Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Review: Eureka-boom

A whole new bunch of actors and three different time zones are what you get when you dial-up destiny and visit your chosen cinema-hall to watch Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. It is hard to believe that neither Steven Spielberg nor George Lucas wrote or directed the movie, which is the last hurrah for the whip-cracking archaeologist who was first dug-up by Hollywood in 1981. Spielberg directed the first four outings, based largely on the writings of Lucas. Spielberg was to direct the fifth escapade too, but pulled out at the last minute, reasons unknown. In 2023, Harrison Ford, who plays the titular role, is 81, Spielberg 77 and Lucas 79. Dr. Henry Walton (Walton is also Lucas’s middle name) ‘Indiana’ Jones, Jr. has had five adventures on the big screen in 42 years, some as much as 19 years apart. And to helm the goodbye vehicle, they brought in James Mangold. It is one of the costliest films ever made, but when released, it worked fine, and man, did they almost hit gold!

Some military men drag-in a man whose head is covered in a make-shift hood. They are Germans, he is Indiana Jones, the year is 1944 and the place is Berlin. Caught snooping around the camp, he is brutally interrogated. Meanwhile, the soldiers bring in another foreigner, this time it is British archaeologist, Basil Shaw, who claims to be a bird-watcher. Soon, their identities are revealed, and they confess that they have come to get hold of the Lance of Longines, which is German possession. It is almost liberation time in World War II, and Berlin is being bombed by Allied forces. Nazi astro-physicist Jürgen Voller discovers that the Lance is fake. Now he is worried that he won’t be able to face Hitler. A ton of antiquities and trinkets is being taken to the Führer in a train, and these include the prized possession, Dial of Archimedes, an Antikythera mechanism built by the genius Syracusian mathematician, Archimedes, in the 3^rd century BC. Voller hopes this will assuage the feelings of Herr Hitler.

This knowledge galvanises Jones into action and he manages to board the train, along with his reluctant friend, Shaw, with the prize catch, the Dial, as reward. A thrilling ride follows, with Voller and his associates trying to get rid of Jones and Shaw, but being out-witted, usually by them and sometimes by sheer bad luck. The duo leaps off the train into a river, even as the train is blown to bits, being hit by an Allied bomb. We are in 1969 now, and Jones is about to retire as professor from Hunter College. Unknown to him, sitting on a back bench in his lecture, is Helena Shaw, Basil’s daughter and his god-daughter, now grown-up. After the lecture, she introduces herself and it soon becomes obvious that she has come for the Dial, which Jones and Shaw had managed to save, and which Shaw had taken. When he almost went crazy trying to decode the invention, he gave it to Jones to destroy. Jones, who had not seen Shaw for about a decade, instead, gifted to the college’s archive. But hot on their trails is a bunch of disparate individuals that include a freelance shooter, a CIA operative, and Voller, who now goes under the name of Schmidt, and works for NASA.

A rare example where the work of several writers jells and complements each other, the film had writers coming on board, departing, being consulted and considered, recalled, and many more words can be used from the dictionary to explain their contributions/lack of contributions. The names are A. MacGuffin, David Koepp, Steven Spielberg, Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, Jonathan Kasdan and Dan Fogelman. Mangold wrote the new screenplay, with Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. Of these, the credits are given to Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp and James Mangold. The characters are based on the creations by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. Only three characters recur from earlier episodes: Jones himself, his separated wife Marion Ravenwood and his trusted friend Sallah, returning after 1989. That is because there is a host of new (for the series) faces, with important roles. Some of the characters are listed above. Others include Renaldo, a Spanish frogman, who is an old friend of Jones; Mason, a US Intelligence Officer, a black woman; Eureka! Archimedes himself; Aziz Rahim, son of a Moroccan Don, Rahim, who was engaged to Helena, and Teddy Kumar, a teenager in Tangier, who can drive or fly anything. There are others too, but the limelight is shared by Basil, Voller, and Helena.

Voller is dead serious about his plan to change the course of history by going into the past. Shaw and Jones contrast each other very well and their bonding is palpable. Mason is the quintessential US/CIA operative, Renaldo is an unlikely character who has to sacrifice his life for his old friend, Jones, Archimedes appears almost at the end, and his appearance is a tour de force, considering Jones has visited his tomb a while earlier. This is possible due to the time fissure created by the Dial. Teddy Kumar is the kind of character young adults will freak out over. Their interactions are well inter-woven. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny does demand suspension of disbelief, but not to the extent one is expected to get lulled in, superhero films. Jones is no superhero. He grieves over the son he lost to the VietNam war and mopes over his loneliness, once his wife Marion leaves him too. Yes, he packs a punch and wields a whip, but essentially, he is a professor and an archaeologist. Neither is Voller a super-villain. He is as human as you and I, but has a diabolical agenda. For an adventure film, that is mounted on two wheelers, three-wheelers, four-wheelers, boats, a train, and aircraft of various vintage, it is more than serviceably entertaining.

