Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a heartfelt farewell to one of the most influential and beloved characters ever portrayed on screen. It is a film about aging and reminiscence.

It is the mid-1940s, and the Second World War is coming to an end. During their escape from Nazi captivity, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and his close friend Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) stumbled upon one-half of an Antikythera mechanism, which was discovered by Jürgen Zoller (Mads Mikkelson) and potentially allows time travel. They manage to secure it and escape. Flash forward to 25 years later, Jones is now a retiring professor, long past the heyday of his swashbuckling adventures. Unaware of the resurfaced interests in the dial by various parties, he is unwillingly dragged into an adventure despite his old age when his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) attempts to reconnect with him.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is great fun. To get things out of the way, it is not Raiders, nor is it the Last Crusade, but it is certainly an improvement over its most recent predecessor, which sees our whip-bearing hero grappling with a son he never knew he had. This latest installment is a fun and exciting ride, with heart and humour to spare. With well-crafted action sequences staged in various locales around the world, as one would expect from an Indy film, the film keeps the spirit of the franchise alive, this time introducing new threats for our hero as he finds himself venturing underwater and into the skies.

Indy no longer is the young and brash treasure hunter as he once was – and neither is Harrison Ford as an action star. Age has taken a toll on both star and character physically and emotionally. The filmmakers understand this. The film reminisces through lingering shots of Indy’s lone figure and Williams’ nostalgic score, and it certainly encourages the audience to do the same. I am particularly fond of the contrast that happens near the start of the film. Right off the bat, the film reveals a young (de-aged) Indiana Jones and launches the audience into a nail-biting sequence involving Indy getting out of a noose with a bomb in the room. Immediately, we are reminded of the good old thrill of watching Raiders for the first time. Cut to 1969, we are greeted with the juxtaposition of an elderly Harrison Ford, half-naked and alone in his apartment, yelling at his neighbours for playing loud music.

The action sequences are well-crafted and nicely done. While not as heart-thumping and nail-biting as many of its predecessors, the film does feature stunts and set pieces that I rather enjoy and thought was innovative within the franchise. I particularly enjoyed the 3-way tuk-tuk chase sequence in Morocco, as it displays the brilliance of James Mangold’s direction. This is a great example where the chase sequence was not merely for action’s sake, but also an opportunity used for building relationships between characters, particularly between Indy and his goddaughter.

This brings us to the character of Helena, played by the exuberant Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Personally I genuinely enjoyed her character and thought she was a worthy addition to the Indiana Jones canon. Helena is certainly the most competent among his on-screen companions (think Marcus Brody or Sallah, who could be barely be of aid in previous films). However, more importantly, her bickering with Indy was not only a reflection of their tenuous relationship, but it also reveals a clash in their ideologies about the dealing of antiquities and a friction between two generations, which is thematically relevant. There are certainly not-so-subtle similarities and parallels between Helena and Indy; yet they are so strikingly different. This is, in my opinion, what makes their interactions interesting and engaging, and ultimately their reconciliation noteworthy — very much like the interaction between father and son in The Last Crusade.

Harrison Ford is terrific as the titular hero, and as always, grabs the audience with his extraordinary charm and screen presence. Despite the old age, Ford exudes as much charisma as he did in the original films. The deaging of Ford in the opening sequence was surprisingly well-done, certainly the best we have seen so far. While some find it distracting, I, like many others, find it impressive. For a few moments, I forgot that I am actually watching a de-aged Ford, and was completely buying the notion of a young Indiana Jones participating in all the action. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is hugely enjoyable to watch, so is Mads Mikkelson. Both actors are scene-stealers in the most opposite ways possible. Bridge is energetic and constantly filling the screen with enthusiasm, while Mikkelson is often quiet and lurking behind our protagonists, making him a menacing presence all throughout.

All that being said, the Dial of Destiny does have its weak points. First of all, personally I feel it is just not the right time anymore for Indiana Jones. The ride off into the sunset in 1989 marked the end of an era, and the recent revisit of the franchise has not proven to be the most welcoming. This closing entry is more of the same as the trilogy. That was not enough back in 2010 when Crystal Skull came out, and it certainly is not enough in 2023 when the film industry is saturated with newer and more eye-catching action films. Unfortunately, due to the confines of the time era in the story and the age of the character, the film struggles to break moulds in its action set pieces that its more contemporary peers (e.g. Mission Impossible) are able to do. The result is set pieces that look like they belong in the past, because they indeed do.

Secondly, as the final installment of the franchise, the film has the difficult task of tying up the franchise and providing closure. Watching the film does make one wonder about the motivation behind opening this particular box after closing it so many years ago. Unfortunately, with not many threads left hanging from previous films, there is really nothing to tie up. As a result, the film ends up creating a scenario that it hastily resolves at the very end, causing a lack of a true sense of closure for the entire franchise as a whole. The conclusion felt like an afterthought where the filmmakers realised they need to provide some closure, and it was shoehorned in at the end while the bulk of the film was not spent building towards that conclusion. This is, in fact, also a flaw that plagued the climax of the film. No spoilers, but Indy was faced with a difficult decision, one which supposedly was the culmination of his entire life – his destiny, so to speak. A pivotal moment in the franchise. Unfortunately, I found myself feeling rather indifferent during the scene. And a major reason behind that, is the lack of build-up.

All in all, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is an entertaining film with heart and humour, but lacking in novelty and satisfaction of a true ending to the beloved franchise. I will always enjoy Harrison Ford as the hero with a whip and a hat, but as a lifelong fan of the franchise, I do genuinely believe it is time for it to be put to rest, once and for all.

Author: Chia Jing Heng (andreusjh99)