Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Since we’re dealing with time travel for the first time in this franchise, let’s get our chronology straight; bearing in mind that 1984’s Temple of Doom was a prequel, James Mangold’s movie is actually the third Indiana Jones sequel. I’ve got fond memories of seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark at the flicks way, way back in 1981; at the time, it seemed quite possible that all future movie-going experiences would be as good as Steven Spielberg’s whip-smart original. If the prequel didn’t quite have the same buzz, Last Crusade took things to a logical male-bonding conclusion, with Jones bringing his father into his endless fray with the Nazis, with chasing world-changing artefacts the goal as always. But interest in the franchise has cratered since the 80’s, not least because the fourth instalment, the Crystal Skull, was a seismic dud on a Phantom Menace scale of seismic dud-ness, jammed full of new characters no-one cared about, shorn of direction, intent or credibility, and showcasing a disinterested performance from the usually reliable Harrison Ford.

So over four decades after meeting Ford as Indiana Jones, a final instalment arrives to finally put the whip-wielding adventurer to bed in the form of a coda. It’s a tradition from the original trilogy to open big, and Dial of Destiny aces that test; faced with certain death, a digitally de-aged Ford fights and defeats his Nazi competition in a WWII race for the dial of destiny via trains, motorbikes and much more for a whopping 25 mins. It looks great, and has a dark, blood-and-thunder mode that makes you wish they’d stuck with this angle for the entire film. We then jump forward to 1969, and Jones has just got his divorce papers from Marion (Karen Allen). He’s old and washed up in sunny NYC, where he crosses paths with his adventurous god-daughter Helena Shaw (posho Phoebe Waller-Bridge, predictably annoying), who is looking for the same dial. After a fun horseback ride through a ticket-tape parade, Jones and Shaw head for Tangiers, then Greece, then…but you’ll have to see Indiana Jones 5 to find out what lies in wait…

But lower your expectations first; while an improvement over the soul-destroying part 4, the second half of Dial of Destiny returns to the science-fiction theme, with Jones and Shaw heading travelling through a fissure in time. Sure, there’s always been plot-holes and incongruities in the franchise, Jones does hold his breath for about eight hours while holding onto the outside of a submarine in the first film, but as with the aliens previously included, sci-fi just isn’t the right feel for Jones. After a fairly tight start, the Dial of Destiny falls apart dramatically as Jones shuffles around in his undercrackers, requires regular rescuing, gets shot, and generally does a whole lotta things that we really don’t want to see. Sure, this is a far better send-off for the character than the previous entry, and Ford has still got it to burn as a leading man, but it’s still not a patch on the original trilogy’s magic.

With a confusing script with features none of the signature wit of the original, and a curious lack of action after the initial flurry, Mangold’s film is going to be a hard sell to today’s young people given that this is a period film that reaches back to serials from the 40’s for inspiration; the appeal of the original was that it used modern techniques to revive old cliches, but in 2023, that boat has flown. Sentiment about Jones and Ford will make this a must see film for fans, but the Dial of Destiny had a huge job to do in aiming to erase the bad taste of Crystal Skull. Still, hearing that huge John Williams score in the cinema, and seeing Ford still cutting around in his hat, jacket and whip should be enough to draw an older crowd; it may not be the Indy we’d want, but as a farewell to a beloved character, it just about gets over the line.

Thanks to Disney for providing big-screen access to this film, out June 28th 2023 in the UK.