Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

During the initial COVID lockdown, I watched a ton of movies. One of the things I did was revisit some series I had not watched in a long time; the Indiana Jones movies were some of the movies I watched. The original trilogy holds up (though "Temple of Doom" feels way more racist). I genuinely debated whether I would subject myself to watching "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" again. It is widely seen, and rightfully so, as a steaming pile of garbage. It was as bad, if not worse than I remembered. With this in mind, I went to see "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny."

Set in 1969, just after the first moon landing, "Dial of Destiny" finds Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) once again racing against Nazis to get an artifact that could change the course of history.

Was this as bad as "Crystal Skull?" No. I had a blast watching this. Going into the movie, I only wanted it to be enjoyable (something its predecessor was not), and it cleared that hurdle. It never reached the highs of the original trilogy, but there were some excellent action sequences. There is a rickshaw chase in Tangiers that was a lot of fun, and it is one of the best in the movie.

The real question is, how does Ford pull off Indy at 80? He still wields that trademark whip with ease. Sure, he can't pull off the stunts and action that he did in "Riders of the Lost Ark," but the movie works around that. This version of Indy is not running away from boulders or crawling on a Nazi convoy. He races through the streets of a city on horseback, rarely engaging in fistfights, and leaves some of the more dangerous bits to his younger companions. I just hope that this is his last time wearing the fedora.

I know the ending is going to be polarizing. It took me a while to warm up to it once I realized where the movie was going. It is a bold decision, and I applaud the movie for taking that big swing. Sure, it doesn't come close to "Raiders" or "Last Crusade," but not many movies can. It is a fun movie that is a good place to end the franchise.

8/10

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, language and smoking.

2h 34m