I don't believe in magic. But a few times in my life, I've seen things. Things I can't explain. And I've come to believe it's not so much about what you believe, it's how hard you believe it.
This review may contain spoilers.
First Screening. Cinemark. Yet another example of how initial audience reactions do not accurately reflect the true nature of the art, usually because they are based on false assumptions, prejudices, and biases. In some ways, this is bound to happen regardless because of the age we live in. In other ways, I blame trailers for ruining the movie experience. I have been putting my fingers in my ears and humming during every Indiana Jones trailer for the last year. So when I went into this film, I had no idea Mads Mikkelson was the villain, that John Rhys-Davies was going to show up in the second act, what the Dial of Destiny was, or that Ford was going to play a younger self. All of this ignorance paid off in the end. I had no expectations, other than this had better fucking be better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And for that, it exceeded. The ranking is 1. Raiders (Five Stars) 2. Temple (Four and a half stars) 3. Crusade (Four stars) 4. Dial of Destiny (three and a half stars), then there's fifty feet of shit. And then below that, there's Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Dial of Destiny has one of the best opening sequences of any modern film, and it rivals the Temple of Doom in terms of action. The plot, in which Indy and his god daughter pursue the Dial of Destiny for different reasons, plays in well with the theme of time, well marked by using watches and clocks (Indy has one on his nightstand, he is given one for his retirement party, his dad's watch is stolen, etc). This showcases that time has moved on for Indy as he struggles not only with a perspective of a failed career, but with recognizing that having lost his son and separated from his wife, that he is literally at the end of the road as an aging American male. He is stripped of his masculinity (shirtless in the opener) and is constantly overwhelmed by his enemies.
The antagonist Dr. Voller is everything Indy has been fighting against his entire life. Not just in his Nazi ways, but in the use of archaeology for his own purposes.. Voller isn't just a Nazi, he is a Paper Clip scientist who has gained notoriety for his work on the Space Program and when asked what is there next to conquer after space, the answer he does not mention is time. Who time is up for is constantly a discussion. If Indy's time is up, what does that say about Voller? Or Wombat, as Phoebe Waller Bridge is known.
At the endof the second act there is a trolley chase and a scuba scene that I just did not care for, but it wasn't bad. It wasn't like fencing across the backs of two trucks driving through the jungle or swinging on vines. It wasn't ludicrous. It was well grounded, I had just seen it in a million films and it bored me.
No, the biggest detriment to this film is taking something better than average, namely the plot involving Bridge, and making it truly great, for instance inserting Short Round. This was a golden opportunity, missed by the writers and creators. It could have been great. It could have been the difference between people saying this film was alright, and this film was fucking great. It could have been not just the difference between three and five stars, but 200 million and a billion dollars. Short Round needs money, manipulates Indy to get the Dial. Indy chases him around the world to stop him, Short Round comes to his senses, and Short Round saves Indy from becoming a permanent feature of the Syracuse archaeological find.
No Teddy. No Puss and Boots, the film is 20 minutes shorter, makes the cart cab scene more fun with only two people, and the stupid addition of the second plane in the end which only exists for a return journey. This folks, would have brought the past to the future, and Ky Kuy Quan could have had his own spin off "SHORT ROUND" in three years, ushering in perhaps the journey we all want him to have. Not having this wasn't detrimental to the film, but it reveals the great potential to be the film that will always haunt it. Quan would have been on the heels of an Oscar win, a hit movie, and a hit series. I will never stop thinking about this. Child actors are notoriously difficult, and rarely pay off. Most of them are like Jake Lloyd, not Shirley Temple, and Quan in Temple of Doom was pure gold.
I liked Dial of Destiny. I liked what it was and where it was going. There was very little that I would have passed on. But it could have been eternal. It could have been the film that made James Mangold one of the greats. It could have been like Temple, or Crusade. That melancholy is a lot to shake off. At least this didn't suck.