The new film in the series Indiana Jonesin which Harrison Ford makes a comeback has the flaws of its qualities…or the qualities of its flaws.
Undoubtedly, in the first images we find a 1980s Indiana Jones: Harrison Ford, with his hat screwed on his head, cracking his whip at the Nazis. Even wrinkles disappeared thanks to (or because of) the special rejuvenation effects; not quite there, let’s be honest.
Created by screenwriters Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and David Koepp, with significant assistance from director James Mangold (Walk the Line or Logan, to name a few), the plot pleasantly blends all the elements Indiana Jones has to offer modern hero We appreciate: Incredible (and in this case a little too crazy) archaeological adventures, action, villains, touches of a love story, humor, self-mockery and a steady pace.
All the ingredients are there, but James Mangold sometimes stretches the nostalgic sauce a bit too much, while this Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is still 154 minutes long!
This time, in 1944, the rugged archaeologist, just like his Nazi rival Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen, also through the computer mill of rejuvenation), realized that the Spear of Christ stolen for the Führer was a fake. Some 25 years later, Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Indy’s goddaughter, convinces him to go in search of a mysterious clock face, the Antikythera Machine, an invention of the mathematician Archimedes that possesses uncharted powers… and dangerous.
©2022 LUCASFILM LTD. & TM
Moving away from “biblical” intrigue and peppering the feature film with references to the first film in the series, James Mangold seems to vacillate between strong homage and emotional nostalgia. The reflection on the passage of time, regret, old age and death is both moving and monotonous. The filmmaker fails to break free from his melancholic farewells to his childhood heroes (Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas) and plays with the aspect of “end of a Spielbergian era”.
Because Indiana Jones isn’t evolving. He chases Nazis, chases bad guys on horseback through the New York subway, charges at his young neighbors who spin the Beatles too loud, and wallows in renunciation and regret for a bygone era.
Perhaps (certainly) Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny should be seen as a heartbreaking homage to a hero whose score we know by heart, to a dying style of filmmaking, to a classic, linear and without (too) many surprises, where Good always triumphs over evil, and evil takes the form of a swastika. Perhaps (certainly) Harrison Ford is saying a loving farewell to Indiana Jones. And maybe (certainly) it’s our childhood affection for the legendary archaeologist that makes our throats tight on several occasions…
Rating: 3.5 out of 5