INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY: My In-Depth (and Pretty Mixed) Feelings

Indiana Jones learns to let the past go in this often flawed, but ultimately rewarding final chapter. (SPOILERS NEAR THE END)

By: Josh McCormack 

The latest Indiana Jones adventure has a lot going against it.

With Steven Spielberg no longer in the director's chair, a production marred by COVID, and a pretty brutal critical reception after its premiere at the Cannes film festival last month, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, like its titular hero, has taken a lot of beatings on the road to its theatrical release. Not to mention, this latest adventure is the first film in the series since 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a film that--despite some critics' recent attempts at reclaiming as a misunderstood masterpiece--is often considered to be one of the low points of Spielberg's filmography. Released when I was ten years old, Crystal Skull was one of the first major films that left me incredibly disappointed. Despite having much of the Lucasfilm team from the original Indiana Jones trilogy on board, I thought it was a sluggish, unfunny, and CGI-infested mess even at such a young age. While a recent rewatch made me appreciate minor aspects a bit more (Spielberg can't help but direct the hell out of some sequences), I still find it to be a very weak Indy adventure. Needless to say, my cold feelings towards the last film kept my expectations for Dial of Destiny in the realm of "cautiously optimistic" rather than ecstatic. 

Having now seen the latest installment, I'm happy to say that, yes, Dial of Destiny is superior to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. However, the truth is that it isn't quite leaps and bounds better than its predecessor. While it vastly improves on most aspects, I think director James Mangold (Logan, Walk the Line) really drops the ball on some elements that make Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade my personal favorite movies in the action/adventure genre. 

Aging and De-Aging

There are a handful of themes that can be gleaned from Dial of Destiny, but one of the most obvious ones is the effect of time on the individual. Harrison Ford is now an 80-year old man (just a couple weeks from being 81 at the time of this writing) and one of the film's strongest elements is how it doesn't ignore Indy's age. The film doesn't play it for cheap laughs either, providing a surprisingly nuanced take on the iconic archaeologist as he struggles with feeling like a relic, himself, amongst a changing culture. 

This broken, retired Indy is meant to be in direct contrast to the version of the character we are accustomed to from the previous four films. That contrast is quite literally showcased in a 25-minute long prologue to the film that shows us Indy duking it out with Nazis in 1944. Utilizing the digital de-aging technology to make Harrison Ford appear 30 years younger, the sequence is meant to start the film off with a bang and set up the Archimedes Dial (essentially an ancient time-travel device) as the main McGuffin.

While James Mangold has stated that he wanted this opening to live up to the iconic opening action sequences of the earlier Indy films, it immediately turned me off at a point when these films should be hooking me in. Part of that is due to Mangold's direction of the action (which I will get into later), but most of it was due to the fact that the digitally de-aged Indy is just too distracting. Much has been spoken about the de-aging in the months leading up to the film, with some critics saying it's the most convincing use of the often off-putting technology yet. In all honesty, that might be the case, as I can't recall any film or television show relying on de-aging for such an extended period of time. However, this being the best the tech can possibly be and yet still falling into the uncanny valley goes to show that this should be the final nail in the coffin when it comes to studios relying on this gimmick. It just doesn't work and for an actor as expressive as Ford, it's depressing to see a computer try and fake what comes so naturally for the iconic movie star.

Luckily, once we arrive in 1969, we get to see what Indy has been up to in the past fifteen years since Crystal Skull and I honestly found this more engaging than any of the antics that were being thrown at the audience in the opening. In fact, it made me wish that the film just started there. I understand that it's a tradition to start these movies off with an explosive action sequence, but given that this is a different type of Indiana Jones film and one that deals with more emotional turmoil than the previous films, I actually would not have minded skipping that opening entirely and just starting with Indy yelling at hippies from his apartment building. It also would have shaved almost a half hour off of this thing, and Dial of Destiny could've greatly benefited from being trimmed.

A Journeyman Filmmaker in an Auteur's World

James Mangold is a very competent director. While most modern moviegoers credit him with being the man behind one of the most influential superhero movies of the past decade, Logan, he's also proven to be quite the chameleon with films like Cop Land, Walk the Line, and Ford V. Ferrari. Mangold has had a diverse career, but he's certainly not a director that I would say has a strong vision behind the camera. This is no insult, as some of my favorite filmmakers such as Richard Donner or Irvin Kershner are the very definition of journeyman filmmakers who had no trademark style or pretense to get in the way of them producing handsomely made, crowd-pleasing films. However, James Mangold is not just stepping into the shoes of any old director; he's taking the reins from our preeminent blockbuster auteur, Steven Spielberg.

