Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is the fifth and supposedly final instalment of the popular Indiana Jones film franchise. Indy is no longer the young archaeologist he once was but is forced into one more adventure by his goddaughter to go searching for a legendary artifact that has the power to change the course of history.

After coming out of the movie last night, I was finding it hard to figure out what exactly I thought of the movie. I am not a huge Indiana Jones fan but do enjoy watching the movies (except I never bothered with number four). The earlier parts of The Dial of Destiny were enjoyable and felt like a classic Indiana Jones story. But then some stuff happened in the final act of the movie. I always try to avoid spoilers and will do the same here, so let's just say the film got wild and far-fetched; kind of like when the aliens show up in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I suppose there is an element of all of the Indiana Jones movies that is a bit wild and far-fetched. And this is what I mean by I can't make up my mind with this movie: I will have thought one thing while I was watching the movie and said that it's nothing like the originals, but then I'll think about it more or talk to my parents about it (who saw the movie with me and have seen the Indiana Jones movies many more times than me) and I'll realise that the originals were actually like that.

I think I can pretty firmly say that The Dial of Destiny did end quite quickly and felt unresolved. There were lots of loose ends that weren't wrapped up very well. I also don't like it when directors set a movie up to end a certain way but then seem to change their minds and it ends a different way to what you were expecting. It felt like there was all this foreshadowing for the movie to end a certain way but then it quickly ended a different way. I think I prefer the ending we got but I'm just saying that the snap change was too abrupt.

However, up until this final act, The Dial of Destiny felt like a decent homage to the original Indiana Jones movies. I was thinking that it wasn't quite Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones, but it was still Indiana Jones. It was a new adventure but one that felt like it fit within the pre-established franchise. The Dial of Destiny was slightly confusing but this was like all Indy movies. I would say that Spielberg directed in a way that his movies were confusing but the direction was enough for it to be easy to figure out who the goodies and baddies were. I don't think The Dial of Destiny achieved this to as well an extent as it could of with Spielberg at the reigns.

Something else that I felt wasn't very true to the originals was the film's heavy reliance on green screen, CGI and special effects. I wouldn't say that the movie used this technology any more than other modern movies, but I couldn't help thinking that Spielberg would have gotten the same, or better, results with none of this technology. In fact, he did in a movie called Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark because none of it existed in 1981. The de-aging of Harrison Ford for the prologue to make a young Indy wasn't the best deepfake I've seen but your eyes adjusted to it pretty quickly.

One thing I haven't touched on that did feel true to the originals was the cast. Harrison Ford is certainly old but they used this. Apart from in the prologue where they deliberately made him younger, they didn't ignore the actor's age and threw in many lines making fun of this. The rest of the cast felt like they belonged in an Indy movie and the returning stars added to it.

Of course, the music was incredible. John Williams proves once again that, at 91, he isn't too old to be composing movie scores.

Like many recent so-called 'final' additions to long-running movie franchises such as Jurassic World Dominion, No Time To Die, and Fast X, it is unclear whether Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is actually the last ever Indiana Jones movie. I'd say that The Dial of Destiny is a good Indiana Jones movie, but isn't a good final Indiana Jones movie; it just felt too unresolved. It isn't one of those legacy sequels that is better than the original, such as Top Gun: Maverick, but perhaps it is too hard to compare to a classic like Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Director: James Mangold

Starring: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelson

Year released: 2023

My rating: 7/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 02/07/2023