Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

A nostalgic adventure ride, but Mangold should have gone easier with some the unnecessary CGI and sped up the pace. In any case, Harrison Ford is the driving force and especially in the emotional scenes (the ending) he can grab you by the heart. Again, though, I had the overwhelming feeling that having multiple people writing the script was harmful. The opening chases are formally fine, but they are basically pointless – a shorter one would have been enough. The depression-ridden and aching Indy is so much better. Phoebe Waller-Bridge could pull an entire film or franchise on her own as a more grounded Lara Croft, she’s actually the only one who’s a match for Ford. Mads Mikkelsen is an unremarkable villain, he does know how to play one, but his Nazi scientist is not fully a villain, he’s more of a smart-ass. Completely untarnished, however, is the reputation of John Williams, whose timeless motif and playful themes will hold any true believer to the end credits. (06/28/2023)

A worthy farewell. Maybe even a notch better than the fourth film. But definitely a movie that every fan of the genre should see in theaters. Indiana Jones is a legend, just like Harrison Ford. Filming a blockbuster like this at eighty deserves ultimate respect from all of us. Let's be honest, how many of us will even make it to that age and still be able to move around with such dignity? Here, Indy jumps from one action scene to another, each one exciting and engaging. The plot is captivating, with a simple yet thrilling adventure story. The action is digital-heavy and over-the-top, but it's exactly what you expect from this genre. My only worry is that with the end of this archaeological legend, the genre itself might fade away, especially considering how the fifth Indy is performing at the box office. But hey, I had a great time, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. This is exactly the kind of blockbuster I love. (07/08/2023)

The body of Jones immersed in the finale is buoyed by a force of nostalgia equivalent to the weight of John Williams' tones associated with the submerged body. Objectively, there would be shortcomings, but this is about subjective facts of the modified Archimedes’ principle, not the truth (the Syracuse finale is breathtaking, with complete The Final Countdown vibes). I think retired Indy will be pleased. No one can call him Junior anymore. James Mangold is beginning to become an expert in endings for icons. (07/18/2023)

It’s fine that Disney is keeping old dads in mind, even though the mouse lost his shirt on this film. No, it’s not Logan with a whip. Mangold made a safe, old-fashioned movie along familiar lines that is already a bit long in the tooth in the action scenes and, hand on heart, is reminiscent of a conversation with an old man who’s telling you the same old war story for the five hundredth time,  a sure sign of encroaching senility. The pace and gradation fall off after the fine first third and the film thus needs a defibrillator in the form of nostalgia, which fortunately comes so forcefully in the final minutes that the whip regains its crack. And no, I don’t mean that beautiful crisp metaphor of a person who lives from/in the past, but rather that tender scene of two people who are probably hurting all over. I can relate to that! (02/11/2024)

The actors and John Williams’ musical motif are pleasing and Harrison Ford’s de-aging is great. The surprise in the climax is more acceptable than the nonsense with the aliens in the last instalment. But the ubiquitous digital, when even a tuk-tuk cruising the narrow Moroccan alleys is not real, is something that I DO NOT WANT in an Indiana Jones movie. Because I still love the films of the original trilogy for their inventive and honest filmmaking. This routine in which filmmakers don’t have to be creative in their craft because the CGI post-production does everything for them is the complete opposite of Spielberg’s original approach. And the potential of every scene suffers because of that. (08/14/2023)