Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny's Emotional Ending Is A Brilliant Callback
This article contains massive spoilers for "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny."
Ever since his debut, Indiana Jones (as played by Harrison Ford) has been lauded as one of the greatest movie heroes. One of the smart aspects of director James Mangold's "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," which is intended as the final Indy adventure, is that it knows and acknowledges the fact that Indiana is a deeply flawed character; he makes mistakes about as often as he saves the day, and sometimes more so.
One of the biggest mistakes Indiana ever made occurs well before we meet him in "Raiders of the Lost Ark": his ill-advised romance with the young Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), a spirited girl who, thanks to the older Jones callously leaving her at an impressionable age, grows up into a ballsy, hard-drinking, no-nonsense woman. After their relationship rekindles during their adventure, it clearly sours once again, as Marion is nowhere to be seen or mentioned during the events of "The Last Crusade" two years later. We get a fuller history of their on-again, off-again romance when she appears in "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," in which it's revealed that the pair have a son, Mutt (Shia LaBeouf). At the end of that film, Indy and Marion marry, seemingly happy ever after.
Set in 1969, "Dial of Destiny" stays true to both characters and their rocky history, as Marion is seeking separation from Jones partially thanks to the demise of Mutt in the Vietnam War. Marion doesn't appear until the film's final scene, one that acts not just as an on-screen reunion for the actors but a make-or-break moment for the characters, their relationship, and the film itself. Mangold and company rather brilliantly tie up all these emotional loose ends by recalling an iconic exchange from "Raiders," one that succinctly sums up Indy, Marion, and "Indiana Jones" in general.
'Well goddammit, Indy, where doesn't it hurt?'
In "Raiders," a weathered, beaten, and exhausted Indy and Marion manage to have a moment of respite while transporting the Ark on a tramp steamer, and a tired Jones tries to lie down in bed. As Marion attempts to help him, she only exacerbates his many injuries, and exasperatedly asks Indy where he's not in pain. At first, Indy points to a few innocuous parts of his body, but as Marion kisses each place he points to, John Williams' romantic theme for Marion swells, and the two share a loving embrace. Of course, this being the Indy and Marion relationship, the moment ends just as soon as it'd begun, with a now fully relaxed Indy drifting instantly off to sleep. Marion wryly observes, "We never seem to get a break, do we?"
That observation echoes all the way forward to the finale of "Dial of Destiny," in which Marion finally returns to Jones' dingy NYC apartment, encouraged by Jones' goddaughter, Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). Helena has recently seen Indiana reach emotional bottom: as part of their adventure in trying to keep the Dial of Archimedes out of the hands of the ex-Nazi Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), the pair inadvertently time-traveled to Syracuse circa 212 BC, and a wounded, lonely Indy insisted that Helena leave him there to die. Instead, Helena helped bring Indy back to where he belongs, seeking to demonstrate just how much — and who — he has left to live for.
Chief among the reasons is Marion, whose reunion with Jones is fraught with their rocky history, not to mention the trauma of recent events they've both suffered. Their way back to each other lies in acknowledging their pain just like Indy did all those years ago, only this time it's Marion who literally points out where she hurts, and a contrite Indy who happily kisses her pain away.
The man with the hat
As John Williams' Marion theme soars, the final embrace between the star-crossed lovers hints that, although the archeologist has retired from teaching and won't be jumping onto moving trains again anytime soon, he's loved, he's leaving behind a legacy of affection and inspiration, and he and his wife are going to be okay.
Yet the scene is not the final shot of the film, nor is it the last callback to a prior "Indy" moment. Mangold cuts outside Indy's apartment to the street below, revealing Helena, Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), and Sallah's grandchildren as they run toward an ice cream parlor. The camera travels up toward Indy's apartment window, outside of which hangs his iconic brown fedora. The shot at first looks like a perfect visual encapsulation of the fact that Indiana has literally and figuratively hung it up. However, just as an iris begins to close over the image and focuses in on the hat, Indiana's hand darts out of the window, grabbing the hat and pulling it inside.
It's a cute gesture as well as a callback to several moments throughout the "Indiana Jones" saga: Indy grabbing the hat while exploring a Peruvian temple in "Raiders," making sure to get it before a door closes in "Temple of Doom," and the final moment of "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," in which Mutt picked up Indy's windblown fedora and attempted to put it on before having it swiped back by his father. Unlike that moment, which promises further adventures, Mangold's final shot of the film closes the book on Indiana Jones without being callously definitive (or definitively calloused). As it appears to imply, Indiana Jones isn't completely done with adventure. In fact, he seems to be embarking on his greatest adventure: growing old, surrounded by love. I think he's earned it.