***This is a spoiler-free review until the very end. You will be warned.***
INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY is a fun movie. It's great to see Harrison Ford in the iconic role for one last time, but Disney and Lucasfilm couldn't stick the landing at the end. But I'll get into that at the end of this review with a spoiler alert right before that comment.
One of the tropes that make this franchise go are its chase scenes. Indy is always chasing or being chased, and this sequel has what seems like endless chase sequences one after another. Some chases end and immediately the next chase begins when you think Indy will have a moment to get a breather. It's almost like a chase scene film throughout, but this isn't to say that's a bad thing because it has been a franchise trope since the beginning scene in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
Ford owns this role like no other role in his career. You can genuinely tell being Indy is in Ford's blood. And he's great even though he is a much older version of Indy. Although old Indy is not how this movie starts as we get to take in a flashback sequence to a much younger Indiana Jones in order to set-up the MacGuffin in DIAL OF DESTINY. The de-aging deep fake technology used for a younger Indy is absolutely amazing to see.
Actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a delight and such a wonderful performance to the point she easily can share scenes with Indy, and even steal scenes in some of those shared scenes. Actor Madds Mikkelsen is in typical villain form. The man can't do wrong as the antagonist in any film.
The action and pacing are fun and fluid making this two and a half hour runtime flyby like it was under two hours. All the chase scenes helps this flow, for sure.
The plot of the film is pretty basic in that they need to find the MacGuffin before the Nazis do. It's a simple and classic Indy franchise story trope. Mixed within all the chasing are some franchise fan service with appearances by beloved characters as well as callbacks and other references including the omission of actor Shai LaBeouf's Mutt from the previous installment.
In the end, this final chapter of Indy for Harrison Ford is a solid send-off popcorn movie for the aging actor with some Indy humor, great action, and that classic Indiana Jones punch sound effect. A great piece of nostalgia and anyone over the age of 35 should fall in love with it from the start... yet, not so sure how this will resonate with the under 35 crowd though.
INCOMING SPOILER ALERT BELOW!!!
The worst part of this entire film is the very end and Lucasfilm couldn't stick the landing. In the final moment of the film you see Indy's fedora hanging on a clothesline, but then you see Indy's arm reach in and grab it. Lucasfilm should have left his hat hanging untouched and faded to black. Sorry not sorry, but they botched this little detail to close out this chapter of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and should have let the archeologist finally retire.
Written by Daniel Wolf, Founder and Editor-in-Chief
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