‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ Movie Review: Indy Makes a Joyless Return
Photo from Lucasfilm
From Jeff Nelson
George Lucas created one of cinema’s greatest adventure franchises with Indiana Jones starting with 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. The 1984 prequel, The Temple of Doom, and the 1989 sequel titled The Last Crusade carried on its legacy, only for 2008’s The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to end on a sour note. Unfortunately, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny also fails to bring the franchise back to form.
Set in 1944, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) joins forces with Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) to secure a powerful artifact called the Antikythera from a Nazi named Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen). Twenty-five years later, the evil scientist is working alongside the U.S. government to put the first astronaut on the moon, but he has other plans that involve taking the Dial back. Basil’s daughter, Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) joins Jones to retrieve the artifact before the Nazi uses it to change the course of history.
Jones brought his knowledge to the classroom in the profession of a college professor, teaching unenthused students about the importance of history. This adventurer is about to begin his retirement when another adventure falls into his lap, but he isn’t quite the same man we remember from previous installments. Jones is older and wiser, although he simultaneously carries his life’s greatest pains along with him.
Meanwhile, Helena serves as a new-age adventurer with her own tricks up her sleeves. As Basil’s daughter and Jones’ goddaughter, she grew up in the midst of archaeological discovery. However, Helena also saw how obsession in this line of work grabs hold, shaping how she views history and its most valuable artifacts. She pursues her adventures alongside a boy named Teddy (Ethann Isidore), whose presence only pushes her character’s peculiar motivations from odd to outright problematic.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny presents thematic dualities, including science vs. magic and young vs. old. Jones and Helena bring conflicting views and morals, but they both stand to learn something from one another. This sequel allows its heroes to momentarily reflect on whether they’re in this line of work for the right reasons, but these scenes are frequently obscured by a nonsensical story riddled with plot holes.
Ford’s admiration for Jones shows in his return, instilling charisma where he can. Waller-Bridge finds her own rhythm as Helena, but Mikkelsen is stuck within a one-note villain in Voller. This Nazi has the intelligence to put the first man on the moon, yet his common sense over the course of this adventure is severely lacking. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny muddies the water with the introduction of time travel, resulting in a concerning lack of meaningful stakes that lead to a loud, obnoxious third act.
This adventure for the Dial is packed with overt green-screen chase sequences and terrible de-aging CGI work. A young Jones resembles the graphics found in a PS3 cutscene placed in the middle of a live-action scene, proving that this technology isn’t ready quite yet. John Willams’ delightful score taps into all of the right nostalgic notes, giving the impression that we’re watching something that’s much more remarkable than what ultimately landed on the screen.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny takes all of the zest and charm out of the adventure, making for a bloated and discouraging chapter of the franchise. It goes through the motions of one of its hero’s big-scaled journeys, although it still needs to deliver a compelling one worthy of its leading star.
Rating: 2/5
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hits theaters on June 30th, 2023.
