-stop roller coaster of car chases, fights on trains, bombs falling through buildings that went on for over twenty minutes.

A Few Times In My Life, I've Seen Things

And then we settled down for a bit. Indiana Jones is an old man now. The film is set after the Apollo 11 moon landing as there is a ticker tape parade for Messrs Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins. As Indy must be seventy in this world if the 1st July 1899 birthdate given him in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles is maintained. He does give one on screen lecture before heading off to his retirement party. While there he is presented with a cake and a gold clock. I’m not sure what happened to the cake but he gives the clock away to a tramp he passes on his way from the college to a bar. Later on in the film he does have to do some more physical stuff but not without pointing out that he is full of pins, plates, aches, pains, bullet wounds, and the blood of Kali!

So, the humour is there. The action is there. Most of the old favourite characters are there along with a couple of new ones. Toby Jones is Basil Shaw, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is his daughter Helena, Mads Mikkelsen is the big bad guy, and Antonio Banderas is an old friend of Indy’s. Karen Allen and John Rhys-Davies reprise their characters in a delightful and touching send off to the whole thing. There is a lovely, heartwarming scene nearly at the end which takes you right back to the first film and brings the whole franchise to a quite lovely end. I was honestly touched and delighted by Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny and will, most definitely, be seeing it again.

Rob's grade: A+

Spoilers Ahead: how it should have ended

In this movie, Indy travels back in time and... Nothing. He begs to stay but then gets knocked out and we don't even see how they managed to get back to the present. And quick aside: a Nazi soldier punches Indy in the jaw and Indy laughs it off. Then Helena punches him and... What? He's out cold for days? Seriously?

Man, they really left a LOT on the table with this one. First, the Nazi airplane crashes on land and nothing becomes of it? There's just a WWII bomber laying on a Sicilian beach and no record of it exists.

Here's what I think they should have done. First, the movie needs to establish that Indy is finally content with his life. He's together with Marion, his son is doing well and they have a good relationship. Indy feels that everything he's done, all the adventures, and sacrifices he has made have worked out.

Then, Indy gets involved in this Nazi plan to travel back in time. Indy ends up back in the past at the time Raiders of the Lost Ark occurs. The present day Nazis know that if they can tell the Nazis in the past exactly how long to make the staff--the one used in the map room--then they will dig in the right place and get to the ark before Indy and company can. Problem solved.

In the present, Indy tries to keep the Nazis from learning how to get back in time, but eventually they succeed so Indy has to go back in time with them to continue trying to stop them.

In the past, Indy is able to prevent the present day Nazis from interfering with the past, but then he watches his past self and realizes that he went past Marion's tent. If past-Indy doesn't go into that tent then he never discovers that Marion is alive, they'll never get married and have a child. Therefore, present-day-Indy has to figure out a way to get past-Indy to go into that tent. He's dressed as a Nazi, so he orders soldiers around to position them so that past-Indy will evade them and end up in the tent.

If it were up to me I would let the present-day-Indy sacrifice himself so that past-Indy could find Marion. The sacrifice wouldn't be to save the world from Nazis. He's already done that and ensured that the ark is out of their reach. His sacrifice would be to make sure that his past-self and Marion get together. But of course he realizes this was always the way it happened. There's no scenario where he doesn't sacrifice himself because that's the type of person he is.

This is obviously a rough outline. I've given it about ten-minutes thought. What I think is important is to let characters make choices. They almost let Indy do that in this movie. He begged to stay in the past, but was brought back against his will and was given a happy ending. It's just too easy. That's not how Indiana Jones should end. I don't know if it was the writers or producers who determined that Indy would survive, but whoever it was shouldn't be allowed around a script again.