There’s a moment midway through Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in which the film delivers its own version of the iconic ‘map travel montage’ that has been in each of the previous films. Here, the sequence has been updated substantially. The map is presented in much more vivid color, with digitally exaggerated details, and full-on narratively crucial performance footage spliced in for good measure.
It isn’t the map montage you might remember from Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, but rather a modernized approximation of it. It may gain technical prowess and momentary impact, but the simplicity, clarity, and aesthetic of the original works are distinctly lost in translation. And that’s indicative of the film as a whole. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is far and away the most expensive Indiana Jones film ever made, and it is also far and away the worst-looking Indiana Jones film ever made.
Directed by James Mangold and coming fifteen years after the last film (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) and thirty-four years after the conclusion of the original trilogy (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny aims to both continue and conclude the tale of Harrison Ford’s iconic archaeologist. And while there are certainly glimmers of authenticity and truth to it, as Mangold and co. do truly commit to exploring both Jones as an aging character and Ford as an aging actor in the film’s first act, which gradually dissolves across the lengthy runtime as the narrative gets busier and muddier.
TOP 5 THINGS ABOUT THIS MOVIE
5. The First Act
Historically, Indiana Jones films have banging opening acts. From their in-progress serialized prologues to the establishing of Indy’s day-to-day-life to setting all the various threads of the story into motion, Spielberg has always excelled at this, with even the much-maligned Kingdom of the Crystal Skull having a riotously entertaining opening act.
Fortunately, Dial of Destiny keeps up this tradition, with its strongest attributes all being in the film’s first act. The much-publicized prologue features an action sequence set in 1944 starring a digitally de-aged Harrison Ford. Much like the de-aged Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian, the de-aged Indy struggles to authentically communicate anything resembling human emotion in its facial or vocal delivery, leaving the sequence largely devoid of heart (as with the aforementioned map montage, an approximation of vintage Indiana Jones, if you will). But credit where credit is due, this opening prologue sees Mangold at his most fierce, staging heart-pounding action sequences around his de-aged Indiana Jones.
Things get even better when the film cuts to the story’s present of 1969, and Mangold introduces us to Ford’s present-day Indy in a decidedly unglamorous fashion. Catching up with the character, where he’s been, what he’s up to, and how he is decidedly out of step with the culture and youth of 1969 is a treat. This opening stretch is where one can most feel Mangold, the script, and Ford really in lock-step with one another, all striving after the same creative goal, and it is Dial of Destiny at its best.
4. Mads Mikkelsen as Voller
Mikkelsen has been turning in terrific performances, both villainous and otherwise, for decades now, but there’s really nothing better than him getting to sink his teeth into a juicy, diabolical role. And Voller is a fun one, as an allegedly reformed Nazi who has cultivated favor with the American government by playing a crucial role in helping put American astronauts on the moon.
The script for Dial of Destiny is credited to four different screenwriters (one of whom is Mangold). It often feels that way, with the narrative tugging various characters back and forth with varying degrees of clarity or motivation beyond MacGuffin-chasing basics. This is to the film’s detriment and Voller’s as a villain. But when Mikkelsen is given space to shine, as in an early interview scene, he truly makes the most of it.
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3. Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Helena Shaw
Almost assuredly, the character from the film destined to inspire the most bad-faith criticisms and angry YouTube thumbnails from people with zero cinematic literacy, Helena Shaw is a great character, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s performance is astounding.
One of the real strengths of Dial of Destiny is in positioning Helena Shaw as a direct echo of Indiana Jones in his younger days. In more ways than one, she is highly reminiscent of Indy in Temple of Doom, longing to find ‘fortune and glory.’ Having this echo be so ever-present as Indy goes on his final adventure is a smart choice that lends itself to introspection.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is wonderful in the role. She’s funny, she’s charismatic, she’s capable, and above all, she’s authentically believable. It feels as though Phoebe Waller-Bridge just as deliberately molded elements of Harrison Ford, the performer, into her own performance as the film does with elements of Indy into her character, and it’s a real testament to her as a performer that it works so well. She’s genuinely great.
2. John Williams’ Score
John Williams’ music is the beating heart of the Indiana Jones films. His work is iconic and has been for generations, yet the maestro shows no signs of stopping. He has continued to deliver revelatory, ingenious musical work over the past few years with scores such as those provided for Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Spielberg’s own The Fabelmans.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny sees Williams delivering another remarkable score, recontextualizing his prior work and thrillingly adding to the sonic vernacular of the Indiana Jones canon. Any new score from John Williams is a gift, truly.
1. Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones
Harrison Ford’s performance in the film is so great, so full of creative verve and introspection, so acutely present that it is beautiful to watch. It is an immense shame that the film neglects to engage with themes of aging, legacy, and preservation in the ways that Ford’s performance is, with the mechanizations of Dial of Destiny’s narrative often trampling all over Ford’s delicate work.
But occasionally, the film does see fit to give Ford the space and breadth to deliver bona fide character beats, and it is never not mesmerizing. He’s emotive, vulnerable, and hurt in a profoundly moving way. Ford has spoken passionately in interviews about how much ‘rounding out’ the character’s story meant to him, and in these moments, he lays it all out on the screen in an articulate fashion.
RGM RATING
(C)
Overall, Dial of Destiny is a scattershot film that feels caught between being a bona fide conclusion to Indiana Jones’ story and just being another Indiana Jones story. By the second act, it has stopped being a character-driven examination of Indy and is simply a narrative-driven fetch quest that seems to be haphazardly dragging Indy along for the ride.
The Indiana Jones films have always been fetch quests in a way, but they were obscenely well-crafted fetch quests from the minds of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, directed by Spielberg, featuring boundlessly imaginative action setpieces with insane in-camera stunt work. So Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny begs the question: when you remove Lucas and Spielberg as creatives, take Spielberg out from behind the camera, and turn every action sequence into digitized work, what’s left to make Indiana Jones special?
