- Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen
- June 28th 2023
- Steven Spielberg
Harrison Ford is back as the whip-cracking fedora-wearing archaeologist Indiana Jones for the fifth time.
It’s been 15 years since the last Indiana Jones movie, but Harrison Ford is finally back in the saddle as the archaeologist.
The Dial of Destiny, directed by James Mangold instead of Steven Spielberg, begins in 1944 during World War II.
Indiana (Harrison Ford) and his pal Basil (Toby Jones) steal the Archimedes dial from the Nazis, specifically astrophysicist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen).
After the prologue, the film jumps 25 years to 1969. Indiana, who is now retired from teaching, is approached by Basil’s daughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who is searching for the dial.
They decide to go on a quest to track down the other half of the dial and find out if Basil was correct about what it can do. Naturally, Voller and his sidekicks are on their tails.
This film has all the hallmarks of an Indiana Jones movie and seemingly ticks the boxes you would expect from an outing, yet it feels oddly flat.
The trademark sense of adventure doesn’t shine through, even though it is packed chock-full of action setpieces.
The numerous action scenes seemingly hit all the visual beats of an enjoyable sequence but they don’t evoke excitement or make you feel immersed and invested in the storyline.
However, the tuk-tuk chase and cave exploration stand out and this could be because they are reminiscent of the earlier films.
Mangold cleverly balances the nostalgic elements with the new, but unfortunately, the narrative isn’t super gripping and needed to be much tighter.
The writing is a bit messy, the script needed more jokes, and the film is far too long at 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Indiana Jones fans will be thrilled to see Ford back as the whip-cracking, fedora-wearing character. The film embraces his age and doesn’t pretend that he’s a young daredevil – he can’t do what he used to be able to.
However, Ford still gamely throws himself into the physical demands of the role and backs it up with a heartfelt performance.
Elsewhere in the cast, Waller-Bridge plays exactly the sort of character she always does, but it sort of works here, and Mikkelsen is a formidable villain yet again.
It’s hard to watch the Dial of Destiny and not to wonder what Spielberg would have done differently if he had been director. It’s such a shame that the team couldn’t produce a stronger story given such a long break.
In cinemas from Wednesday 28th June.
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