Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Movie Review

In my old estate, every Christmas and Easter the housing committee would get together and screen a movie on the lawn outside the main community area and the most request shows were Superman, Star Wars and surpassing these two franchises, was Indiana Jones. At that time there was only the first one, and later on the second out of the four, and the first one, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is still the gold standard by which I measure all other action adventure movies. In fact, it ranks as one of my all time favorites. Raiders was a classic movie with the just the right combination of amazing action, good plot, chemistry, comic timing and just a dash of romance with plenty of interesting locations and a rousing soundtrack. If a movie could be perfect, Raider was the closest, and I always enjoying any making of Raiders documentary too. Many have tried, but none come close to matching it, even with modern CGI and new actors.

So whilst the last outing was not really memorable, the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was still a decent welcome entry into the franchise. Yet, we were always hankering for one more good outing, something that could lift the series back to the old glory days.

So here comes one, in the sunset years of Harrison Ford, just when we felt he might end his career without one final swansong in this franchise, he made good. After all, he did have one final appearance in Star Wars for a sweet salary so something similar might entice him to don that Fedora one more time? 

The plot is fairly similar, there's a sidekick, new person, as well as many from his past who make brief appearances, and a surprise offspring of sorts, who has a tag along, almost akin to his very one Short Round, the all reliable Nazis as the antagonists fronted by a very capable and truly menacing Mads Mikkelsen, who is almost as good as our best Nazi, Christopher Waltz. He growls, smiles and even speaks well and his reliable sidekick is a passable Boyd Holbrook, but the entire cast is more than serviceable. 

Apart from a real romance, this movie has the essentials that made the first movie such a wonderful experience: a treasure worth fighting for that might affect the world, beautiful locales, action scenes, and some snappy dialogue. All very good and we should see this blockbuster hit the top of the box office shouldn't we? 

As the case may be, it didn't and we wonder why. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, and we can certainly attempt to analyse why. 

Firstly it's old, as in not only is the franchise old, the star is too and unfortunately he looks old but also tired and he is portrayed as past his best. This does not bode well and as we have witnessed with other franchises that are old, you need to stay relevant or at least refreshed.

The first movie was made in the 70s, and some fans are no longer around, and whilst the name Indiana Jones may seem like a household name, that may mean the older members in the household know it, and admire it and may venture to watch it, but the younger ones who grew up on the MCU, the Twilight franchise or even the DCU may not be keen to fork out good money to see it at the cinema. Even Harry Potter fans will be 20 years older now so staying relevant is not easy. See how the last Terminator movie bombed... 

Overall, I found it very exciting, fast moving with an excellent pace and good chemistry. I also enjoyed all the nods to the past with the fonts used, the soundtrack and the familiar actors.

The Atmos track was excellent with plenty of use of the surrounds and the subs. Moments of the familiar soundtrack will give those with better sound systems something to demo. Dialogue is clear and there is plenty of point placement in space. A demo track indeed.

But I'm a devoted fan and even so, I waited until I could buy the movie online rather than go to the cinema to queue up for tickets. The world has moved on and whilst I happily whistled to the tune of the soundtrack as the curtains went up on the credits, I can't feel a certain sadness and also reflected on my own passing of time as I turned up the lights in my den and felt the tiredness, aches and wrinkles on my own body. Adieu Dr Jones, and thank you for the memories. I also remember your soundtrack, that rousing tune and the final scene of you and Sean Connery riding off into the sunset in The Final Crusade, which to me was the right way to end it. (It was also the introduction to Petra and the name I wanted for my daughter).