Review of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) by Calvincrack — 30 Jun 2023

I liked this movie. Hoping to love it on rewatch if I can come to terms with what I perceived as flaws. The strengths are strong though. I think the first hour+ is great, and the last 30 minutes are great, but it had a bit of a soggy mid-section.

I say soggy, in particular, because some of it took place over water. Setting aside some pacing issues, I was often entertained by this film which is....why I go to the movies, and why I watch certain ones again and again.

I think this fits nicely into the pantheon of Harrison Ford's career, with a great performance as "old Indy" that is equal parts tough, humorous and brave (Indy's character traits). I found it inspiring how well he stepped back into this role.

He might have done this for a million reasons, and maybe even $20million reasons, but at the end of the day I like to think he did this for himself and for the fans. One last Indiana Jones adventure.

How can anyone hold that against him, or the filmmakers? It's always a convoluted situation when a Studio gets behind a big tentpole franchise to put out a movie costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

....but as movie fans I think it's important to not look a gift horse in the mouth. Is Dial of Destiny perfect? Of course not! Most Indy movies are not (except Last Crusade, which is just about a perfect sequel).

But what we have here is a good movie with great moments, punctuated by some -- at worst -- decent, but watchable passages.