A review of “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny”
In 1981, the film world was presented with a new hero, except that in fact Indiana Jones was a reprise of, and a homage to, the 1940s action men so beloved by then wunder-kids George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Almost unbelievably, some 42 years later, Indy has donned his leather jacket and fedora and picked up his bullwhip for a fifth offering that does not have the magic of the first three movies but ranks as an improvement on the fourth adventure 15 years ago.In the titular role, Harrison Ford – now in his 80s – still looks great and, in the opening segment set in 1944, he is de-aged which is a bit weird but reminds us just how good-looking he was. Jumping to 1969, this time his female co-star is the British Phoebe Waller-Bridge who, to me, seems an odd choice. But an ensemble of fine support actors includes Mads Mikkelsen (a Dane playing a Nazi German), Antonio Banderas (a Spaniard playing a Greek deep-sea diver) and Toby Jones (inevitably playing an eccentric Englishman).
The plot involves an excess of mythical mumbo-jumbo which reminded me of “The Da Vinci Code” and the action features plentiful chases in a variety of vehicles and even on a horse. It is all very silly but entertaining enough. I found the opening train sequence too long, but I liked the deep-sea diving segment and the final time-travel sequence is the most original part of a film than rehashes too many old themes.