Movie Review - Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny

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Spoilers Better than Crystal Skulls and though it has some well staged sequences, the parade chase, horse in the Subway, auction fight, much of it is poor. Opening de-aged Indie captured by Nazis is certainly as close as it gets to the original trilogy, and though Indie’s face looks right, the body superimposition looks clumsy. There is no archaeology here. Indy and Basil (Toby Jones in a fun role) are raiding stuff already found by the desperately retreating Nazis, a task any military party could do, with the experts examining the finds later. That Indy opens the boxes to examine stuff even in mid-escape is silly. Also, the Nazis still have a fully serviceable unconcealed railway line so late in the war as Germany is in collapse. The cliched fight on the train with tunnel ducking is there, though one neat touch is the fight in the tunnel with the scrappers trying to scrape each other’s faces down the walls. Basil looks surprised when the Nazis find the Spear of Longinus is a fake and then again when Indy tells him it's a fake. It really falls apart in 1969. Mary Sue (Helena) turns up at his lecture as the only attentive know all student, but when she asks Indy if he remembers her in the bar (meaning as Basil’s daughter) he can’t even remember her being at the college a few minutes before. The Nazis and hired goons drag along a CIA lady who gets literally nothing to do before she is killed off. Teddy is utterly pointless, presumably intended as a new take on Shortround, but mostly has little to do, and his Anikin ability to fly a plane is preposterous. The actual pilot of the plane he takes does nothing but gawp in amazement at the time travel shenanigans going on round him. Teddy also learns to swim instantly and well enough to drown a henchman he is handcuffed to while freeing himself. Sallah’s two cameos are lovely and the most nostalgic moments in the film. The most stupid sequence is the dive. Warned about the bends, the characters then surface really quickly by inflating their life vests but don’t get the bends. The have a strict three minutes on the seabed dive but somehow spot exactly what they want in that time. The badly CGI’d eels do little but swim about and body slam the divers. The villains fail to kill the right people on the captured boat and also somehow go from seeing the general direction Indie and Helena are sailing to working out exactly where in Sicily they are headed. They also go to the exact spot on the beach where Teddy wanders with his ice cream for his abduction. The search of the Archimedes grave cave is similarly preposterous. The booby traps are lackluster. Indy and Helena are there by stealth, knowing the Nazis are close and yell and sing Beethoven’s 5th in a loud echo chamber. to pinpoint the grave they need. Indie warns Helene not to breathe the gas in the chamber but never stops breathing or talking himself. The villains kill people for nothing. The most stupid shooting is the cave system tour guide they need directions from. All they had to do was ask for a map or a guide book. That his death by loud gunshot doesn’t bring in security and the police is convenient. The struggle on the main plane is fun, but also has Helene outclassing Indy in the action takes and clearly bettering him at most stuff going on. Much of the action seems more James Bond Roger Moore era than Indy. Voller - Mickleson is fun in the lead baddie role, but often gets little to do. He only starts to shine towards the end as his plan to be the new Fuhrer comes to light. Archie Meeds is another wasted character. Actually the whole Syracuse sea battle scene looks great and really deserves to be a 300 style romp in its own right. Archimedes does bugger all. He runs after the planes, stands gormlessly listening to Indy and Helena fan-gush him and squabble each other and contributes no words of wisdom to either. The finale is nice, but bittersweet, and good to see Miriam again, but what is the fate of the Dial? Presumably Helene and Teddy still have it ready for their own Disney planned follow up adventures which are now unlikely given Dial’s disastrous box office takings stateside and backlash against a wokism that isn’t really there to attack anyway. Some fun stuff, but overall not great. Why Indy would still carry a bullwhip in the 60’s and in a casino / auction house is unclear. Youtube spoof of the film's trailer Arthur Chappell