Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Rated PG-13                 2hr 34min
Directed by James Mangold
Starring: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridger and Mads Mikkelsen

             

         I had the absolute privilege of seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen last month. It's always been a favorite movie of mine ever since the first time I saw it when I was 13 years old and home sick. The movie was unlike anything I'd ever seen and instantly made me forget being sick, and I was reminded of all this when watching Raiders again. I hadn't seen it in almost a decade and I had forgotten just how good it was. The script, characters, action, cinematography and direction were all perfect, but those were all just window dressing. The real joy was the kind of magic and pure entertainment that the film had.

             I bring all of this up, because the Dial of Destiny had no magic whatsoever. There's no joy in any of it. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The plot of the film is that everyone is after the famed Dial of Destiny and Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) has to team up with his god daughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridger) to solve it's mysteries first. With that being said, I know that it would have caused tons of outrage from hardcore Indy fans, but I actually would have preferred it if this was a spin off focusing entirely on Helena Shaw. Not because I find her character interesting (quite the opposite), but because Indiana Jones did not need to be in this movie. Throughout the entire movie Helena is the smartest person in the room and the person with all the stakes in actually going after the dial. Indy just gets roped up into the plot and then just decides to stay. Indy actually has a line of dialogue telling Helena that she needs him because he has a connection and the whole thing comes off as Indy trying to justify being in the story. He only proves his worth two or maybe three times in the movie and yet his name is the title of the movie. 

         Lets talk characters. Harrison Ford sounds less interested in this movie than he did in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and that's saying something. Phoebe Waller-Bridger does her best to make something of her character, but what makes it on the screen is a mangling of contradictory aspects. She's the smartest person in the room, the most knowledgeable, the one who thinks up all the crazy escapes, the romantic, the one who's quick on her feet etc. With the talents of four different screenwriters I would have thought that at least one person would have been able to make Helena Shaw feel 3 dimensional, but she doesn't. There are other characters in this movie, but they either have so little screen time/things to do (Antonio Banderas) or they are just stock characters (Boyd Holbrook) that they're really not worth mentioning. 

         I think the biggest problem this movie had to face was Harrison Ford's age. He was 65 years old in 2008 for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but somehow Spielberg and Lucas made it work. But, he is far too old in this movie. He seems crotchety as he shuffles his way from one scene to the next being confused because he is literally too old to keep up with the plot. Now James Mangold is a great director, and the team of screen writers with him have all done wonderful work. He really has an eye for character especially in something like Ford vs Ferrari or Logan, but for some reason something really fell flat here. he tries to do something with the idea that Indy's best days are behind him, but unfortunately Spielberg and Lucas already already did this story in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Now for all Crystal Skull's problems (and it has a lot) the best moments (really the only moments that worked for me) were the character interactions. The great scene with Jim Broadbent talking about how Indy has reached the age where life stops giving and starts taking away, and a lot of the early interactions with Mutt are good. So this movie has to do Indiana's old... again! and try to make us care this time. 

           Which is really the biggest problem with this movie. I did not care. About anything. All manner of technical wizardry and action scenes are in this movie (with the under water scene with Indy attacked by eels being a real highlight), but it all ends up just being things moving on screen. I didn't cheer for Indy, I certainly didn't cheer for Helena and I didn't feel any dread or worry that the bad guys evil plan might succeed. To be fair, most films don't allow me to think that the bad guys will win for very long, but this movie is less than that. By the third time someone yells "the dial!" or "give me the dial!!!" I am beyond checked out, and for the longest Indiana Jones movie by 25-30 minutes that is not a good thing.  

           So I can't say that I would recommend this movie to... anyone really. If your an Indiana Jones fan then I would recommend checking out the other great Indiana Jones content, the fantastic video games, the novels that fill in more of Indy's adventures while still keeping that great feeling that made the originals so great, and even some of the comics.  I used to say that Indiana Jones was a trilogy and that the ending of Last Crusade where Indy and friends ride off into the sunset was the perfect ending, and after two failed attempts by the same and different teams of very talented people to recapture that lightning in a bottle, I think that it's finally time to let go. Let go of the future merchandising concerns and franchise fatigue cycle. I think that it's finally time to put Indiana Jones to rest and let him enjoy his time in the sun.