While it was never going to recapture the magic of the original trilogy, this final instalment is still a vast improvement over the previous film, and gives the character a far more emotionally impactful send-off.

Premise: On the eve of his retirement from lecturing at university in New York, Professor Henry ‘Indiana’ Jones Jr (Harrison Ford) is approached by his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who wants to continue her father’s search for the lost dial of the Ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes. But she’s not the only one looking for the Archimedes Dial, and soon they have to contend with former Nazi-turned-NASA-scientist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) and his right-hand man Klaber (Boyd Holbrook).

Review:

First things first, it’s important to manage your expectations going into this fifth and final Indiana Jones movie. While it’s an enjoyable rollercoaster ride (the 2 hours, 35 minutes runtime never dragged), it was never going to match the magic or majesty of the original trilogy of Indiana Jones films – 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1984’s Temple of Doom and 1989’s Last Crusade. That said, it is a huge improvement on 2008’s disappointing Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which would have been a bum note to leave the character and the franchise on.

Rightly or wrongly, I always got the feeling that Harrison Ford’s heart wasn’t in it when they filmed Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, as his portrayal of Indy in that film felt lacklustre, like he was merely going through the motions. In contrast, Harrison Ford has been vocal about wanting Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny to give the character a proper “emotional” send-off, and I think this film absolutely achieves that.

“…the opening prologue is one of the movie’s best action sequences…”

Director/co-writer James Mangold and the rest of his writing team made the clever decision to embrace Harrison Ford’s age in this film (he’s 80, believe it or not), rather than gloss over it, so the character isn’t immediately dashing off on an adventure for fortune and glory on a whim. This movie’s opening action sequence (which are always a highlight of this film series) is a flashback set in the closing days of WWII, which was a smart way to kick the action off on a high note (the opening prologue is one of the movie’s best action sequences) without having to plunge an aging Indy into a ‘present day’ adventure immediately (which Kingdom of the Crystal Skull did). The entertaining opening sequence not only shows a de-aged Indy (which, while not perfect CGI, is pretty good) doing what he does best – fighting Nazis – but it also neatly sets up the background to the Archimedes Dial, its connection to Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), and the start of Basil Shaw’s (Toby Jones) obsession with it.

From there, we move forward to 1969 to catch up with Indy as he approaches retirement, and its at this stage that the filmmakers start to explore the toll that the passing years have taken on the character. I won’t go into spoilers here, but suffice to say that Indy isn’t living the ‘happy ever after’ life that was hinted at by the ending of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and his imminent retirement may be about to take away the one thing he has left that gets him out of bed in the morning. There’s a sense that Indy feels that the unstoppable march of time means that his best days are behind him, which is a surprisingly sombre re-introduction to the character (which was no doubt why the opening flashback sequence had to be so engaging and entertaining). That said, whereas the portrayal of Indy in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull felt unintentionally subdued because Ford wasn’t necessarily engaged by the material, here his portrayal of Indy is intentionally melancholic.

“…the action sequences capture the sense of excitement & adventure from the original trilogy…”

It’s the arrival of his godchild Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), daughter of Basil Shaw, that’s the catalyst for the start of ‘one last adventure’ for Indy, as Helena wants Indy’s help to try to find the lost pieces of the Archimedes Dial, now that her father has passed away. Indy’s understandably reluctant, until circumstances leave him with no option but to don the fedora and pick up the whip one last time.

I don’t want to say too much more about the plot after that, as the movie contains quite a few surprises even at relatively early stages in the story. If you were feeling particularly ungenerous, you could argue that (for the most part) the plot is a fairly standard fetch quest to find and collect various items, interspersed with action-packed chase sequences at each location … but ultimately, you could make the same criticism of most of the Indiana Jones films. The action sequences in Dial of Destiny (especially the opening sequence in WWII, and a chase sequence later on through the streets of Tangier) capture the sense of excitement and adventure that the original trilogy had, while some of the quieter scenes with Jürgen Voller and his henchmen (including Boyd Holbrook’s Klaber) have a real sense of menace and tension to them.

“…excellent character work from Ford, Waller-Bridge & Mikkelsen…”

The casting in this movie is spot on – Phoebe Waller-Bridge is inspired casting as Helena, bringing a multi-faceted, rebellious sense of self-reliance and indefatigability to her performance, in a way that is very reminiscent of Karen Allen’s portrayal of Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Mads Mikkelsen can always be relied upon to bring depth to his characters, and his portrayal of a former Nazi who never came to terms with Hitler’s defeat is truly chilling. The film doesn’t shy away from the fact that the US worked with former Nazi scientists to win the Space Race in the 1960s, and (perhaps surprisingly) the film doesn’t sugarcoat Voller’s racism and his barely concealed contempt for American multiculturalism. The return of the Nazis as the main antagonists in Dial of Destiny not only feels right in terms of carrying on the themes from Raiders of the Lost Ark and Last Crusade, but it also acknowledges the moral compromises that the US made when it harboured senior Nazi scientists after the end of WWII as part of Operation Paperclip.

Despite the excellent character work from Ford, Waller-Bridge and Mikkelsen, the film doesn’t find enough time to give everyone a great deal to do – Boyd Holbrook’s character here fills a similar function to his character in James Mangold’s previous swansong for a beloved character (Logan), but he makes less of an impact here – while Helena’s teenage sidekick Teddy feels a little like Diet-Short-Round. The film also includes a number of new and returning characters who flit in and out briefly, in what are essentially a series of enjoyable cameos.

“…a lovingly crafted ‘greatest hits’ swansong for a beloved character…”

I’ve heard that some people may have issues with the final act, but for me, the denouement was in keeping with the traditions of the series. With the exception of Temple of Doom, this isn’t a film series where Indy usually battles the main villain mano-a-mano in the final act – and this was, after all, the franchise where the climax of the first film involved Indy being tied helplessly to a pole while everything sorted itself out without him. It’s also a movie franchise where Indy’s met an immortal medieval knight, and an interdimensional alien – so in that context, I didn’t feel that anything in the final act of Dial of Destiny was out of place.

You’ll be disappointed if you go into Dial of Destiny expecting something as magical as the original Indiana Jones trilogy – that really was lightning in a bottle, and nothing since (from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, to Tomb Raider or Uncharted) has been able to replicate its near perfect blend of action, comedy, adventure and heart. But taken for what it is – a lovingly crafted ‘greatest hits’ swansong for a beloved character (who deserved a better send off than the one he was given in 2008) – Dial of Destiny is a very enjoyable final crack of the whip.