Movie Number 26 of 2023
The Movie: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
The Cinema: Hoyts Victoria Gardens
Stars: 3.5
I walked into the theatre having left my sense of wonder at the door and came out mildly satisfied.
The great thing about Indiana Jones movies is that they are formulaic, fun and you know what you're going to get. If you want anything more than that, you're going to be disappointed.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is going to be the final movie in the series. Which is probably a good thing because Harrison Ford turns 81 next week and he'd be lucky not to break a hip doing another one. Saying that, he's doing well for 80.
This is also the only Indiana Jones film which was not directed by Steven Spielberg, however, James Mangold sticks to the formula of unrelenting action with some humour thrown in and all is well.
So what is this about?
It's the late sixties- and Indy is about to retire. He's as curmudgeonly as ever, tolerating the last of his students and getting in the fact of with his noisy neighbours. It's the presence of a mystery girl, (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) who shakes things up. The girl turns out to be Helena, his god-daughter, who wants to continue her father's work.
And all hell ensues as the pair try to stop history from being corrupted.
As with all Indiana Jones movies, the pair are after some ancient, priceless artifacts while chased by Nazis. Mads Mikkelson is great as Dr Voller, Indy's nemesis.
Other small parts include the return of John Rhys-Davies as Sallah. Antonio Banderas has a small part as Renaldo, a sea captain and Toby Jones is wonderful as Shaw, Helena's father and Indy's fall guy. It was also good to see the return of Karen Allen as Marion, even if only for a few minutes.
Like all Indiana Jones movies, the locations are fantastic. Sicily, Tangiers and New York in the seventies have never looked better.
And John Williams' soundtrack hits all the right notes, as he has done for the last four films. It wouldn't be an Indiana Jones film if the soundtrack was different.
The other bit I liked was the start of the film, where CGI was used to its best advantage. In flashback, we see Indy as we remember him, taking on the Nazis to get back Archimedes Dial of Destiny. The CGI is done well, the action sequences superlative. It's what you expect for these films.
This isn't the best of the franchise, but it is very enjoyable.
I still remember the clout the first movie had when I came out of the cinema as an eleven-year-old, adrenaline pumping through my veins. This doesn't have the same feel too it - then again, it's 40 years later and action movies have come a long way.
Still, this was a fun way to spend a Friday night.
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