Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Review
The film opens with a 25 minute prologue featuring a digitally de-aged Harrison Ford set during World War Two. To be honest I didn't quite buy into it as most of it looked very video gameish to me but there were moments were it quite worked for me. And besides what's more important is the tone they were going for showcasing Indy in his prime and all his glory. So when the hard cut to 1969 comes and we meet an older Indy awaken from his slumber in his NYC apartment you really feel the passage of time. The establishing scenes really paint the image that men like Indy aren't people's heroes anymore but rather astronauts in the wake of the space race. We also learn that Indy and Marion have separated under rather tense circumstances. Add to that Indy is retiring though we clearly see in the scene before where he lectures his students on Archimedes and Sicily he certainly hasn't lost his passion and sense of awe and wonder for history.
Following his surprise retirement party, Indy's goddaughter Helena Shaw approaches him for the first time in 18 years. She requests he join him in her quest to revive her father's search for Archimedes' Dial. Of course some government operatives who have been working with Proffesor Schmidt (really the Nazi Mads Mikkelsen plays in the film's opening) track down the pair and corner them. Helena escapes with one half of the Dial leaving Indy to fend for himself against a roomful of thugs. This escalates into a suspensful chase through a NYC parade and into the subway tracks below. Framed for the murder of his colleagues Indy has no choice but to embrace this adventure he has stumbled upon.
After being given a lift to the airport by Sallah, Indy tracks down Helena at a hotel casino in Tangiers. Back in classic Indy form, fedora, whip, and all he tries to reason with her as she auctions off the piece. However Mads Mikkelsen's character arrives and joins the proceedings all the whole claiming not to be the Nazi that Indy once knew. Invariably things go awry and some classic Indy action ensues leading to a rollicking chase through the streets of Tangier. Somehow along the way, Helena's kid sidekick joins in. This all leads to the trio travelling out to the ocean to meet up with Indy's favorite frogman played by Antonio Banderas. They set out beneath the surface to recover the second half of the Dial in some epic Bond-esque action. Naturally, the Nazis catch up with them and our heroes get themselves in a tight spot. Some double-turning theatrics lead to their escape but not without the cost of the life of Indy's friend.
A very emotional turning point in the film comes here as Indy and Helena set out for Silicy following a revelation they make upon reading the Dial when Indy reveals to her that his marriage with Marion was destroyed after they lost their son in the Vietnam War. This humanity infused into the storytelling drives things forward as the adventure continues in a temple in Sicily in which the Nazis ultimately lay claim to the Dial and Mads Mikkelsen whilst abducting a wounded Indy flies into the eye of a storm in his plot to return in time to 1939 to ressurect the Third Reich and stop Hitler from losing the war. However, in line with Indy's deductions the Dial doesn't take them to 1939 but rather two thousand years in the past in the time of the Romans. Right place. Wrong war. The awe and wonder created by this clever twist is epic in scale and feels quittisentially Indiana Jones. Mads Mikkelsen's character meets an untimely death in his obsession to get back through the time portal so he can make it to 1939. Indy and Helena on the other hand end up parachuting down into the battlefield and meeting Archimedes himself. Harrison Ford perfectly plays the awe and wonder sparked in Indy to perfection and when he tells Helena he wishes to stay in this time she pleads with him to reconsider. He's made up his mind but Helena won't have it and decks him out cold.
We cut back to his NYC apartment where Indy awakens to find Helena has tended to his gunshot wound. He's still mad she didn't let him stay but she's adamant he belongs in his own time. This sets the stage for an incredibly satisfying resolution when suddenly Marion enters. It's clear this is Helena's doing and she excuses herself and the others to give the two some time alone. The cold distance between them melts when they both acknowledge that they are both hurting following their son's death. Then in what is a stroke of genius by the writers we get a callback to the love scene in Raiders of The Lost Ark in which Marion kisses Indy wherever he told her it "didn't hurt." However here they reversed it with Indy asking Marion the question. We end on them embracing and Helena looking back at the apartment outside with a smile on her face. Our final image is of Indy retrieving his fedora from a clothesline which indicates the adventure continues for Indy even though we won't get to see those further adventures onscreen. We rather end on a deeply emotionally and satisfying note as the John Williams Indy score blares through the credits.
So at the end of the day this film is certainly not the best in the franchise but it's a fun adventure all the same that serves to give Indy a proper sendoff. And even though we won't be seeing Indy onscreen anymore we haven't seen the last of Harrison Ford as he's recently declared his desire to keep acting until he dies. And just next year he'll begin his run as POTUS in the Marvel films. Come on, it's Marvel meets Air Force One!
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