What would you say about James Mangold (Wolverine, Logan, Ford v Ferrari), a man who almost directed some 63 films, but ended up with only a dozen in the kitty? A victim of the Dial of Destiny, I guess. He films this one like a cross countries race, and some of the scenes are indulgent, but he takes care not to let an aging Jones dominate the scene. The longish film is fairly divided into segments that bring out the best in the supporting cast, but errs, when it comes to Teddy, whose abilities take some believing. After some comparison, one concludes that the train sequence is easily the show-piece, but it reminds you of so many other train adventures, with nail-biting moments galore. It does not fall short, only lacks novelty. Unlike many other films, his segmentation of the narrative into three time zones, as much as 2000 years apart does not cause confusion. In a clever bit of writing, there is someone for everyone to identify with. An old American professor, his separated wife, a rotund British archaeologist, his wayward20-something daughter, a German astrophysicist, a Danish actor aged 57 who plays a character at ages that could be 30 and 55, a Spanish (and American) actor who is a younger friend of Jones, Renaldo, the actor being 63 in real life, Sallah, embodied by a Welsh actor who will be 80 this year and therefore closest to Jones (81) in age, Mason, a young, black woman, working for the CIA, Aziz Rahim, a Moroccan underworld operator’s son, in his twenties and a teenage boy, Teddy Kumar of unspecified nationality, probably Moroccan, expect for his Indian second name, who flies a plane and Archimedes, the legendary mathematician from Syracuse, Sicily. There are pointed and longish references to the VietNam war and the Apollo landing on the moon, the centre-piece being 1969. Mangold does not fight shy of taking a dig at capitalism too. In India, we call such a film a masala film: something and somebody for everybody to identify with.  

It's his gaze, and not age, that we should focus on. Harrison Ford still keeps proprietary rights over the character, 42 years later. And though they show him bare-chested, post-retirement, in a few scenes, with some parts of his anatomy predictably sagging, he seems to have lost none of the pizzazz. Making his mark in 1973-74, his films have grossed more than $5.4 billion in North America and more than $9.3 billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. This one failed to ignite the box office, and I wonder why. The only reason I can come up with is that audiences today identify only with those heroes who have super-powers, and want a minimum amount of sentiment to be part of the lead actor’s story. Ford’s character is guilty on both counts. Also, there is no sex, or intimate scenes, so maybe that kept the viewers away. Phoebe Waller Bridge (actress, screen-writer, producer) is the street-smart con-woman, Helena, not quite her father’s daughter, till she…Well, she is quite a fit, expect she bears no resemblance to her father at all, though it is not mandatory.

Bond ‘Casino Royale’ villain Mads Mikkelsen, who is basically a gymnast and a dancer, as Jürgen Voller, gives as deadpan a performance as possible. At one point, Ford tells him, “Don’t crack a joke. You are German.” Being Danish, it is quite easy for him to pass off as a German. However, in this film, he is not devised as an arch-villain that would strike terror in the hearts of the viewers. His villainy is toned down by the quest for the Dial. In almost a cameo, Antonio Banderas as Renaldo (it’s the name, silly) is a natural, though the role did not really need a heavy-weight like him. As the affable and ever-dependable Sallah, John Rhys-Davies makes you nostalgic. As does the reappearance of Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood, Jones’ estranged wife, who first appeared in the time zone of 1936. Shaunette Renée Wilson as Mason is too much of a caricature, as are the whole CIA gang. In 212 BC, we meet Nasser Memarzia as Archimedes, who just has to look the part, walk and talk, and he does all three quite well. Alaa Safi as Aziz Rahim impresses, though why he really falls for Helena is not quite clear. Here comes the boy wonder, Ethann Isidore, as Teddy Kumar, who knows the streets and skies of Morocco like the back of his hand. In his first major billing, Ethann makes great impact.

Mention must be made of the wonderful sound-track composed by John Williams. The cinematography, Phedon Papamichael, is full of tricks and effects and the three editors, Michael McCusker, Andrew Bucklandand Dirk Westervelt, have managed to keep the 154 minutes just about engaging. Dialogue is pithy, political, philosophical as well as natural.

Fans of the good old time travel-adventure-thriller-part comedy, with more than enough kaboom, you have Indian Jones and the Dial of Destiny to get your fill. Yes, the long gaps between the sequels have made it a bit difficult to follow the threads. But Indian Jones 5 keeps it simple, standing on its own.

Are audiences of the old-fashioned (70s, 80s, 90s) film fare dwindling? Logically, the answer should be yes. But emotionally, you wish it was no.

I am not too happy with the word Destiny in the title, which does not fully represent the context.

I am not too happy that Indian Jones is retiring, not only from his lecturing job but also from the screen.

I am touched by the hat…leave it that.

Rating: *** ½

Trailer: https://youtu.be/eQfMbSe7F2g