Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny Review: A Blazingly Fun Reunion With Our Favorite Hero [Cannes 2023]
Potential mild spoilers follow.
In 2023, we have quite literally nothing better to do with our time than to challenge Nazis and fascism — and "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," the fifth and (seemingly) final installment of the beloved action-adventure franchise, is proud to go out fighting them to the death. The new film, the first in the franchise not directed by Steven Spielberg, is a bold, bright, and blazingly fun reunion with our favorite hero, one that pulls out all the stops and shines the brightest spotlight possible on the impact Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana Jones," Jr. has made on not only the action-adventure canon but the entire cultural zeitgeist.
"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" follows Harrison Ford's classic character as an old man living and teaching college archeology majors in New York City in 1969. He's become something of a hermit, letting the pain of the dissolution of his marriage to his wife, Marion, following a tragic death in the family. Living in a mental prison with seemingly no hope of escape, the action comes to him when a past adventure for Archimedes' time-traveling device, the Antikythera, resurfaces at the behest of his goddaughter, Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Helena Shaw, who draws him into a trying pursuit against ex-Nazis.
Let's just be upfront here: Ford is beyond triumphant in his final turn as the character he made a phenomenon. His performance shines in the sense that the audience can feel the deeply emotional send-off he personally is giving his character in every quip, every punch, and every heartfelt adage that comes off his lips. It's such a privilege to watch him finish what he started and give us so much of himself at 80 years young.
Indy has met his match
Waller-Bridge is a very fun match for Ford, and the pair give off a bitingly charming chemistry that makes viewers feel like Indy has truly met his match. It wouldn't exactly fit for Waller-Bridge to take over the franchise from here — and I'd like to think we'll keep anyone from doing so — but she is certainly a worthy companion with grit, brawn, and brains. Then, there's "Hannibal" star Mads Mikkelsen, who rounds out the lead cast as our big bad, a former Nazi who will stop at nothing to best Indy, and America itself, following the Allies' World War II win. Mikkelsen is a calculated and strategic performer, one whom you can always see thinking despite his stoicism, and his character in this film is delightfully no different. He's an infuriating villain, one that feels both menacing and overwhelming in his brutish intelligence — the kind of adversary it seems impossible to defeat, and thus the perfect final match for the one and only Indiana Jones.
Despite writer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg not taking the helm on this installment, the film has a fun plot that feels completely true to the sense of adventure the series has always brought to its audience. The film's major climax scene in particular is utterly superb, well-choreographed, and edited while also using some really sleek special effects. It's a beautiful blockbuster moment in a film full of blockbuster moments that is so sincere, yet refuses to sacrifice the technical elements that have made some of the best recent action films great.
Pivotal and profound
While it would be nearly cruel to spoil any of it, it should be said that the scene is a gut-punch and potentially one of the most pivotal and profound moments Indy has had in the franchise — and as a result, it becomes one of the most profound moments the audience can have alongside this wonderful character.
Though it feels fabulous to be back with Indy on another adventure, and that feeling begets some serious nostalgia, director James Mangold's movie does have a few issues to speak of. Generally, the film's pacing is quite exciting and fast-paced, pulling audiences along for the joyride at breakneck speed. That said, there are moments that feel a bit elongated, and the movie could have generally been tighter (and a bit shorter as a result, which is never a bad thing with a tight script).
In the same breath, the script and story would have been a bit better served had we been able to see a little more between Indy and his estranged wife, whose grief turns him into the impenetrable fortress he has become by the time the film's current events begin. To a similar end, some of the dialogue, particularly that of Waller-Bridge's character, feels a bit too modern in moments to be natural in the '70s. These things by no means ruin the film, but they do prove that Mangold's script — which was co-written alongside playwright Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and David Koepp — leaves a little to be desired here and there.
A beautiful final conquest
There's also a matter of a few lacking characters. While Ethann Isidore does his best as Shaw's sidekick Teddy — who, you guessed it, is our surrogate Short Round — he just isn't given enough in the script to even hold a candle to Ke Huy Quan. John Rhys-Davies returns as Sallah, but the decision to reintroduce him — as a character who is essentially in brownface — is puzzling, particularly because of the choice to give him a mere 5-minute cameo when the folks behind the film could have opted to rectify the choice to have a white man play Egyptian in the first place and not include him. With the number of new friends and characters introduced not just in this film, but also in films past, it could have easily worked to ditch Sallah in favor of doing right by Egyptians. With a character so dedicated to fighting Nazis, it's a noticeable oversight.
All in all, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" is an action-packed, high-octane super soaker of a film, while at the same time amounting to a beautiful final conquest and farewell to the world's most famous adventurer. Going on one last quest with him is a true honor, and Mangold's film makes sure to let you know that it has nothing but deep reverence for our beloved Dr. Jones.
/Film Rating: 8 out of 10