From Lasso to Baseball Bat - Dial of Destiny review.

 by Thomas Krol

I had low hopes for the newest instalment in the Indiana Jones saga: Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny; however, I was surprised. Do not get me wrong, this is not a movie I plan to watch again, but it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. My worries were that Harrison Ford’s character would be made old, grumpy and unlikable, and that he would be mocked and ridiculed for his age and not being down with the times. 

My worrying was correct, as that is exactly what happens for about the first two hours of the film. Indiana Jones’ first scene after the far-too-long introduction shows him to be the stereotypical old, grumpy upstairs neighbour, going to complain about the noise with a baseball bat in hand. The baseball bat signifying a monumental fall from grace, as going to complain about the noise with a lasso in hand is significantly cooler.

I did find that for almost every scene; Indiana Jones was the only voice of reason in the dialogue. I don’t think that this is a good thing because his story ended in this movie. There will be no more Indiana Jones, there will be no more voice of reason. This brings me to my next point about the character of Helena Shaw.

Helena Shaw seems to be Indiana Jones’ replacement for any future instalments of the Jones multiverse or whatever other name you choose to give to it. The problem with this is that Shaw is fundamentally an unlikable character. She stands against the philosophy of Jones. Where his mission was to collect artefacts and deliver them to museums where they could be looked at and studied, Shaw sells her finds on illegal market places. Shaw does not share the same love for archaeology and history as Jones and so I do wonder about the direction in which her character will be taken. If she is to be the new Indiana Jones, then she should at least share the main philosophies and beliefs as him. If she is to start her own adventures completely divorced from Jones’ story (which I think is the more likely outcome) then she needs to become more likeable, as nobody will support an archaeologist that sells her findings on the black market. She was also somewhat of a bland character: she didn’t change, she didn’t learn anything, she didn’t have any defining characteristics (like something cool like a lasso). The type of person she was at the beginning was the type of person she was at the end. I know that a lack of character development is popular now in the movies of the last few years, but if this is to be the face of a new tri, quad, pentalogy, then I don’t think it will be very successful.

I would also just like to mention the absolutely insane two hour, thirty-four minute and seventeen second runtime. This movie is far too long for its own good: the opening scene alone felt like a feature film. The scenes did tend to drag with the action sequences never being all that exciting. There’s also a lot of going to a place, then going to another place in this movie, which I’m personally not a fan of. 

This film felt like it took most of my life to watch, so now, on my deathbed, I write my conclusion.

My fears did manifest on multiple occasions during this film, and at times it did feel like kids playing on a war memorial. I think the action sequences could have been less frequent and more thought out than a simple car chase. The visual effects and de-aging effects used on Harrison Ford and Mads Mikkelson ranged from fine to bad depending on the lighting, so that’s something to consider. Although the movie was slow, I didn’t mind the ending as I thought it was a fine send off to the character of Indiana Jones. I probably won’t go out of my way to watch any inevitable ‘Helena Shaw’ movies since she really didn't convince me to. I hope that if she is to carry on the legacy of these legendary films, that her character will maybe gain some… characteristics? I know this may sound harsh, but this is my point of view as an audience member who has seen and enjoyed every other Indiana Jones movie (bar Crystal Skull), and ultimately, it is people like me who will determine the success of these movies as always in the back of my mind, I will be comparing them to Indiana Jones. In short, this film could have been significantly worse - whether this is a good or a bad outcome, I leave to the reader.