If you've ever felt like watching a movie that is the definition of playing it safe, you should definitely give the fifth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise a chance. There really isn't a single risk taken here, which leads to a film that is shockingly boring for long stretches. Tension or even a sense of adventure hardly ever arise in the 2.5 hours of runtime. And even the finale disappointed me, similarly to the miserable fourth part.

In spite of that, "Dial of Destiny" actually gets off to a halfway promising start. If you can overlook the fact that the deaging technology is still not truly ready, then the opening sequence during World War II is really fun. Unfortunately, it's also the last time the film is genuinely good. James Mangold is by all means a capable director, but here he fails to convey any personal style at all. The plot is pretty basic, with pretty much every twist and turn being predictable until the absurd finale.

The cast also, regrettably, didn't entirely work for me. Harrison Ford is still good, but age has definitely caught up with him. Mads Mikkelsen isn't bad as the villain either, and there are a few nice cameos as well. However, I was disappointed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, whose character Helena is terribly written and who seemed like a miscast to me. In my opinion, she's no better than Shia LaBeouf in the fourth movie. And I don't even want to mention anything about Ethann Isidore, who plays a poor man's Short Round.

It all certainly sounds a bit more negative than it actually is. Ultimately, the film has hardly any serious lows, but it also has pretty much no satisfying high points. It's all pretty mediocre. At most, the occasional fan service moment managed to elicit a chuckle from me. But for a good film, they should have taken some risks, at least at some points. As it is, I can't really recommend "Dial of Destiny".

For me, the main question I wanted to know going in was, "Is this going to be better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".
Happy to report that, yes it's vastly superior in almost every area to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
But with that out of the way, does it compete/equal the originals, to which the answer for me was no.

But it had its moments and felt way more in line with "an Indiana Jones" movie than Crystal Skull and had it's share of flaws. I still think Hollywood should use younger actors or makeup/prosthetics instead of "de-aging CGI" as it continues to look horrible IMO, or at least use it the same way the used emerging CGI in the late 90's early 00's by keeping it in shadow/not the focus point.

The cast, both legacy and new are solid across the board, soundtrack and score work well, plot was a big fun dumb adventure that actually felt like following the breadcrumbs in a good way.

Not at all a bad film, but one that probably won't make my top 10 of the year, but unlike Crystal Skull this probably also won't make my worst 10 of the year either.

This is so bland and inessential, they might’ve as well put it directly on Disney Plus. Why are we investing 300 million dollars in an action/adventure flick starring an 80 year old grandpa? Look I have a lot of respect for Harrison Ford, but everything that’s wrong with this movie is connected to the larger issue of him and the franchise being way past their expiration date, so this never should’ve been greenlit in the first place. Nothing is offensively bad here, but it’s more a case of wrong decisions piling onto each other.

I understand Lucasfilm’s decision to hire a director who just delivered two crowdpleasers in a row, both of which were acclaimed by normies and snobs alike. Mangold understands what makes the world and character work, but he doesn’t get the soul. Right from the opening scene, the movie looks drab, underlit and generic. There’s almost no imagination to the set pieces, and some of the more impressive stuntwork is undone by poor effects work. Take the Tuctuc chase. Ford’s stunt double puts in the work for the wide shots, but when you cut to a close-up of characters in front of a green screen, you’re not exactly selling the sequence. It’s not going to stick on my brain, it’s too unremarkable. Again, what’s the point of making an Indiana Jones movie if there’s no viscera or imagination to the action?

Then there’s the story, which is also very by the numbers and low on risk. It feels like wheel spinning, which in theory could be fine (the Bond franchise got away with that for decades) but there’s nothing to hold my interest. Some of the new mechanics introduced during the third act I found to be underwhelming, and this is coming from someone who didn’t mind the inclusion of aliens in the last film. All of the new characters are boring and underdeveloped (especially the villain), despite the actors putting in decent performances. Occasionally there’s a brief fun interaction, or a fun set, or a good visual idea (like the final shot, for example), but that’s not enough to fill its bloated runtime.

