Review: 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' a fitting final adventure

LucasFilm/Disney, 2023.

Indiana Jones may not be as good as he once was, but he's as good once as he ever was.

His latest - and billed as his last - adventure takes place in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," a fitting if somewhat safe and straight-forward final chapter to one of the greatest film sagas of the past half-century.

Grade: B

Re-watching all of the Indiana Jones movies leading up to this release, there were two real revelations: The first, is that the 2008 film, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" isn't quite as bad as remembered...it's perhaps the least effective of all of the Indiana Jones movies, but it holds its own. The second is that this latest chapter, "Dial of Destiny," matches the energy and tempo of the previous films. It feels like Indiana Jones. And that's quite the accomplishment given that this is the first chapter not helmed by Steven Spielberg.

James Mangold ("Ford v Ferrari," "Logan") is in charge this time around, and his Indy film feels mostly like an homage. He doesn't attempt to "make the movie his own" but instead tries to make an adventure that lives up to the previous ones.

Dr. Jones (Harrison Ford) is now facing retirement and his age head-on...although it's his past that is catching up with him. We get to see a younger Indiana in this film via the much-talked about "de-aging" process, and it works visually (although that gravelly voice from elder Ford doesn't quite match up). Even though this film takes us into the 1970s, Jones is still battling Nazis, and a particular Nazi scientist (the always reliable Mads Mikkelsen) has his sights on a special artifact that may be able to rewrite history. Phoebe Wallter-Bridge pops up with some ambitions of her own, playing Indiana's goddaughter, and kickstarting Jones back into action.

I found this movie to be satisfying and mostly fun. It's important to keep in mind the original inspiration from George Lucas, which after all, was to create a modern version of the movie serials from 1930s and the 1940s. The modern viewer is used to grandiose send-offs, or conclusive endings. But those didn't quite exist back then. Instead, this final adventure focuses on an artifact that brings up the realities of time passing, of our desires to change things from our pasts, etc, without ever making things too emotional. That's a choice, but a good one. We're essentially saying good-bye to one of our all-time favorite film characters, but the movie maintains its serial nature.

Indiana Jones reached its pinnacle with "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," a movie that matched the Indy spirit of adventure with some deeper characterization than we hadn't been given prior. "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" mostly fumbled this further exploration, but "Dial of Destiny" gives us Indiana at a very interesting point in his life. What is the toll of doing what Indiana has been doing all of these years? What does he care about? And how does he want to spend the rest of his life?

"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" might get lambasted for not trying to reinvent the wheel, but when the wheels have spun as successfully as this franchise's has, it's sometimes better to just go along for the ride. All of these movies continue the theme of Indiana coming into contact with a life-changing artifact, only to choose his friends and family first despite the consequences.

It's quite fitting then, that Indiana Jones finally earns what he's truly been searching for all of these years: Something that he can hang his hat on.

Grade: B

Genre: Action, Adventure.
Run Time: 2 hours 34 minutes.
Rated PG-13.

Starring: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies, Mads Mikkelsen, Ethann Isidore.

Directed by James Mangold ("Ford v Ferrari," "Logan," "The Wolverine," "Knight and Day," "3:10 to Yuma," "Walk the Line," "Cop Land").

"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" is in theaters on Friday, June 30th, 2023.