Review of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) by Bretster123 — 01 Jul 2023

The hatred for this movie is unjustified. It is far better than Crystal Skull. Quite obviously it doesn’t match up to the original three but is far more in tune with the spirit of Raiders. The opening twenty minutes are brilliant save for a few angles where the illusion falls down slightly (and they cannot de-age his voice).

Indy’s character arc is very poignant- a broken man living in a society that’s passed him by who wants to give up but is ultimately rebuilt. It’s too long - shaving 20 minutes or so would have greatly improved the pace of the film and thus the film itself.

Fleabag is fine - I was more annoyed by Teddy who is a poor man’s Short Round and the character really isn’t necessary. Ditto Antonio. Some will hate the ending though I actually thought it was done very well in the context of the story they’d set up and if we’re being objective really isn’t any more over-the-top than evil spirits flying out of a gold box and killing Nazi’s, water from a cup curing a gunshot wound or a massive UFO emerging from a jungle…I won’t give spoilers but most have clocked the time travel idea but don’t worry this isn’t Back To The Future and it works quite cleverly for the narrative (many will miss the subtle nod to Sean Connery).

I went in with low expectations but was pleasantly entertained. Again, it’s fine, calm down people, enjoy it for what it is. There’s a lot of vintage Indy here: belting Nazis, exotic locations, tomb raiding, an actual ancient artefact being the McGuffin and something the critics haven’t picked up on- there is no “cheesiness” in this movie.

Some amusing moments but nothing that will make you cringe. Nothing will ever be as bad as using a fridge to survive a nuclear blast or that little cretin doing a Tarzan swinging through the jungle with monkeys… everyone blasts woke Disney but - guess what- Indy is allowed to use his gun and have a raiders style shoot out with Nazis here (he wasn’t allowed to in Crystal Skull if you remember- didn’t shoot anyone).

When I think of how much damage some legacy sequels did to iconic 80s franchises (Terminator, Die Hard, Aliens etc) Dial of Destiny doesn’t devastate the Indian Jones legacy as many are claiming. Every couple of years I put Crystal Skull back on to give it another chance and never get to the end because it’s so ridiculously bad.

I won’t be feeling like that with Dial of Destiny and will happily kick back one Sunday afternoon and enjoy it again when it drops on Disney plus.