Review - Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

          Hey guys, Chuck here. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is the latest chapter in Lucasfilm's iconic Indiana Jones franchise. This fifth outing for Indiana Jones, who is played once again by Harrison Ford, is directed this time by James Mangold. This makes Dial of Destiny the only movie in the series not to be directed by Steven Spielberg, and also have no direct story credit by George Lucas. Also, this movie marks the first Lucasfilm movie to actually have Disney's logo in front of the Lucasfilm logo, in addition to the Paramount Pictures logo. Seriously, none of the more recent Star Wars movies had the Disney logo attached, but an Indiana Jones movie does. Cool. 

         So, the movie starts with a prologue set in 1945, where Indiana Jones and his colleague Basil Shaw retrieve a legendary relic, the Antikythera, also known as Archimedes' Dial, from a train full of Nazis, including Nazi scientist Dr. Jurgen Voller. Many years later in 1969, a now retired Indiana Jones teams up with Basil's daughter, Helena, to goa after not only the half of the Dial Indy found back in 1945, but the second half as well. And, of course, Voller is also after the Dial, as he wants to use it to travel to the past and change the course of World War II, thus rewriting history. 

        Okay, so let's start off with this premise. It, actually, makes sense in terms of the trajectory of the Indiana Jones franchise. Not saying it works one hundred percent, per se, but it definitely feels like it fits well with Indy's previous adventures, what with the likes of the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, the Thuggee and the Sankara stones, you get the idea. So, the idea of the Antikythera being a relic that can measure, calculate, and lead to temporal fissures, thus allowing for time travel is something that would belong in the world of Indiana Jones.

        As for the cast, Harrison Ford is still absolutely fantastic as Indiana Jones, and for what could well be his last outing as Indy, this was a lot of fun. I also enjoyed seeing the returns, albeit briefly, of both John Rhys-Davies as Sallah and Karen Allen as Marion. For newcomers in the franchise, I thoroughly enjoyed both Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Helena and Antonio Banderas as Renaldo. Tony Jones did a great job as Basil, Helena's father, and it was great seeing Indy partnered up with a colleague that didn't turn out to be a traitor like Mac. 

        In terms of the villains, Mads Mikkelsen was definitely fantastic as Voller, ranking up there with the likes of Walter Donovan and Rene Belloq. However, my favorite Indy villain is still Mola Ram from Temple of Doom. Also, Boyd Holbrook was pretty kickass as Klaber, but I felt like Thomas Kretschmann was pretty wasted as Col. Weber. 

        The action and locations were also fantastic in this movie, and they felt genuine. No CGI jungles, no CGI monkeys, no weird swordfighting between Shia LaBeouf and Cate Blanchett. Nothing that fans disliked about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In fact, a lot of things in Dial of Destiny are waayyy better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Except for one thing: the digital de-aging of Harrison Ford for the film's opening sequence set in 1945. And if that's my only complaint, then that's really good. 

        Honestly, James Mangold made a movie that was a lot of fun, was a great adventure movie, and really felt like a nice reunion with a beloved icon of cinema. Now, the original three Indiana Jones movies (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, and Last Crusade) are still better by all accounts. However, I still recommend this one, and I think it's worth the price of admission. I'm giving Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny a rating of 4.25/5. 

       Alrighty guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys later.

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