Since Lucasfilm was acquired by Disney in 2012, we anticipated the arrival of not only new Star Wars films, but a new Indiana Jones film as well. Within a few years we were treated to a new trilogy of Star Wars film that people just LOVE to tell you their thoughts about whether you asked or not, but we had to wait quite a while to get that next installment of everyone’s favorite globetrotting archeologist. For a period, it seemed we may not get a fifth Indy movie after all, with constant release date changes and the departure of Steven Spielberg landing the film firmly in development hell, but finally eleven years after the Lucasfilm acquisition, we have ourselves The Dial of Destiny as a swan song for the Indiana Jones character.
Admittedly, I didn’t grow up with the Indiana Jones movies the same way I did with Star Wars. I knew of them, played the Lego games and owned a few of the Lego sets in the lead up to 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but my 1st time watching each film in its entirety besides just clips and plot summaries was within the last year. Hell, I purposefully avoiding watching Crystal Skull until the day before my screening of Dial of Destiny due to how much shit has been thrown towards that movie the last 15 years (I liked it fine honestly). That being said, it didn’t take me long to fall in love with the pulpy adventure style that the film series provides. Raiders of the Lost Ark may have been my favorite of the series (how original I know), but each film had something that I loved that I’ll for sure revisit in the future. The opening sequence of Raiders, the mineshaft chase in Temple of Doom, the father-son dynamic of Last Crusade, the unabashed wackiness of the adventure of Crystal Skull combined with an older Indy, and of course the presence of a timeless John Williams score throughout the entire franchise. As I marathoned through the movies, I eagerly waited to see what Dial of Destiny would bring to the franchise as a hopefully fitting conclusion to Indy’s adventures, and as I viewed each film that anticipation got stronger to finally see one of these movies on the big screen.
So, how does Dial of Destiny stack up against the other Indiana Jones films? The film opened weaker than many expected, with a $60 million opening weekend and a mixed reception critically casting doubt the film can have strong enough legs to match its rather outrageous and unnecessary $300 million budget. However, I’m here to say screw those that made me think I was going to hate this movie, because I had an absolute blast with Dial of Destiny, and I think it’s more than worthy of ending the story of Indiana Jones. Is it without it’s faults? Absolutely not, but I don’t think any film in this series is to be honest, even Raiders wouldn’t earn my highest score personally. What this film does well is introduce strong new characters and formidable new villains, give us an engaging MacGuffin like the classic Indy stories, bring loads of the pulpy adventure fun that the series is known for, and of course has Harrison Ford, still perhaps the coolest man on Earth at 80 years old, clearly having the time of his life giving it his all for his last ride as the character. We all poke fun at Harrison’s lack of caring about his role in Star Wars, but the attachment he has to the Indiana Jones character is something special, and you can see that throughout the film as he turns back the clock and gives us one hell of an outing for our entertainment.
No need to worry about the film lacking in excitement or fun action sequences due to Ford’s age, as the film is still fun and engaging throughout with plenty of great action set pieces. The film’s opening flashback set at the tail-end of World War II featuring a de-aged Ford has been heavily promoted in the movie’s marketing and trailers, but there’s plenty more that had me hooked immediately. From a horseback chase through the New York City streets, to fun chase scenes involving just about every form of transportation there is, and the series’ trademark treasure hunting sequences, they do everything they can to give you what you’d hope for an “Old Man Indy” story. James Mangold and crew were given a tall task of telling yet another legacy sequel story for the character, as an “older Indy” story had already been done once prior, but I really liked the direction they went to wrap up his character arc in the movie. Without getting into spoiler territory, important events of the 1960s are perfectly integrated into Indy’s life and worldview at this point – the Space age, Vietnam War, counterculture movements, Operation Paperclip – all factor into Indy’s story as they should for a character that is defined by his love and knowledge of world history. The way the 60s were incorporated into the story I felt was way stronger than Crystal Skull, which aside from having the Soviets be the antagonists, I felt didn’t do enough to work off it’s 1950s setting. The story is enough to make another, final outing valid and worth it, walking out of the theater I had no feelings of “they didn’t really need another Indiana Jones movie, four was enough”. Although it took some time to get here, I’m glad we got to see Ford put the hat back on one more time.