While Spielberg is riffing on the solid, if sometimes unremarkable, filmmaking of the 1930s action serials that inspired Raiders of the Lost Ark, it's his craft and visual storytelling that transcends those old films and made the Indiana Jones franchise so beloved. Having just watched Raiders for the billionth time a mere 24 hours before I saw Dial of Destiny, I was admittedly being a little unfair in my comparisons between how the two very different filmmakers staged sequences. But when so much of what makes Indy movies great comes from Spielberg's expert staging and strong relationship with editors like Michael Kahn, you start to lose some of that magic that makes an Indiana Jones movie really work. This is evident in that opening prologue sequence that I alluded to earlier. Mangold's action is competent enough, but this sequence is overly reliant on murky CGI and overly-edited series of events that favors quick cuts. Spielberg would let stunts play out in wide shots, never holding a shot for too long that it became pretentious, but always long enough to really get an understanding of the danger the characters were in and the scale of the threat. Spielberg was also such a genius of how to make sure his action sequences were edited to John Williams' score with utter precision, whereas Williams' score in Dial of Destiny feels more like temp music over a sequence that was already edited. Watch the truck chase in Raiders, the fight sequence in the mines from Temple of Doom, the tank battle in The Last Crusade, and...yes...even the race through Marshall College in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and you will see just how unique and exciting Spielberg's action sequences are compared to even some of the better set-pieces in Dial of Destiny. Again, to compare anyone's action sequence to one of our most talented living directors is pretty unfair and borderline nitpicky, but it is something I noticed quite often. However, Mangold doesn't really have an excuse for what seems to be a misunderstanding of how one paces an Indiana Jones film. 

The more I reflect on Dial of Destiny, I find that my core issues with the film come down to its often sluggish pacing. For a series known for its non-stop adventuring, I often found Dial of Destiny constantly starting and stopping in fits. It's not so much that I wasn't interested in the story, but more that the movie struggled to find ways to hold my engagement in the way the three original Indy movies always do. The film really begins to pick up steam once we leave from the second act and into the third act, but it is a bit disappointing that I spent a chunk of Dial of Destiny's runtime just a little bored.

What Mangold does bring to the proceedings, however, is a strong understanding of character and seasoned knowledge of how to work with actors. What makes Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny shine in even the weakest of moments are the committed performances, particularly from Harrison Ford back as Indy and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Indy's goddaughter, Helena Shaw. Like most people, I've been a fan of Waller-Bridge ever since I saw Fleabag, but her talents have pretty much been wasted in major Hollywood productions, whether she's working in front of or behind the camera. I'm very happy to say that she is just wonderful here, perfectly providing the youthful yin to Ford's grumpy, old yang. Her comedic relief is always charming and never grating in the way most modern comedic relief has been in that weird, Joss Whedon-esque way. Her tenacity and willingness to really challenge Indy makes Helena my personal favorite female lead since Karen Allen's Marion Ravenwood in Raiders. 

As for Harrison Ford, there's an argument to be made that this might be one of his best performances in decades. Ford is always impossible to take your eyes off of, even at his least committed, but in his final outing as the Man in the Hat, he seems to be energized in a way I haven't seen for practically any movie he's starred in released in my lifetime. Of course he still commits to the action (as much as he can as a man in his twilight years), but he also brings such a sense of gravitas in certain moments that got me really choked up. For example, as a strong Crystal Skull hater, I wasn't expecting to shed a tear over Indy describing the fate of his son, Mutt Williams, but thanks to Ford's surprising vulnerability, I was really moved. It's arguably the best performance he's ever given as Indiana Jones. 

Leaving the Past Behind (SPOILERS BELOW)

The third act of this film has proven to be a real make it or break it moment for critics. For a series that has featured ghosts, dark magic, a living Arthurian knight, and aliens, apparently the concept of time travel is just a bit too much for some people. As far as I'm concerned, Dial of Destiny's climactic battle in the past, complete with warring Roman soldiers, was truly when I went from feeling somewhat indifferent to getting completely sucked in. Terrified Nazis shooting machine guns at ancient ships, only to be met with giant arrows impaling them and their aircraft. Is it a big, bold swing? Sure. But it never felt goofy enough to where I felt the stakes were lost. On top of being a ridiculously fun set piece, I actually find it to be a really fitting setting to set Indy's last climax that neatly ties common threads from all five movies together. 

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the villainous Belloq (played by the great Paul Freeman) attempts to keep Dr. Jones from blowing up the Ark by appealing to his love of and curiosity for ancient history. 

"We are merely passing through history," he says. Pointing to the Ark, he continues, "This. This is history."

Indiana Jones has always dreamed of doing more than just examining the remnants of past history, and with the climax of Dial of Destiny he is able to witness history firsthand. It's chill-inducing to see Jones at a complete loss for words as he becomes an active participant in a historical event. It also makes perfect sense that, feeling as though he has nothing to go back to in 1969, that he would choose to live out his final years in ancient Syracuse. It's not so much a moment of weakness, but rather a decision that illustrates something the character has always struggled with; living in the present. But thanks to a swift punch in the face from his goddaughter he is forced to reckon with living in the present day, and be reminded that there are people that love him.

This theme of letting go is brought to a perfect close with the film's epilogue which reunites Indy with his estranged wife and the greatest love interest he ever had, Marion Ravenwood. As the two world weary, but loving characters embrace in Indy's apartment with a lovely call back to one of their most intimate sequences in Raiders of the Lost Ark, I was shocked to find myself getting very emotional as these two monumental characters from my childhood got their happy ending.

One of the most iconic sequences in any Indiana Jones film is in The Last Crusade where Henry Jones Sr., the man who spent his whole life searching for the Holy Grail, finally shows his son that his life means more to him than an old relic. Indy, reaching for the Grail, risking his life to find any connection to have with his estranged father is stopped by his father who tells him to "let it go".

Almost 35 years later, Indy's dad would be proud as his son has finally decided to let the past go and fully embrace the love that comes with living in the present. Dial of Destiny sure might have a lot of problems...but man, what an ending.