Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Review Thread

Indiana Jones and the Dial of DestinyDirected by: James MangoldRuntime: 2h 22mRotten Tomatoes : 52% (29 Reviews) - 5.7/10 Average RatingMetacritic: 53/100 (22 Reviews)Reviews:Variety:“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is a dutifully eager but ultimately rather joyless piece of nostalgic hokum. It’s the fifth installment of the “Indiana Jones” franchise, and though it has its quota of “relentless” action, it rarely tries to match (let alone top) the ingeniously staged kinetic bravura of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian (3/5):It is probably a bit cheeky to be giving Ford a young female co-star under this “goddaughter” tag, with a bantering tension that is really not too different to a (platonic) co-star he might have had in the original movies. Yet the finale is wildly silly and entertaining, and that Dial of Destiny is put to an audacious use which makes light of the whole question of defying ageing and the gravitational pull of time. Indiana Jones still has a certain old-school class. The Hollywood Reporter:This is a big, bombastic movie that goes through the motions but never finds much joy in the process, despite John Williams’ hard-working score continuously pushing our nostalgia buttons and trying to convince us we’re on a wild ride. The Telegraph (2/5):It ultimately feels like a counterfeit of priceless treasure: the shape and the gleam of it might be superficially convincing for a bit, but the shabbier craftsmanship gets all the more glaring the longer you look. David Ehrlich, indieWire (C):“Yesterday belongs to us,” someone says at one point, and when it comes to Indiana Jones, yesterday always will. The problem is that it already did, and today feels like a complete waste of time. Vulture:The damn thing is fun. Mangold may not have the young Spielberg’s musical flair for extravagant action choreography (who does?), but he is a tougher, leaner director, using a tighter frame and keeping his camera close. IGN (4/10):The camera rarely creates meaning on its own, except when there’s a familiar brown fedora somewhere on screen, at which point it charges towards it like a happy pup reuniting with its owner – a shot that repeats on at least four separate occasions. Independent (3/5):Harrison Ford is the hero of the hour. He never loses either his scowl or his doggedness. He plays even the flimsiest scenes with conviction and dry humour. His performance carries the movie. Empire (4/5):If you join him for the ride, it feels like a fitting goodbye to cinema’s favourite grave-robber. Times UK (2/5):The good news is that it’s not as poor as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The bad news is that it’s not much better. Vanity Fair:One can feel the four credited screenwriters grasping at inspiration and coming up short. What they did manage to make would be perfectly fine as a standalone adventure film starring some other character, but it’s not worthy of the whip. Collider (B-):It's a vast step up from the muddled mess of Crystal Skull, and while it's not perfect, with its uneven storytelling, it's not a bad end for our favorite archaeologist-professor-adventurer. BBC(2/5):The jokes, the zest and the exuberance just aren't there, so instead of a joyous send-off for our beloved hero, we get a depressing reminder of how much livelier his past adventures were. Irish Times:It counts as a sort of compliment to say that James Mangold’s film – until a gleefully absurd ending – plays like just another episode in a creaky unpretentious romp. The Playlist (C):It’s a sad and safe ending for a series that once prided itself on big escapades and larger-than-life emotions. “Dial of Destiny” shows that some relics should just stay buried ​Synopsis:In 1944, American archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones helps colleague Basil Shaw against Jürgen Voller, a Nazi, from obtaining a mysterious dial known as the Antikythera. 25 years later in 1969, Jones is uneasy over the fact that the U.S. government has recruited former Nazis to help beat the Soviet Union in the competition to make it to space. His goddaughter, Basil's daughter Helena Shaw, accompanies him on his journey for the Dial. Meanwhile, Voller, now a NASA member and ex-Nazi involved with the moon-landing program, wishes to make the world into a better place as he sees fit Cast:Harrison Ford as Indiana JonesPhoebe Waller-Bridge as Helena ShawMads Mikkelsen as Jürgen VollerBoyd Holbrook as KlaberAntonio Banderas as RenaldoJohn Rhys-Davies as SallahShaunette Renee Wilson as MasonThomas Kretschmann as Colonel WeberToby Jones as Basil ShawOliver RichtersEthann Isidore as TeddyRelease Date: June 30, 2023 via /r/movies https://ift.tt/hMD2mLc