Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

I've had that famous John Williams tune playing in my head for about two hours now, and not because I enjoyed the fifth Indy so much, but rather because I'm in the mood to watch the first three episodes. I'll never watch the fifth one again, I'm almost certain of that. It’s not a completely bad movie, which could be said of the fourth, but it's just not “it”. The new Indy is carried by Harrison Ford and he's really trying his best, but he's just left on his own and he’s obstructed by everything else. The Fifth Indiana Jones film is visually bland and in some moments regularly repulsive, but mostly it has a boring story full of boring characters, and especially the bad guys are a bunch of uninteresting bums who are impossible to be scared of – Mads Mikkelsen is looking like he's about to start crying the whole time. Moreover, the treasure hunt itself leading up to the very weird (and slightly uglier) finale consists mostly of routine chases, because someone figured they couldn't have an 80-year-old Ford running around the set doing action shenanigans. James Mangold directs it all with no attempt at invention, and the result is at best a passable piece of craftsmanship somewhere on the level of National Treasure: Book of Secrets and a tiny bit above Uncharted, which is definitely not praise for this franchise. It lacks the style, the inventiveness and the evident joy that accompanied the first three films and, to some extent, the fourth. A product without soul. (06/28/2023)

The last farewell to a man for whom no desert was too hot, no jungle too deep, and no tomb impenetrable. A critical and financial failure means that the memories of old times are now carried in a completely different form than before, and endless nostalgia cannot work. But on me, it does, because every reference to previous installments resonated in the right place within me, and the truly serious moments that allow Harrison Ford to give performances minimalist yet almost burdensome in their perfection, encapsulated story arcs and audience arcs that have lasted for decades. I'm not saying it's a flawless installment given that after the brilliant introduction the story drags and doesn't let up on the brakes until the final act. However, there we are given so many surprises combined with classic Hollywood spectacle that I don't even want to look back on any complaints I had with the minutes that came before. The feeling of saying goodbye to the most primal form of Indiana Jones is so bitter because suddenly I feel that five adventures are not enough, and the knowledge that it is an intentional ending doesn't help me much. The gates remain closed, and there are not many high-quality adventure films left in such an honest form. (07/07/2023)

The last quarter of an hour is the only passage where some nostalgia works, and if I were the narrator, I would be much more uncompromising in my completion of Dr. Jones's life's journey. I would have found it much more emotional and logical (connoisseurs know). The rest is inconsistent to say the least. The opening with the train when there's palpable CGI rushing at you from all sides, is not enjoyable, it makes you remember with sadness the train opening of The Last Crusade, where Spielberg didn't need computers (understandably) and it worked much better. The tediously long chase in Tangier again, given the long takes, looks as if the local streets are empty of cars and people and as long as airport runways, I didn't believe it for a second. And that's how it is with everything. It's just such a see-and-forget feel-good movie most of the time, about on the level of the overwrought fourth film. Otherwise, the much-criticized Phoebe Waller-Bridge was fine, she has such a mischievous charisma and is a great counterpoint to the curmudgeonly Harrison Ford, and actually entertained me the most out of the whole film. (09/01/2023)

A nostalgic adventure ride, but Mangold should have gone easier with some the unnecessary CGI and sped up the pace. In any case, Harrison Ford is the driving force and especially in the emotional scenes (the ending) he can grab you by the heart. Again, though, I had the overwhelming feeling that having multiple people writing the script was harmful. The opening chases are formally fine, but they are basically pointless – a shorter one would have been enough. The depression-ridden and aching Indy is so much better. Phoebe Waller-Bridge could pull an entire film or franchise on her own as a more grounded Lara Croft, she’s actually the only one who’s a match for Ford. Mads Mikkelsen is an unremarkable villain, he does know how to play one, but his Nazi scientist is not fully a villain, he’s more of a smart-ass. Completely untarnished, however, is the reputation of John Williams, whose timeless motif and playful themes will hold any true believer to the end credits. (06/28/2023)

Anyone who gasped at the flying saucer last time may be caught off guard by the end of the fifth Indy, but for me that was perhaps the most interesting part. The film is certainly not bad, but it noticeably and fundamentally lacks the creative contribution of Steven Spielberg. I'm not saying that an Indiana Jones film can't be made by someone other than him, but it probably can't be made by someone unable make it entertaining. Spielberg's vision, imagination, sense of suspense and humour and ability to think through scenes to the smallest detail, James Mangold can’t do any of that (so well). I felt as if he was trying to evoke a Spielberg-like atmosphere mainly in the excellent opening scene (where the digital Indiana Jones, vintage 1944, looks almost flawless, but speaks in a voice decades older), and then not again, or only occasionally and perhaps accidentally. It’s not unwatchable, but it’s not that good either. And the different approach is also evident in the work with John Williams's excellent score, which is an equal partner in Spielberg's films, whereas here it rather supports it. The whole time I was wondering what this film would look like if Spielberg had directed it. Do you remember that less than five-minute scene from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull that starts with a bar fight and turns into a car and motorcycle chase? Well, not a single scene from Dial of Destiny is that good, and that's a shame, because otherwise everything that should be here is here. Harrison Ford still sells every look, every dry line, every emotion, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is charming, Mads Mikkelsen is probably the weakest villain of the series, but the bar was so high. In the end, I think the most important thing is that I want to see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny again. (06/29/2023)