Indiana Jones movie review. Despite the notoriety of the first revival effort in 2008, Indiana Jones is returning to the big screen once again, this time to say goodbye for real. There is always the possibility that the series will continue in different ways, but “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is inevitably the last adventure of 80-year-old Harrison Ford…
Although Indiana Jones is a controversial hero, he is unquestionably one of the most iconic characters in the history of cinema and deserves a glorious farewell . However, “The Dial of Destiny”, which tries to formulate old movies and implement them flawlessly, is far from being an exciting farewell, it is a movie that does not use the burden of nostalgia well enough to prepare an emotional ending – at least until the last scene – and has very little in it that is worth remembering.
After the original trilogy in the ’80s and 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” Steven Spielberg hands over the director’s chair to James Mangold this time. Putting the end to the story of another pop culture icon with “Logan” in 2017, Mangold seems like the right name to bring the bleak world or the fast-paced action of a hero approaching the finish line to the screen, but he hasn’t fully understood his mission to bring the magic of Indiana Jones to the present.
It looks like. In fact, “Dial of Destiny”, like its protagonist, hunts for the treasures of the past and reveals almost everything that should be in a classic Indiana Jones movie: Nazis trying to seize mysterious ancient objects with bad intentions, chase scenes in exotic environments, dark caves equipped with traps, frequent trips to Indiana. A young and beautiful woman quarreling, a mischievous child, even the map sequence showing the route followed by the characters, and the music of John Williams… Of course, we should not forget the fantastic ending of this movie, which shifts to science fiction with its inclusion of aliens and is therefore highly criticized “Crystalline”. The craziest ending in the entire series, including “The Kingdom of the Skulls”
However, just following the formulas is not enough to create a good Indiana Jones adventure; Aside from the many reasons we can list for this, the Indiana in this movie is not the Indiana we know. He is now a lonely, old and grumpy professor who has already put away his hat and whip and is preparing to retire. He lives in a small apartment in New York, Marion (Karen Allen) has filed for divorce, and his son is nowhere to be seen. His students, who listened to him with admiration and conveyed love messages with creative methods, have long since become history.
Professor Jones, who could not adapt to the space age in which he lived in 1969, the year when mankind set foot on the Moon and everyone was looking forward to the future, is almost a part of the ancient worlds he describes. Starting from this point, the film, which has the chance to draw us a more sincere portrait of Indiana Jones and tell a more original story, throws Indiana Jones into the action, which is a bad imitation of the old one, and all the changes in the character are reduced to a few lines we hear in between as he moves rapidly from one action scene to the next. It gets stuck.
The movie begins in 1944, in the wild old days of Indy as we know it. At the final turn of World War II, Indiana Jones and his archaeologist friend Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) capture a mysterious object that Nazi scientist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) wants to use to change the course of the war: a work made by the famous mathematician Archimedes and time-honored. half of a dial said to have the power to rule.
In this long opening sequence, there is an inevitable feeling of alienation that comes with watching the digitally rejuvenated version of Harrison Ford, as if the person in front of us is a ghost waiting for us to believe that he is the Indy we know… But what is worse than this effect is the feeling of fakeness spread by this relentless struggle on the Nazi plunder train. Like the other films of the series, Mangold starts the story right in the middle of the action, but this scene, loaded with digital effects, is far from Spielberg’s genius and is very disconnected from the spirit of Indiana Jones, causing us to step into this final adventure with a bitter taste.
When we jump to 1969, Indiana’s quiet life is turned upside down with the arrival of his goddaughter, Basil Shaw’s daughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), whom he has not seen for years. After their adventure together, Basil became obsessed with the dial and finding the other half that would make it work, and he ruined his life for this obsession.
Like her father and godfather, Helena is passionate about archeology and tries to persuade Indiana to complete this research. However, neither Helena’s intentions are as innocent as they seem, nor is she the only one after the dial. Voller, who became one of the most important names of NASA as a result of an agreement he made with the US government, is still on the dial. So that everyone chases the dial and each other; A breathless race begins, stretching from New York to Morocco, and from there to Greece and Sicily.
Although the first leg of the adventure, which begins at the parade held to celebrate the Apollo 11 astronauts and continues with Indiana stealing a police horse and crashing into subway stations, promises an entertaining journey by combining a new environment we are not used to seeing and the humor that has always been at the core of the series, the scenes that follow are It cannot fulfill the promise.
The chase scenes, which cannot capture the visual richness of the previous films, are stained with dark or yellow-brown tones, and are drowned in too many digital effects, lack the real sense of excitement. The script, which feels like a filler material between these scenes, sometimes makes room for unnecessary side stories instead of providing a story that is enough for us to invest in the bond between the characters.
The point we reach at the end of the race, no matter how strange it is, is the only courageous step of the film. Again, the last stop, extending to science fiction themes, perhaps fits the Indiana Jones narrative better than aliens, but the film fails to sell this far-fetched idea to the audience who are on the verge of saying goodbye to the character.
Fortunately, it ends with a finale that allows us to see Indiana Jones sincerely, just like he did in the beginning, and ends with a wink to the most romantic scene of “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. Of course, we don’t want it to be drowned in nostalgic references, but in the movie where Harrison Ford bids farewell to the character he has played for 40 years, nostalgic touches could have been a little more or more meaningful than sentences like “this also happened to me” and could have helped to build a bridge between the past and the future. The emotional void filled by the last scene makes the deficiency that pervades the entire film more visible, but it also prevents leaving the theater with negative emotions.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the creator and star of “Fleabag,” takes on a character that is familiar to her as the smart, sarcastic, flirtatious Helena, and has the energy to balance the stagnation of the old Indiana. His young apprentice Teddy (Ethann Isidore) also makes an entertaining contribution to the story in limited moments by contrasting with the grumpy old man.
While Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), one of the old faces of the series, returns for Indiana’s last adventure, a new old friend, played by Antonio Banderas, also helps Indy in his adventure, but this character, like many other side characters, is a real contribution to the story. It doesn’t. Mad Nazi scientist Jürgen Voller is a role that fits Mads Mikkelsen perfectly. The actor, who has successfully portrayed evil characters before, spreads the feeling of tension on his own, especially in calm moments, with his threatening and arrogant stance, and delivers a flawless performance as much as the script allows.
Harrison Ford, who is the only real reason to watch the movie, returns to the role of Indiana Jones effortlessly and successfully carries him into his melancholy state, alone with his regrets and losses. Even though “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” did not provide the character, Ford or the series with the finale it deserved, don’t miss the chance to see Harrison Ford on the big screen for the last time in his Indiana Jones costumes, accompanied by the theme music we know so well!
All about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny movie.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Directed by: James Mangold
Starring: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore, Mads Mikkelsen, Mads Mikkelsen, Francis Chapman, Anna Francolini
Screenplay by: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp, James Mangold
Production Design by: Adam Stockhausen
Cinematography by: Phedon Papamichael
Film Editing by: Michael McCusker, Andrew Buckland, Dirk Westervelt
Costume Design by: Joanna Johnston
Set Decoration by: Anna Pinnock
Art Direction by: Peter Dorme, Tim Dutton, Martin Foley
Music by: John Williams
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, language and smoking.
Distributed by: Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date: June 30, 2023
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