Now to give the supporting cast props here. Balancing a largely new cast of characters with a few legacy characters returning to make Indy fans happy (except for me, who got one of the film’s larger surprises spoiled by Lucasfilm’s own social media before seeing the movie. Do better guys it hasn’t even been a week), I was very impressed by both the antagonists and the supporting cast. Mads Mikkelson leads the villain group as a former Nazi now working for the U.S. space program, seeking to use the titular dial to “write the wrongs” of the past. Returning to the tried and true format of having the Nazis be the main villains of the final Indy film just feels right (although now I’m sure some people will think it’s “woke” despite them literally being Nazis), and Mads was incredible here. He’s what you expect from a Mads-played villain: sinister, conniving, intelligent, a more than capable adversary for our protagonists. My friend and I joked that both Mads and fellow villain Boyd Holbrook can just never get cast in heroic roles, but it helps that they’re just so damn good at playing bad guys. Phoebe Waller Bridge excels as our secondary protagonist Helena Shaw, Indy’s estranged godfather. She was brilliant here, perfectly blending aspects and character arcs of both Indy and past female protagonists from the classic trilogy into one character. If not for Harrison Ford being Harrison Ford, she’d be the MVP of the movie. I know Lucasfilm is insisting they’re done with the franchise, but if you were to announce a Helena Shaw Disney+ series, I’d watch the hell out of that.
Like I mentioned, it’s not a perfect movie. I still can’t understand after watching this movie how it cost damn near $300 million to make. Even with the de-aging involved in the opening set piece, there’s not much here that warrants Avengers: Endgame level budget, it was never going to be a massive Star Wars or MCU level hit box office wise, and I’m worried Disney will see the box office numbers here and cut the legs off here before it has a chance to get some word-of-mouth going, because it’s a damn good movie despite its shortcomings. There’s your fair share of silly stuff in this movie, which your enjoyment of will vary on how much of that you like in your Indiana Jones movies, as will your enjoyment of the third act. That being said, I quite like my servings of dumb pulp fun in these movies, so I wasn’t bothered by it in the slightest. Certain aspects of the movie do feel like they’re just trying to check boxes of past Indy tropes to varied success (such as Helena having a kid sidekick ala Temple of Doom), but I wouldn’t go far enough to call it nostalgia-baiting or excessive fanservice. It felt like just the right amount.
If there were one big hole in the film, it’s missing that flavor and energy that only Steven Spielberg and nobody else can bring to the world of moviemaking. James Mangold is a damn good director, sure he made an all-time genre-defying great film in Logan, but I’ve enjoyed almost everything I’ve seen from him as well. He does a great job here, but you simply can’t fill the shoes of Spielberg. This isn’t to say you can’t make a good Indiana Jones movie without Spielberg directing, as I do think Dial of Destiny exceeds both Crystal Skull and perhaps Temple of Doom on my own personal franchise rankings, I just can’t help but wonder what the end-product would’ve been if Spielberg stayed on, what his version of the final Indiana Jones film would have been compared to Mangold’s.
Not everyone is going to love the full product, there were certainly moments where I just knew I’d see a Tweet complaining about it in due time, but at the end of the day, I go into Indiana Jones movies expecting a fun adventure, and that’s exactly what Dial of Destiny is. To me, they succeeded in bringing a fitting end to the franchise, to honoring what came before it, and delivering a satisfying new installment to a beloved series.
So yeah, you did give them hell, Indiana Jones. I tip my hat to you one last time.
The Starlight Journal is a new project of mine I’ve been wanting to get off the ground for a long time now. If you missed my Asteroid City review I posted earlier this week, you can read that here. Stay tuned soon for my June Film Journal, as well as blogs surrounding the Best of the Half-Year! If you are interested in reading more of my thoughts on movies, I journal every movie I watch on my Twitter and Letterboxd accounts and would love it if you’d join the fun.
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