Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) Review

I was always a fan of the original Indiana Jones trilogy, they are some of my favourite films ever made and then Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out and was just really bad. But after all these years we finally have the 5th film in the franchise The Dial of Destiny and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees Indiana Jones race against time to find an artifact that could change the course of history.

Main Character 

Harrison Ford once again reprises his role as Indiana Jones and I thought he was really good here. In Kingdom of The Crystal Skull he sometimes looked like he wasn't interested but here he does really seem to care. It's a really great showing of an old school action hero, it very much brings back memories of previous films of the franchise and Ford provides plenty to this performance despite his age. 

Supporting Characters

Phoebe Waller-Bridge plays Helena and she is fantastic in this film. Over the films there has been a mixed bag of associates with Jones but Waller-Bridge's character has to be one of the better one. She is fun and comedic but a strong character, the dynamic and chemistry between her and ford are excellent and to me the real highlight of the film. 

Ethan Isidore plays plays Teddy and he kind of reminds me of Short Round from The Temple of Doom. He gives a decent child performance and the group dynamic between the three protagonists works and I am glad he was an addition to the film. 

Mads Mikkelsen is a great actor and he plays the villain here, I just didn't find his character to be particularly interesting. He tries his best but he is just an evil doctor that I feel like plenty of actors could have filled the role. I feel similar to Boyd Holbrook who plays his henchmen, they just could have been played by other characters and aren't that interesting. 

The film also underutilises certain characters and performers such as Toby Jones and Antonio Banderas. They are a fun part of the film but they are barely in it which is a shame. 

Story 

The story feels very familiar to Indiana Jones fans, it focuses on history and archaeology while being a fun adventure film. It does a pretty decent job of showing relationships between the main heroes and there is some development for sure, the last 20 mins or so are great and feel like a fitting finale for the film. It is just some of the greater aspects of the film that don't quite work, the whole thing involving the villains is dull and is overcomplicated for no real reason. Also, I just feel like parts of the film went on a bit longer then they needed to which could have trimmed the overall story. 

Script

The script has some funny moments in it, the character banter mostly works and I felt like it was a return to form for the franchise in that way. Also when the film wanted us to care about the characters, I did. It was well done and established how much Indiana Jones has been through in all these films. Though some of the films writing falls flat, it adds unnecessary things to the film that clog it down and hold it back a bit. 

Style 

The film looks pretty good. There are some really fun action sequences that take place in interesting locations all across the world. Despite Harrison Ford being the age that he is, they do a good job of hiding it and having him involved in these scenes. This is also probably the most I have ever seen the de-aging technology used and for the most part I think it is used well but shows there is still a bit of a way to go. My issue is that the pacing isn't quite there, some of the scenes are exciting but they could have had some time taken off of them that would have trimmed it down a little and made it a superior film. 

Overall

Overall, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is an above average film. For fans of this franchise this will be a fun experience but there are some issues that it can't quite get over. It is a positive film which is something I am happy with despite not being as good as I wanted. 

Rating - 6/10