I have loved the adventures of Indiana Jones ever since I was shown the original three movies when I was a kid. I still remember running around outside and in the woods with my brother pretending to be on an excursion with the infamous Dr. Henry Jones. I have seen the original three films a myriad of times and I have even played some of the video games centered around Indiana. It was surprising to hear that Harrison Ford was coming back to do Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, especially after the atrocity of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Plus, Harrison Ford is 80 years old.
This fifth and final installment of the Indiana Jones saga follows Dr. Henry Jones (Harrison Ford) and his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) as they travel to find the “Dial of Destiny” or Archimedes’ dial. They have to evade the Nazi Jugen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) while he also tries to get his hands on it. Archimedes’ dial is a mathematical contraption that is said to sense fissures of time and can basically open a portal for time travel. Jones and Shaw go from New York to Morocco to the Mediterranean and seek out the two different pieces that make up the dial.
This movie definitely has its flaws but was also heartwarming and entertaining at points. They of course had to add in some of Indiana Jones’ humor. If you’ve seen the previous movies, you know what I’m talking about. There was also some other humor they threw in there, some was not needed but some was pretty good.
Harrison Ford did surprisingly well for being 80 years old, but Phoebe Waller-Bridge could have been better. It almost seemed like she was trying too hard at some points. I think Ethann Isidore, who played Helena’s sidekick Teddy did a decent job for this being his breakout performance onto the big screen. Mads Mikkelsen is great as always. I loved the subtle callbacks to the previous Indy movies. They were details that only true fans would understand.
Dial of Destiny starts off with quite a long opening of a flashback to World War II Germany. Here, the producers made a bold choice and used CGI to digitally enhance a young Harrison Ford. I usually don’t have a problem when this is done like in Rogue One and other films. However, you can clearly tell it in this movie, and it was somewhat distracting yet satisfying to see young Indiana Jones back in the action. The de-aging design can be controversial but, in my mind, it is a great tool if it’s done right.
Time travel in movies is always controversial. Archimedes’ Dial can be used to detect an opening of time and space to allow time travel to be accomplished. When this was explained in the movie, I was getting a little frustrated and hoping that they wouldn’t turn half the movie into a time heist. I was so relieved when the movie ended that they didn’t abuse that. They played their cards right and it paid off in the end.
Most importantly, Dial of Destiny didn’t seem rushed or bland. In my opinion, contrary to popular beliefs, the writing of this film was good. Not overwhelmingly great, but a solid film to conclude the adventures of Indiana Jones. Yes, the choreography and dialogue could be better but what can you expect from a guy that needs to take breaks every few steps to catch his breath.
Final Thoughts
For me, this felt like an Indiana Jones movie. From the way everything was shot, to the way Harrison played his part as the man with the hat and the whip, I could tell this wasn’t an exaggeration. It seemed they based this movie more off of facts rather than a superstitious crystal skull built by aliens like the previous movie did. The way Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was put together and the way it ended was a perfect way to say goodbye to our favorite archeologist.