4/10

I've anticipated this movie since at least 2014 and when COVID hit, I was sure the last chance for Indy V was gone. All this to say I've been EXTREMELY hyped for this movie. It had impossible expectations to fill in but, at least for me, it most definitely did.

The[spoiler] de-aged Harrison Ford[/spoiler] looks AMAZING. I loved seeing Indy [spoiler]fight some nazis again [/spoiler]and it really made it feel like the original movies.

Mads Mikkelsen is obviously an amazing actor.

I also loved seeing Indy in the '60s, I feel like they acknowledged his age without making too much fun of it.

The story was amazing. I'm a sucker for[spoiler] time-travelling and I didn't dare hoping he would actually travel in time. 2000 years at that. Ofcourse it would have even been cooler if he ended up at a time and location of the original trilogy but that's just me[/spoiler].

I feel kinda bad for[spoiler] Shia! And for the characters in general, losing a son must be the most devestating feeling in the world. Therefore I felt genuinely happy when we saw Marion and that they reconnected.[/spoiler]

If rumours are to be believed, the ending was rewritten. So I'm not sure at all but it did feel like[spoiler] Indy really intended to stay in the past. I think he would have died quickly so he wouldn't really change the past. It would have been cool if he was the skeleton buried at Archimede's grave.[/spoiler]

I'm not sure what [spoiler]those final moments were about, Indy (?) picking up his hat again?[/spoiler]

The score might go down on a rewatch and I have small complaints. I didn't understand why [spoiler]Fleabag would lock Indy in with some stone cold killers.[/spoiler]

For me it's a perfect Indiana Jones movie. It had everything I could wish for and I had 2,5 hours of fun!

Like its titular character, _Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny_ exists in a world that has moved on from it. What's more, even though it's a perfectly serviceable film that's got fun moments, fine acting, and some heartfelt character work, there doesn't seem to be a reason for it to exist at all. The movie is all about reliving the past (or, more to the point, trying to save it), and it starts off with a flashback action set piece that is both exciting and full of technical wizardry. Disney seems determined to perfect the art of de-aging onscreen and the effect here is the best to date. It's a throwback that works, as Director James Mangold constructs the most _Indiana Jones_-esque part of the movie with fast-paced action and plot development that work really well together. Once its done and we fast forward to 1969, however, the story becomes a bit of a morass that challenges even the most fervent suspension of disbelief.

Harrison Ford is 80. He looks great- not a day over the 70 years old that he's playing, in fact. But watching him punch Nazis and scramble up cave walls while keeping up with his goddaughter, Helena, who even he points out is half his age, is absurd. Her character arc is the plot's biggest surprise and forces Indy to ask some interesting questions, but it doesn't help that Phoebe Waller doesn't look the part that she's trying to play, nor does she have the gravitas to feel like the heir to Indy's legacy that the film so obviously wants her to be. And those questions that get asked? Well, they're never answered. For a movie so interested in the past, it never really wants to reckon with it.

It's more than just missed opportunities to talk about Indy's history of "grave robbing" or the casual colonialism inherent in his ethos. (Whose museums do all of those artifacts belong in, anyway?) Even Nazi ideology is once again breezed over, save for one moment when Mads Mikkelsen is at his chilling best when he needles a Black WWII vet. The worst offenses are the obvious callbacks to iconic scenes in the first 3 films. Not only do they reflect lazy writing, it feels like the entire structure of the movie was built around them. At one point Indy grouses about an experience from one of the first 3 movies that everyone watching will remember, only to have a repeat of that film's **other** most memorable scene take place just a minute or so later. It's beyond fan service. It's insulting hackery.

This would have been a much more impactful and meaningful film had Harrison Ford been forced into the background, if there had been a worthy heir who could have taken the lead in the adventure as he advised. This would have worked as a nostalgic film as well, as he could have found himself playing the role that his father did in (the far superior) _Last Crusade_. Alas, the folks at Disney's Lucasfilm division seem much more interested in trying to repeat the successes of the past than inventing something for the future. If the world really has moved on from _Indiana Jones_, it'll have to keep waiting for what comes next because there's no sign of it here.