Luke McWilliams gives his review of the 2023 action adventure film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (M), starring Harrison Ford and Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge.
In 1944, during the end of World War II, Dr Henry ‘Indiana’ Jones Jr. (Harrison Ford) and fellow archaeologist, Oxford professor Basil Shaw (Toby Jones), steal half of the Archimedes’ Dial from Nazi astrophysicist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen). In 1969 in New York City, a now soon-to-be retired Jones is visited by his estranged goddaughter, Helena Shaw (Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge), who seeks to enlist Indy to find the dial.
After Indy literally rode off into the sunset at the end of The Last Crusade (1989), and disappointing fans with The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), a new creative team is at the helm for the latest, and apparently last, Indy adventure. Going back to the strongest entry, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981),for inspiration, this outing again pits Indy against Nazis who are in search of a religious artifact to hopefully change the tide of WWII. The usual Indy tropes are laid out and retrodden, with nods to past adventures along the way. Dragging our hero into his own adventure is the incredibly unlikable Helena Shaw, a treasure hunter every bit the archaeological expert Indy is. With a photographic memory, athleticism, quick wit and dubious morals, the duo even discusses whether Indy is needed at all. While Indy’s actions across the franchise are ultimately inconsequential to the outcome of the plots, here he is a passive protagonist, completely out of the action by movie’s end.
Verdict: An unnecessary, homogenised entry, further dulled by an ending that disappointingly pulls its punches. 2.5 stars.
- Luke McWilliams | themovieclub.net. Viewed at Dendy cinemas.
