THE FILM
TITLE: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
RELEASE DATE: 14 Jun 2023
WATCH DATE: 01 Dec 2023
TYPE: live-action feature film
ACCESS: streaming on Disney+
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THE PEOPLE
DIRECTOR: James Mangold
PRODUCER: Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Zakaria Alaoui, Simon Emanuel, Candice D. Campos, Blake Simon, Nathan Woods, Anthony Dixon
WRITER: James Mangold, David Koepp, Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth
ACTORS: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Toby Jones, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Karen Allen
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THE STORY
RUNTIME: 2h 34m
STORYLINE: Indiana Jones and the daughter of his old friend embark on a treasure hunt for an object that legends say can send you back in time to change the course of history
GENRE/THEMES: action/adventure, treasure hunting, history
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THE CRITIQUE
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
A fantastic finale to the classic adventure saga of Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones. Dial of Destiny fulfilled all of the classic elements of George Lucas’ treasure-hunting movie franchise - complex layers of history, snakes, buried temples, and a historic yet spiritually powerful treasure. This fifth film also introduced new elements and characters that we haven’t seen before in an Indiana Jones movie - deep ocean diving, and the daughter of an old friend.
The team of scriptwriters carries the storyline right on from The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, leaving no loose ends in the overarching storyline from the 4th film to this 5th film. Set during the Space Race in 1969, Dial of Destiny fits right along with the rest of the series, and actually stands as one of Indy’s better adventures - if not the best! In previous Indiana Jones films, there are some disturbing scenes that aren’t appropriate for the whole family. Some aspects are simply just weird. Dial of Destiny has none of these moments, and opts for simply great adventure.
At each segment of the adventure, I was waiting for the plot to falter - just given the recent quality of films that Hollywood has been producing. Thankfully, those expectations were never met! However, the film took no risks. As the final film in the series, it had the potential to push Indiana Jones’ character to the extremes and join a long list of character climaxes - Logan, Spiderman 3, Mockingjay: Part 2, Dark Knight Rises, and James Bond: No Time To Die - but stayed consistently safe. I guess the limits of Indiana Jones will remain a mystery…
The Academy of Arts has nominated the film for Best Original Score… but I’m not sure why. It didn’t stand out as a striking element of the film, and after listening to the score on its own, it wasn’t anything special. I have also been concerned about Ford’s acting career as he ages, but this film shows that he is still a great actor! He is still Indiana Jones, and successfully brought us all on one last adventure. Dial of Destiny may have missed some opportunities to push the limits and make an epic finale, but it’s still a good movie.
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THE RECEPTION
NOMINATIONS
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THE IMPRESSION
IN A SINGLE WORD: entertaining
MOST STRIKING ELEMENT: originality in the adventure
REWATCH: yes!
RATING: 3.5 // 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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