Posted in: Digital, Disney, Kaitlyn Booth, Movies | Tagged: indiana jones, Indiana Jones 5, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, lucasfilm, Review

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny Review: Too Long, Too Mid

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is another entry into the 2023 movie season of being way too long, which kills the pacing, screws up the structure, and thus drags the entire thing down to mediocre.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is yet another overly long action movie dragged down by pacing and structure issues that could have been greatly improved with a tighter edit.

Director: James Mangold
Summary: Archaeologist Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary artifact that can change the course of history.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Not Justifying A Two-Hour Runtime

We all have blind spots regarding the media we decide to read, watch, or listen to. Things will just hit differently for some than others, and knowing and recognizing your blind spots is essential if you try to look at films through a critical lens. There is no such thing as pure objectivity, and knowing that is important.  Like the new Star Wars films, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny isn't so much trying to bring in new fans while also pleasing old ones, but more closing the book on the previous films. So, if you don't have any investment in this franchise, this film will likely leave people shrugging their shoulders and thinking it was okay and not a terrible way to spend time in a movie theater.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is just fine and does things that will likely make super fans happy that they got the chance to return to this universe. It's a step up from the fourth movie.  Though it feels a little more cynical in many ways, it might be just because many late-after-the-fact sequels feel like cash grabs. The pieces for a good Indiana Jones movie are all there, and it is improved by the presence of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who steals every scene she is in. If there is a light in this film, it's her. While there are going to be Certain People that are going to be annoyed at some of the things she does in this film, she really only does the same things male protagonists like Indiana Jones do in films all the time. So 95% of the criticisms of Helena will likely be rooted in sexism and misogyny since she and the film do not see her as a sexual object or something to be protected or won.

Where this film stumbles is the bafflingly long runtime, which will kneecap it when it eventually moves to streaming. It seems that every studio thinks that their movie is the one that justifies being over two hours long, but very few films merit a runtime that long. Indiana Jones and Dial of Destiny clocks in a brutal 154 minutes, and unfortunately, you feel every second. This issue is magnified because the film goes completely off the rails in the third act. It's unclear whether or not it will make people as angry as the final reveal in the fourth film did, but there is a decent chance that it could.

The De-aging Technology Kneecaps The Opening Scenes

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny also has a hard time because the opening prologue is an extended flashback. That wouldn't be such an issue if it weren't for the fact that Disney decided to play with de-aging effects again. Unlike the previous endeavors using this technology, it's not a brief scene that comes and goes relatively quickly. Instead, it lingers and becomes incredibly distracting as this strange, rubbery-looking version of star Harrison Ford interacts with human beings whose faces move the right way. It crosses right into the uncanny valley. Technology isn't ever going to improve if we don't keep pushing the limits and trying to get it right, but we aren't there yet for extended scenes. The uncanny valley Ford makes the already too-long scene feel even longer.

All of this makes the movie sound very bad, but it really isn't. James Mangold is an excellent director and storyteller, and there is a reason that Lucasfilm wants to keep working with him. He makes banger movies, and the problems with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny have less to do with straightforward directing than with not wanting to cut the film down. There is clearly a lot of love here for this character on the screen, they want to give him the sendoff he deserves, but the problem is when you love something, you don't always have the best perspective on it. Sometimes, you're too close, and in the attempt to showcase that love and affection, you're unable to see when you need to trim some of it away.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is yet another entry into the 2023 movie season that is way too long.  The runtime drags down the pacing, screws up the structure, and thus makes the entire thing mediocre. Being mediocre or just fine would be good enough in a summer with less competition. That and a big-name star like Ford would be enough to get audiences into theaters. However, 2023 has plenty of competition, and we have seen more movies sink than swim. There isn't any room for mediocrity when there is excellence at the theater right next door and potentially something excellent coming out in a week or two. Much like Elemental being a mid-tier effort by Pixar's standards couldn't have come for a worse time for the studio; the same is true for Indiana Jones and Lucasfilm. The studio's first return to the big screen since 2019 being mediocre when you've had so many years of trying to get this right? That isn't exactly going to instill confidence in audiences that the upcoming Star Wars films will be worth seeing if there is any competition in theaters at the time.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

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Review by Kaitlyn Booth

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6.5/10

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is yet another overly long action movie dragged down by pacing and structure issues that could have been greatly improved with a tighter edit.

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