Review of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) by Darthranner — 02 Jul 2023

I don't want to lie and said I had "high hopes" for this movie, but I had hopes. At worst, I would have settled for it being slightly better than Crystal Skull. Unfortunately, I was just plain wrong. I'll preface this by saying I saw this with 6 others, and I'm the only one that didn't like the movie, but I am willing to die on this hill. Just a few things that plagued this movie:

- Bad de-aging CGI. It would have been ok if it was a new thing not seen before, but it was just too noticeable to me. - The trope of a hero becoming a beat down former version of themselves, a complete disservice to Indy.

- Insistence on introducing a new character that I found to be flat out unlikeable.

- The kid sidekick made Short Round look like an Oscar Winner ;).

- A convoluted plot that is easy to get lost in.

- The Poochie character treatment for you know who.

- A run time that is about 40 minutes too long.

- Wasting Antonio Banderas on a character with 2 lines and maybe 7 minutes of screen time.

I could go on and on. The more I think about it the madder I get. The film had potential- in a vacuum, it's not a terrible move per se, but it is by far the worst Indiana Jones movie. A sad send off for Harrison Ford- Henry Jones Jr. deserved better.