The Pitch: It’s 1969, and Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is tired, and maybe just a little adrift — the daring archeologist and professor who once faced aliens and the literal wrath of God now faces a lonely retirement in New York City. Not that he’s even in the market for an adventure, at least until his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) busts into his life after 18 years.
Helena’s not there to catch up, though — she needs Indy’s help tracking down her father’s lifelong obsession, a dial created by the one and only Archimedes, split into two parts centuries ago. And Helena’s not the only one trying to find both parts of the dial; a former Nazi scientist (Mads Mikkelsen), aided and abetted by some nascent Proud Boys, is also hunting for it, because he believes that it’s more than just an artifact that belongs in a museum — it might have the ability to affect time itself…
Enter James Mangold: For a lot of Indiana Jones fans, expectations for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hit a pretty sharp decline in early 2020, when it was revealed that Steven Spielberg would not be directing the fifth installment of the franchise. That’s not meant to put down his replacement James Mangold, who stepped up to bring Indy’s newest adventure to the screen, but instead acknowledge the fact that anyone who has to follow in Spielberg’s franchise footsteps does so knowing that the master is tough to follow.
Mangold, Joe Johnston, and Jeannot Szwarc should start a support group, or at least get drunk together sometime, because trying to out-direct Spielberg is like trying to outrun Usain Bolt, after all. However, Mangold is actually a fascinating director in the Hollywood ecosystem because he’s developed a proven ability to get the movie made, even movies he’s not directing; he was apparently instrumental in getting The Greatest Showman across the finish line.
Mangold’s projects since his 1995 debut feature Heavy have spanned pretty much every major genre of film: drama, romantic comedy, thriller, biopic, superheroes — he’s even directed not just one Western (3:10 to Yuma), but arguably two of them (Logan). As his filmography reveals, he’s developed a proven ability to take on major franchises (highly recommend watching the Oscar-nominated Ford vs. Ferrari as a meta-examination of what it means to tell an original story within the rules and using the resources of a massive corporation) and while Dial of Destiny never surpasses the Indy stories of old… well, it is better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. So it is perhaps possible, to surpass Spielberg — if you have a script that holds together a lot better than Crystal Skull’s did, and if you have Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the mix.
About a Girl: Initially, Dial of Destiny is a bit of a slog, as an opening flashback set in 1945 features a much younger Indiana Jones trying to steal prized artifacts back from the Nazis. Most of the time, digital de-aging is really hard to look past, especially when the movie makes no attempt to hide it. But between the quality of the CGI and the length of the opening sequence, I did find myself at times forgetting Ford’s actual age, and letting myself buy into the idea that 46-year-old Indiana Jones was on the screen doing what he does best: Talking about historical shit and punching Nazis.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Disney)
