Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Indy's supposed last ride was a blast. With James Mangold at the wheel it felt just as kinetic and fun as Spielberg's outings but perhaps lacked the charm that the others before it had. What really frustrates me about this film is it had the potential to be, quite frankly, the best or among the best of the franchise.

It is a rarity to have an action franchise led by an older actor and this film had the opportunity to really dive into the thematic elements that made this different from many of the other blockbusters, and it attempts to do this but it just misses the mark. There was certainly elements which were alluded to in the beginning of the film and were continued throughout, but I really wanted the film to tackle Indy's stability more in depth.

It's not really new to have an Indy film void of any real growth for the main character, most of them aren't concerned with this. It's more so, if you are deciding to make another installment in this franchise, you expect there to be a reason. The film does set up a broken Indy but it just does nothing with it. I was really hopeful in the last act that it was going to lean into these themes, and it seemed like it was going to but it pivoted and instead opted for a reference.

Whata makes this more disappointing is that they are able to give possibly the best character arc in the franchise to Helena. How they start her off as a jaded, very guarded person and ground that in her experiences but learns to be open about her true feelings and drop this guard she's clearly had to put up to get to where she is was amazing. What's so frustrating is that this journey could've been so easily been mirrored with Indy, after the loss of his son and his divorce he is also closed off, and it would have been great for them to learn to open up together.

No matter the lack of development for Indy, Harrison Ford gives another great performance, as does most of the supporting cast, but as if it was a surprise Pheobe Waller-Bridge stole the film. Her dynamic with Ford was truly the driving force of the film, even when it stagnated, their banter was infectious and made for a fun watch.

Mangold is a really skilled action director and this film proves such. Possibly a little repetitive but every scene was fun, it really harkened back to the orginals when it was shot in reality, and this is when the film shined. The reliance on CGI in places did take away some of the charm of the film. Much better than I expected and it's hard not to love another film with Indy