Starting off with a World War 2 set piece featuring a de-aged Harrison Ford as a younger Dr. Jones, Dial of Destiny from the onset puts it’s energy into capturing the swashbuckling, adventurous spirit of the franchise. And from the onset it succeeds. The opening scene does a great job of setting up the film’s main plot, it’s main McGuffin with the Antithykera aka the titular Dial of Destiny, and of course its villain in Mads Mikkelsen’s Dr Voller, and how they all connect to Indie and his then-friend, Toby Jones’ Basil Shaw. All while keeping a fast, kinetic energy to the action that honestly feels more visceral than the classic movies in the best way. After that opening scene we catch up with a much older Indy, who at this point is at the lowest point of his life: old, bruised, tired, and unfortunately alone as his wife wants to divorce him. It’s a story director James Mangold tells well, one of a man out of his prime who has to muster all he’s got to do what’s possibly the most important act of his life. He did the same in Logan and Ford v Ferrari and while Dial of Destiny doesn’t quite teach the heights of those 2, it does a solid job of delivering similar themes while letting you have fun along the way.

And a huge part of this is definitely Ford and his performance as Indy this time around. While Indiana Jones in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was definitely a character who seemed to be too old to play a young man’s game, this Indy is an old man who knows he’s not supposed to be here. One who feels left behind by everything he knew and loved and is now just trying to save a daughter figure of his because he has no option. Again, this parallels Mangold’s previous work with Logan but how those two characters react to being left behind is very different. While Hugh Jackman played the loneliness and anger of Wolverine out loud here Ford plays Indy’s loneliness in an understated way. One that’s quite sad to watch but shows the resilience of the character as he hold on even when he doesn’t know what he’s holding on for. Playing of Indy’s world weariness is Phoebe Waller Bridge’s Helena Shaw, the daughter of Indy’s WWII friend who’s grown to be an adventurer of her own. Unfortunately due to seeing the toll being an archeologist extraordinaire took on her father, she’s far more cynical about the career and what it turns you into, and has a far more pragmatic, less idealistic… And far more “thievy” approach to it.

Something that makes her constantly be at odds with Indy and makes for very fun exchanges between the characters. This gets heightened when either of these characters cross Voller, who does start off as a much colder, seemingly one note villain but in his own way proves to be an interesting parallel to Indy. He’s also a man who feels like he was left behind, and plans to use the Dial of Destiny’s time altering powers to essentially go and change his own life so he could take advantage of all the opportunities he missed in his life. He’s not exactly sympathetic but there is a believable energy to his more regretful moments. He’s definitely still the bad guy don’t get us wrong, but you likely get where he’s coming from once you see his full plan, even if you definitely agree with the fact that he’s wrong.

As mentioned before, supporting the stories of these three main characters is all the crazy hijinks you expect of an Indy flick. We already mentioned the opening scene but this film takes you from train heists to car chases involving a those three wheeled carts we call “Tuk Tuks” to horse chases in parades to the (almost obligatory in a movie like this) library/museum fight/chase scene with priceless artifacts being destroyed. And this is without spoiling arguable the movies biggest set piece which actually gave me some of the most beautiful shots I’ve seen in a movie this year. And I’m the guy who’s seen spectacles like Guardians and Avatar in the past 12 months. The film also does really well to not fall into the typical time travel/multiverse trope that almost every blockbuster movie falls into despite having an artifact that by its name alone is hinted at influencing time or destiny in this case. In fact the movie makes a very interesting intersection between history, the mythical and science in its ending that makes for a very unique and thematic ending to a film that seemed almost predictable when we first hear it’s central plot.

And all that creates a perfect blockbuster journey that honestly its creators should be proud of. James  Mangold and Harrison Ford have created a movie that is worthy of the Indiana Jones moniker and tells a story that deserves to exist in the characters mythology, even if it has its missteps (like wasting Antonio Banderas) . It’s unknown where the franchise goes after this, but if this is the ending, it’s one the franchise was far more deserving of than the last one. Here’s to hoping you experience it in theatre’s soon.

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