REVIEW #300 Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny (2023)

Indiana Jones finds himself on another adventure, this time chasing after an ancient Dial, accompanied by his granddaughter and followed closely by a group of dangerous Nazis.

It’s hard not to see this 5th instalment in the Indiana Jones franchise as merely a cash grab and the final chance to squeeze Ford one last time, whilst he’s healthy enough to helm the iconic character. Especially considering the high note that the 4th film finished on, happily married with his new wife and son. However despite the intentions behind the movie, I had a lot of fun with it! The introduction of Dr Jones’ goddaughter provided another interesting companion for the franchise, portrayed by Phoebe Waller Bridge who brought a nice rebellious charm to Helena Shaw. Harrison Ford felt right back at home, a little more fragile with his movements but still packing a hell of a punch both literally and figuratively!

The story itself is pretty captivating, utilising de-aging technology to portray convincing flashbacks that tie in nicely with the story. Plus it’s always great to see Mads Mikkelson as the antagonist, he kills it every time! I do think they overdone it with the traditional Indiana Jones theme, even if they did modernise it slightly they used it for almost every scene. They could literally be pulling up in a tuk tuk and they have the theme tune playing! They should have restricted it to just the tense action scenes, it would have had a much greater effect. So all in all, it’s certainly not a bad movie, in fact it’s very enjoyable, even if it wasn’t necessarily needed. One to be enjoyed on the big screen!

Overall (7/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan