Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny movie review: Harrison Ford takes both fortune and glory

For, James Mangold (Logan, Ford vs Ferrari, both movies that blended action with emotion) gives a fitting send-off to Indy, which in itself is not a mean task given the burden of the franchise and the weight of the giant shoes of Steven Spielberg, who directed all the four previous Indiana Jones (1981, 1984, 1989 and 2008).

Not to forget the creeping years on Ford himself, who at 80 though, still retains enough charm to pull off making an entrance wearing just his boxers, his age written all over his sagging body.

The 15 years between the The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Dial of Destiny – in which time not just movie-making but also movie-watching has changed, and a generation has grown up knowing copycat action-archaeologists in Tomb Raider and National Treasure – are covered niftily by harking back to what set us out on this Indiana Jones fandom. So, we return to the Nazis, a falling Berlin, a precious antique, and Hitler’s lust for it – if his men were bringing him the Lost Ark in Raiders…, this time their quest is the Antikythera or the Archimedes’s Dial.

But the Greek mathematician, having figured out the dangers of what the dial he built could do – bring about “fissures in time”, or time travel, as we call it now – broke it into two. The clue to find one hidden half lies in an equally obscurely hidden tablet.

Nothing that is hidden can’t be found by Indy, but he is more than ably helped here by a late friend’s daughter, Helena (Waller-Bridge), and a child sidekick she has taken on, Teddy (Isidore) – with Indy and Helena deploying The Da Vinci Code-like skills. Helena clearly makes up for the sexism of the previous Indiana Jones, with Indy having spent a large part of Raiders…, for example, saving the otherwise resourceful Marion (his love interest) from a series of crises.

Here, Helena saves Indy’s slowing ass once or twice.

There is another course correction. When The Dial of Destiny ventures towards Tangier in Morocco, with a chase through town reminiscent of Raiders… and its dash through Cairo, it isn’t as flippant about the “natives”. Of course, this is the post-colonial era, but even so, the addition of the heroic Teddy from Tangier is a conscious decision. Not to mention, bringing a Tuk Tuk (what we call the humble auto rickshaw) to a memorable car chase.

Where Indy goes, the Nazis led by Voller — Mikkelsen in a characteristically cold, unreadable portrayal — follow. The chase of the missing half of Archimedes’s Dial takes them, and us, through a series of exotic locations, where Indy of course runs into snakes (which he doesn’t like), and skeletons and tombs (which he prefers).

There is a lot of chasing and fighting, plenty of punches are thrown about, and enough bad Nazis killed to warm hearts – through which The Dial of Destiny does tend to overstretch. However, his rakish smile, his distinct old-world charm, his hat and his whip, still intact, we can’t grudge Ford’s Indiana Jones this indulgent goodbye.

Spielberg said of his Indiana Jones that he wanted to make sure the audiences didn’t feel cheated in the action, that end to end, they figured out how it was done. Attached to this fifth and final film as a producer, though not as a director, he would be satisfied with The Dial of Destiny.

Fortune and glory, you take both, Indiana Jones.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny movie director: James Mangold
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny movie cast: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Toby Jones, Antonia Banderas, Ethann Isidore
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny movie rating: 3.5 stars