'Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny' is Missing Steven Spielberg's Touch
After successfully closing the curtain on Indiana Jones' adventures with The Last Crusade, Steven Spielberg decided to end Indy on a high note. A decade later, George Lucas convinces Steven Spielberg to get back in the saddle and make an Indiana Jones film about space aliens. Even with its flaws, The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull had the magic of Steven Spielberg to deliver something cinematically you can't get from anyone else. Yes, there was spotty CGI, and the fridge nuke sequence was preposterous, but Spielberg knows where to point and move the camera, unlike any other director. Spielberg's knowledge of the frame is something Director James Mangold tries to dial in with The Dial of Destiny but can't. Mangold attempts to emulate Spielberg, but without the same unique eye Spielberg has for the canvas, Mangold can only deliver a film that feels like a knockoff of a rare relic.
The Dial of Destiny is like a fan-inspired Indiana Jones film. From the opening title, which looks like it was rushed in Adobe Premiere, something feels off. The title is inserted like all the other Indy films, but the font looks wrong. Furthermore, the action, which sometimes can be a blast, lacks the physicality of the original three films. Crystal Skull's CGI vine swinging doesn't count. There is one scene in DOD involving Indiana riding a horse through a parade into a subway that's a riot to see.
If the legends are true and Harrison Ford rode that horse himself without the assistance of stuntmen, then consider me flabbergasted. Even though it's obvious that stuntmen are covering for Harrison Ford, most of the horse scene was done on camera with limited digital effects and is wonderfully comedic. For its practical effects, the sequence worked, unlike the action in most of the rest of the film that relies on CGI and awkwardly cut chase sequences with an old Harrison Ford. There's a moment when Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) has to run away from Indy. It's almost comical how Ford looks, trying to chase after her. How can a woman in her mid-thirties have trouble out chasing a man in his eighties?
Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiney is surprisingly depressing. After all his journeys, Indy is a penniless, old college professor who teaches a class of kids who don't care about archeology. How did Indy wind up like this? Seeing broke old Indy slum around his one-bedroom apartment, shouting at the downstairs neighbors for playing the music too loud, is a sad sight to see. How we find out why Indy winds up in that spot is some of the film's most daring and poignant scenes that gives the journey some meaning. When not digressing into Indy's sad present, we're taken back to the past to develop the film's story.
The film starts with a terribly de-aged Harrison Ford riding a Nazi train. The flashback to a younger Dr. Jones is jarring. Not only is the CGI cartoony looking, but there's a flashlight that fully exposes a de-aged Indy's face, making the effect’s artificiality stand out. I didn't think I could see a head float outside of a head. The camera lingers too long on the de-aged effect revealing its many flaws. Narratively the sequence works as it connects Indiana Jones once more to those pesky Nazis, but how long can we keep following the same antagonist?
The Dial of Destiny is centered around Nazis as the bad guy because when in doubt for an antagonist, seek Nazis. The main one played is played by Bond Villain and Hannibal Lecter himself, Mads Mikkelsen.. The overall plot to The Dial of Destiny is a familiar one that's occasionally interesting when focussing on Indy's character bits instead of more exposition about Archimedes' dial.
Although World War II is long over, there are Nazis who still lurk around society like snakes; Nazi scientist Dr. Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) seeks the dial of Archimedes, for it could rewind time and change the outcome of WWII. The idea of Nazis was fun for a while, but it gets overplayed here. Secondly, Voller's grand scheme is idiotic.
When the film approaches its third act, things get so campy it will either turn off some of the audience while other viewers may appreciate how far the film's climax goes. The Indiana Jones franchise has previously explored science fiction territory with magical chests that melt people's faces, an invisible bridge that leads to an ancient knight who lived thousands of years, and yes, even space aliens. Time travel can now be added to the mix.
The Dial of Destiny is a letdown and unnecessary one when the curtains were so wonderfully closed, with Indiana riding out into the sunset with his father at the end of The Last Crusade. If there's a moral to this review, it's to not listen to George Lucas and leave a character's legacy in a museum. Don't break into the museum and resurrect the dead. The Dial of Destiny is the only Indiana Jones film not directed by Steven Spielberg, and it shows.
Director James Mangold tries his best to reprise Steve's magic but falls short. It doesn't feel like an Indiana Jones film when even Kingdom of The Crystal Skull did. The film has a Jurassic Park III effect where although Spielberg directed a stinker with The Lost World, director Joe Johnston made something worse. The Dial of Destiny has the same reaction where the director is missing that special something that Steven has.
There's a try-hard effort with The Dial of Destiny that's respectable. Cameos from past characters like Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) appear, but it's not enough to lift an already mediocre picture from the ground. Director James Mangold makes a noble effort to introduce a little but not too much nostalgia and an ending that wraps on a somber note. Even with his efforts, Mangold can't match the talent that is Steven Spielberg. Indy's final adventure is a formulaic one that wraps things in Indiana's life up in a bittersweet ending that damages a character's great legacy.
