Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

You thought The Last Crusade would live up to its title. You wanted his last destination to be The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But Indiana Jones wasn't done. He is now. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny promises to be the last adventure for Harrison Ford's whip-wielding alter ego. But I, Vance, have to give the floor to Jethro, why?

It's my blog.

Fair enough.

Steven Spielberg hands the director's chair to James Mangold, who also co-wrote the film with Jez & John-Henry Butterworth and David Koepp. Their story begins with Indy getting into one last tussle with the Nazis at the end of the War. Chief among them is Dr. Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), who will be the bad guy for this movie. He finds part of the Antikythera, a time-travelling dial built by Archimedes of Syracuse. But Indy and his cohort, Basil Shaw (Toby Jones), take it back.

A few decades later, Indy faces retirement and divorce shortly after losing son Mutt (Shia LaBeouf in Crystal Skull) to 'Nam. Adventure makes a direct call to Indy in the form of goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Shaw's daughter. She needs the Antikythera really bad. That's when Voller, now a NASA scientist, makes his move for the Dial. Helena makes off with the Antikythera and leaves Indy to Voller's goons. But he escapes for Tangier to stop her from auctioning it off. Voller wants the full Antikythera to help the Nazis win the war, with a twist. Indy and Helena have to team up to stop him.

Let's start a bit with Helena. Her self-serving attitude, especially when she leaves Indy to the Neo-Nazis, isn't appealing. But she gets better when she lends a sympathetic ear to Indy when he reveals Mutt's fate. Her sidekick Teddy (Ethann Isidore) helps humanize her a bit more, too. Her best moment comes when she pulls Indy out of his funk at the climax. She made for a fine character by the end. She's not as iconic as Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) but she is hardly one of the film's biggest problems.

Let's look at the film's massive runtime for its issues. Its prologue makes up the first 15 of 152 minutes. But it's a fun prologue as Indy outwits Col. Weber (Thomas Kretschmann) and his Nazis. The digital de-aging for Ford and Mikkelsen is seamless and John Williams's score is reliably buoyant. Afterwards, the film is cluttered by double-crosses and overextended set pieces. We get two characters who are killed far too early. One of them is Agent Mason (Shaunette Renee Wilson), the only good guy on Voller's crew, and probably the best new character. The other is Renaldo (Antonio Banderas), touted as an old friend of Indy's, but is really a mauve shirt. There's also a subplot of Indy being framed for Team Voller murdering two of his colleagues - that is never resolved.

It does a few things right, though. A few of the set pieces were still entertaining. The best of them was Indy's escape from Voller's Villains during the Apollo 11 Crew's ticker tape parade. Indy riding a horse through the New York Subway made for some audacious fun. A close second is the climactic travel through time and the characters' surprise destination. The set pieces are still visually impressive despite their overlength. Voller made for a memorable new villain, and it was satisfying to see him realize his impending demise. John Rhys-Davies made the most of his few scenes as returning ally Sallah. It was also intriguing to learn of Archimedes' inventions during the Siege of Syracuse. See, history can be fun.

The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull could have been a swell ending for Indy's adventures. But The Dial of Destiny gives him an endearing coda, too. It takes him and the audience quite a while to get there. But they'll still have some fun along the way. Whatever price suits your fancy is worth it. But see it before a few other longer films leave their box office carbon footprints. I've got those lined up soon.