Finding himself in a new era, approaching retirement, Indy wrestles with fitting into a world that seems to have outgrown him. But as the tentacles of an all-too-familiar evil return in the form of an old rival, Dr. Jürgen Voller, Indy must don his hat and pick up his whip once more to make sure an ancient and powerful artefact, called the Antikythera, doesn't fall into the wrong hands. He is accompanied by his Goddaughter, Helena, who kickstarts this adventure after stealing the dial, drawing Indy back into the swashbuckling, globetrotting adventurer role one final time. This movie was the first ever Indy adventure I saw in a cinema (alongside my dad) and although not coming at all close to the original movies, I thought it wasn't all that bad. Following on from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), we pick up in the year 1969 on the historic event of the first man landing on the moon. Indy is even older now reaching his 70s and at the point of retirement, but dares one last mission. One of the main focuses in this story is about time since, after all, the MacGuffin controls time, but also because Indy has aged and is not the agile man he once was and they play around with that. Despite being much older, Harrison Ford is still just as likeable and entertaining as the famed archaeologist. He manages to get quite a few licks in there during the fight sequences and does some great stunts, like riding a horse in a pursuit during a parade to driving through the busy roads of Tangier chasing after the stolen dial whilst leaping between cars. Although Ford wouldn't be doing a lot of this with stunt doubles and CGI in place, they at least look very realistic. I further liked all the recognition of his previous antics when talking about what he has gone through. Like saying, "I've been tortured with voodoo", acknowledging the events of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). My favourite part of this whole feature was the opening. This can be said about practically all of the movies though this one did a great deal by de-ageing Ford into a young Indy in what felt like a return to the classics in a fantastic fast-paced chase and battle with the Nazis. Whilst the effects may have been a bit off in places, I was amazed by how good it looked and what surprised me the most was how exciting the entire scene was. Having young Indy clambering through a moving train full of Nazis was just full of that old familiar feel of the originals and I loved it. I was grinning throughout, so overcome with joy to see a new (yet old feeling) piece of Indy adventures. The only downside to this whole section was it was simply too dark at times, which was distracting and a real shame. Cutting away from that phenomenal intro, we are brought to 'modern day' Indy on his latest venture, joined by Helena. Personally, I thought she was okay, but some of her actions were questionable, and I didn't much like how she punched Indy at the end, even if it made sense to the plot, it was still one of his last scenes and felt like a disappointing final look at the iconic hero. I was also disheartened to find out Indy wasn't with Marion after the happy ending where they got married. She does appear at the end, but it felt too late and why wasn't she just included from the start? The same can be said about Mutt, his son, who is only named once to tell us he was killed, which was depressing. The villain, Dr. Voller, was quite your typical bad guy with a unique agenda with the time travelling dial that doesn't go the way you might think. Everything else from the action to the globetrotting was entertaining, even if it did go on for a while with the longest runtime in the series, but it was all very visually pleasing. This is the only Indy flick not to be directed by Spielberg, and whilst Mangold did a great job, I feel sad not to have another entry by the man who made the rest alongside Lucas. Overall, Dial of Destiny is a fine addition to the franchise with some fun moments scattered throughout. Whether this is a satisfactory ending to the series or not, there are plenty to choose from to pick how it ends with 5 movies now in the franchise to be enjoyed. I think this is an alright movie, but naturally, it was never going to come close to the classics.
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