Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) - My thoughts real quick

* Spoilers ahead *

I was just as intrigued as anyone else, but not overly excited when trailers for the recent movie "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" dropped earlier in 2023. 

I considered seeing it in the theater but figured it would eventually stream on the Disney+ streaming app, so I would just catch it there. And I did. 

I love the Indiana Jones movies generally speaking, particularly the third movie, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989). It's my favorite of the five movies in the franchise. 

My first impression was that "Dial of Destiny" would just be another franchise revival movie. And it was, for all practical purposes. 

Franchise revivals of older series is all the thing now in Hollywood. They're certainly a novelty, but often feel forced and repetitive often resulting in a box office crash and burn. Not all of them. Some are decent enough, but I can't think of a franchise revival movie from the last ten years that really blew me away. 

In this movie, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) chases down a powerful artifact invented by the ancient mathematician and inventor, Archimedes (d. 212 BC) that's able to send people to another time period. 

The movie opens in 1944 as Indiana Jones is attempting to rescue the holy lance of St. Longinus from the Nazis. While all that's going on, a Nazi Astrophysicist named Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) finds part of Archimedes's dial. 

Indy and Voller fight, resulting in Voller's death, or so Indy thinks. 

Now, during the late 1960s, Indy finds himself chasing down Voller again, who is now a NASA scientist. He's really trying to obtain the entire dial so he can travel back in time and change the outcome of World War II in Hitler's favor. 

In the beginning of the movie, a younger Harrison Ford appears thanks to the "magic" of AI or CGI (something along those lines). The movie accomplished that task rather well. That was certainly the talking point when the movie was playing in theaters.  

The action is entertaining. Nothing more. Nothing less.
My main issue with this movie is Phoebe Waller-Bridge's character, Helena Shaw, the daughter of Indy's old friend and colleague, Basil Shaw (Toby Jones). She's also Indy's estranged goddaughter. She accompanies Indy in this adventure, more often working against him as she has her own plans in mind for the dial. Namely, monetary gain.  

Shaw is unrealistic, annoying, and I wanted to see her less on screen. She's not charming, nor is she intriguing or inspiring. She serves more as an obstacle for Indy than an asset to the story. The audience isn't supposed to cheer for her, yet she has scenes that seem like the audience is supposed to cheer for her. Shaw is a mess of a character.   

Also, gone is Indy's son, Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) from the last movie "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." He evidently died during the Vietnam War. I certainly didn't miss him. His death causes Indy and his wife, Mutt's mom, Marion Ravenwood (played again by Karen Allen), to divorce prior to the story. 

Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Harrison Ford in
'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.'

Before sitting down to watch this movie, I anticipated a time travelling voyage to Indy's past in some sort of nostalgic adventure. I anticipated something like what took place in "Back to the Future II." If you know, you know. 

Thankfully, that didn't happen. What did take place as far as time travel goes took me by surprise. Much to my appreciation, they saved that for the final act. Everything leading up to that, with Indy trying to find the dial and make sure the Nazis don't obtain it, felt like classic Indiana Jones. He's already squared off against Nazis in two previous movies - "Last Crusade" and "Raiders of the Lost Arc." 

This movie isn't Jones at his best but it's certainly not terrible. I think the previous movie "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" still carries that banner. 

The urgency of the entire story seems a little forced. Yes, Indy and everyone are going after the other half of the dial and take it out of the hands of Nazis, but the seriousness of the situation isn't convincing enough. I don't recall him even knowing he was chasing Nazis until later in the film. 

He just has to get it before the bad guys do something bad with it. It's not clear until later in the movie what the Nazis plan on doing with it. And once Indy realizes what's really going on, then his mission feels like it has real purpose. 

A few days after my second viewing, the ending became sensible. To have Jones actually witness a major historical event (i.e. the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC) and meet Archimedes face to face felt like a proper sendoff for the character rather than simply have him save a small yet significant piece of ancient history. 

As the movie concludes with Indy returning comfortably to his home and spend his days in restful retirement with the Marion is fine but not the sendoff I imagined Indy to have. 

Personally, I wish he would have stayed in that period in Italy, with Archimedes, rather than have his annoying goddaughter force him to return to his own time. That would have been an ending audiences would talk about for sure.  

It was enjoyable to see Indiana Jones one more time, especially after the disaster that was, "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Surely, fans of the franchise are glad that last flick wasn't Indy's sendoff film. While "Dial of Destiny" has its issues, it's a passable film. 

It's entertaining and hits some of the right spots despite feeling like too much like a franchise revival film. It's time for Indy to hang up his hat, which he thankfully did at the end. 

I'm trying to determine if it's better or worse than "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." I'd say "Temple of Doom" is better by a nose. A real nose. Not a CGI one.