Review: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Indiana Jones was never supposed to grow old. Created as a homage to the Republic serial heroes of the 1940s, he's the kind of stock pulp hero designed to have adventures, not character. He was out of date the moment he hit the screens, and much like the other remaining pulp heroes - James Bond, and that's about it as far as the box office goes, though it's possible to argue the success of superhero movies is in part because superheroes are largely stock pulp characters - every time they come back they seem a little less suited to the times.

As the self-proclaimed last ever Indiana Jones movie until a combination of deep fake technology and licensing agreements brings Harrison Ford circa 1984 back from the grave permanently, Dial of Destiny has to deal with endings and time passing and all the things pulp heroes are explicitly designed not to have to worry about (does anyone want to watch a movie where Doc Savage gets old?). It can only do so good a job: there's only so much baggage you can add before things start to break down.

The other big issue is that it's a homage to something hardly anyone remembers any more. Even the previous Indy film, 2008's Crystal Skull, felt like it was an imitation of previous films for much of the time. And before that there were only three films, and only two of them were better than pretty good. James Bond has been going for 60 years, but there were over a dozen books to work with even before the movies; what makes a great Indiana Jones movie is pretty much limited to "what they did in Raiders of the Lost Ark".

So going in the bar has been set at "good enough". Worst case, it's a reminder that Indy's days have passed; best case, it's a fond farewell to yet another one of Harrison Ford's iconic characters. Either way, it's had enough money and talent thrown at it - and there's enough examples of what's worked in the past to work from - to ensure that the financial viability of the character for theme parks and other spin-offs is somewhat restored.

On the plus side, Harrison Ford is a charming and charismatic actor (obviously), and while his recent returns to iconic characters have been relatively brief (he was firmly in a supporting role in both Blade Runner 2049 and Star Wars: The Force Awakens) here he's the star from start to finish. He starts out digitally de-aged in a WWII-set flashback, but even that is mostly handled well so long as you don't spend the entire sequence thinking about how, now that they have trained the various programs on the real-life Ford, just how much easier it'll be to replicate him in the future.

The film itself is, if you can ignore everything around it, good enough. Set mostly in 1969 and mostly involving various factions (including Indy's god-daughter, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge in a very Phoebe Waller-Bridge fashion) fighting to recover an artifact that could change the course of history, it's a mostly fun romp where most of the parts work. 

It's not as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark, but that was never going to be an option. Maybe one day someone will make a big exciting thrill ride movie that's based on their love for the Indiana Jones movies while delivering something new. Until then, this is the world we live in, no matter what ancient magic gizmos we uncover.

- Anthony Morris