Entertainment
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny review: Harrison Ford’s old-school final outing is a so-so last hurrah-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro
The highly anticipated new movie is likely to split fans.
Harrison Ford is back as Indiana Jones for the fifth and final time (Picture: Lucasfilm)
Everyone’s favourite whip-cracking archaeologist is back for his final outing as Harrison Ford returns once more for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, 15 years after the misstep of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
However, it seems only some lessons were learned from the making of the highly-anticipated fourth film, a lengthy time on from the original stone-cold classic trilogy. ‘Fish out of water’ is very much the theme of this fifth instalment though, as Indy is put in the context of 1969 and America’s moon landing triumph in the Space Race against the Soviet Union.
There’s something about the more modern setting that – although appropriate for Ford’s age at 80 – clashes fundamentally with the adventure serial nostalgia of Indiana Jones, just like with the previous film.
The Dial of Destiny does kick things off with a strong start though, giving all Indy fans exactly what they, want which is our hero on a moving plunder train fighting Nazis during the Second World War. It’s a thrilling sequence only made possible – and believable – by the remarkable work of the VFX team in de-aging Ford so he can go back 25 years in time. Commendably, there’s not a whiff of uncanny valley there either.
It then segues into a strong start in the modern section for Indy (and an… impactful shirtless scene), who is visited by his goddaughter Helena (a pitch-perfect Phoebe Waller-Bridge), keen to get her hands on the fabled dial of destiny that consumed her father’s (Toby Jones) life so.
After being established as the movie’s big bad during the opening sequence, Mads Mikkelsen – who has nestled himself into the nation’s space programme comfortably in the intervening years, covering up his Nazi past – stumbles across Indy in his pursuit of Helena.
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The opening sequence is among the film’s best, delving back into Indy’s past and pitting him against Nazis once more (Picture: Lucasfilm)
Mads Mikkelsen is reliably on point as villain Doctor Jürgen Voller, seen here with Colonel Weber (Thomas Kretschmann) (Picture: Lucasfilm)
Although there’s no space for much subtlety in Mikkelsen’s character, he delivers exactly what you would expect as one of cinema’s most bankable villains, ably supported by a crew including a stand-out Boyd Holbrook as Klaber.
The movie is of course stuffed with plenty of action and daring sequences, the most impressive of which is undoubtedly the chase through New York’s ticker-tape parade for the returning astronauts, which culminates in Indy riding a horse through the subway – as you do.
Ford is of course still the consummate action hero, a remarkable 42 years after he first donned Indy’s iconic brown fedora. He delivers the same rye humour, physicality and low-key capability that made the character so popular in the first place.
But the main issue with the film is once they are all safely on their way for the film’s main mission – of course a race between both sides to collect the artifact once its time-altering abilities are revealed – everything settles into more and more of the same.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Helena is one of the Dial of Destiny’s highlights (Picture: Lucasfilm)
The standout New York parade chase sequence, with Boyd Holbrook’s Klaber in hot pursuit (Picture: Lucasfilm)
There’s plenty of explosions, and a lot of chasing by boat and chasing by plane, where the only thing really providing variety is Waller-Bridge’s live-wire Helena, whose shady background is revealed in Morocco.
In a harking back to the past films, John-Rhys Davies is one of the welcome – if curtailed – returning characters with Sallah, and the group picks up a kid again, very much in the vein of Temple of Doom’s Short Round, but this time it’s Teddy (Ethann Isidore).
As far as the ending of the film goes, its audacity is certain to sharply divide fans. If you didn’t care for the final act of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the Dial of Destiny takes similar leaps in believability – although it is at least nice to see Indy covering Ancient Greece.
Indy finally tackles Ancient Greece (Picture: Lucasfilm/Jonathan Olley)
There are many good ingredients but it doesn’t quite live up to a movie that will meet fan expectations (Picture: Lucasfilm)
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director and co-writer James Mangold understands the ingredients fans hope for from an Indiana Jones adventure, offering them up with the flashback, the traditional Nazi villains, an impressive female lead and plenty of sly banter.
However, with such high expectations in place, it fails to create in the movie a recipe for complete cinema success.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hits UK cinemas on June 28.
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