Cert – 12, Run-time – 2 hours 34 minutes, Director – James Mangold
On the verge of retirement Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is dragged by his goddaughter (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) into one last adventure, and a race against time to stop Nazis from changing history.
Watching Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny you realise just how much adventure was in the previous films. The set-pieces had action wound into the adventure, made from the elements in the shot and expanding out from there. Allowing for the world to grow and be further explored. Much of this appears to be down to the push of Steven Spielberg, who steps down for directing duties for this final adventure for Harrison Ford’s titular explorer with James Mangold in place.
Mangold directs well but appears to put action at the core of the film with a number of extended sequences constructing the 2 hour and 34 minute run-time of the piece. They’re paired with moments of lengthy explanation and back and forths about history and archaeology to give further context to the developments in the chase for the dial of destiny. A treasure which retiring Professor Henry Jones has encountered in the past, with it chasing back after him in the form of Mads Mikkelson’s Dr Jürgen Voller, hoping to combine both halves of the dial to reverse time and help the Nazis win the war. Thus a race to find and combine both halves begins, with plenty of meetings between the pair along the way.
While Voller has his henchmen (Boyd Holbrook, Olivier Richters) by his side to do all the punching and shooting – causing him to feel less of a threat himself, and this is Mads Mikkelson – Jones has goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). Occasionally, particularly after first meeting her, Helena feels like a character written for someone in their mid-20s. However, after Waller-Bridge certainly puts in a good performance and manages to make the character her own with her own spin of humour, removing the initial feelings created by the dialogue as the film goes on – managing to bring a good handful of chuckles to the proceedings with her sarcastic nature.
Raiders Of The Lost Ark was initially made after a string of big-budget features from Spielberg, and the chaos of 1941. The director decided that he needed a more controlled and restricted budget and decided to make an ode to the B-movie adventure flick and thus the Indiana Jones franchise began. There’s something of that spirit within each of the subsequent films – even Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, which I’m a defender of. There’s always been elements of the strange and absurd within the occasional fantastical leanings. Here – with an almost $300 million budget! – this is a full on, big-budget main feature blockbuster. The action further pushes this idea, managing to amuse and engage but never quite capturing the spirit of adventure which should be a part of this. Set-pieces are more about what’s going on in them rather than what can be done in them.
The film as a whole is fine and has enjoyable moments within the various sequences which hold your attention for a good del of their duration. A fitting final shot allows Ford to bow out particularly well, and while this might not be the strongest entry in the franchise it’s still overall good. You just wish that it would have a bit more of a sense of adventure. Delving in to what it has rather than drawing out what there is.
There’s some good action within Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, however it leads you to wish that it would delve a bit more into the adventure and explore its set-pieces just a little bit more.
Just A Little Bit Random 