Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

June 28, 2023, PG-12, 2 h 34 min

SPOILER-FREE!
It’s widely known by now that Harrison Ford won’t be playing Indiana Jones again, therefore the only question should be, whether this movie provides a worthy send-off for  this character and the actor behind it. And this movie, set into the first moon landing celebration environment, sporting a fun 70s vibe, does succeed, in my opinion. Hopefully people finally realize how unpretentious and honest Harrison has been, and a great character actor – would be high time…

In this movie, Indy has to keep up with his cheeky goddaughter as partner-in-crime, she’s basically a female Han Solo – which makes all those bickering scenes between those two a lot of fun to watch. Phoebe Waller-Bridge pulls it off convincingly, being a shady yet likeable character – therefore, maybe, continue this franchise with her as the central character?

Mads Mikkelsen proves once again his forte as the major villan, being able to show his range – and seemingly having a lot of fun with it – to much more extent than in the Bond movie or with Dr. Strange.

Presumably this movie will please the franchise fans, unlike the  crystal skull adventure (which could basically be “saved” by a simple fan edit removing the “Tarzan scene” and pretty much all the alien stuff). Well, at least I hoe so… however, browsing the internet, it seems a lot of haters have become very active already …

I had a lot of fun for 2,5 h – those wonderfully absurd action scenes, those picturesque settings (e.g. Marocco, Sicily, Austria) and Nazis get their asses handed to them, that is something I always enjoy to watch. Plus, a heartwarming background story, well-placed Easter Eggs and Indy Jones embracing his aging – indeed, a wonderful “retirement” movie.
My minimal amount of criticism – I would have enjoyed more scenes with Antonio Banderas and the “old acquaintances” from “back then” … The digital de-aging worked quite well, however, there should have been a slight de-aging of the voice as well to be fully convincing.

Otherwise, I can only recommend to watch this movie.

PS: In case you are in a hurry after 2,5h – just leave, you won’t miss anything in the credits.

Director: James Mangold
Script: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp, James Mangold

Cast:
Harrison Ford – Indiana Jones
Phoebe Waller-Bridge – Helena
Mads Mikkelsen – Dr. Voller
Ethann Isidore – Teddy (as Ethann Bergua-Isidore)
Shaunette Renée Wilson – Mason
Toby Jones – Basil Shaw
Boyd Holbrook – Klaber
Olivier Richters – Hauke
Antonio Banderas – Renaldo
Thomas Kretschmann – Colonel Weber
Karen Allen – Marion
John Rhys-Davies – Sallah
etc