HARD disagree. I’m so happy this film exists. I’m a life-long fan (Last Crusade is my favorite movie of all time) and I love this movie. I love that it actually spends time with old Indy, I love what it says about the call to adventure and what happens to heroes after their prime. I love the way it uses tropes of past Jones films, but in a way to make a new point. The character of Baz is a darker echo of Sean Connery from Last Crusade, a man obsessed with history and one historical artifact in particular. Indy sees his own relationship with his father in Helen and Baz and of course Helen was molded into who she became by very similar circumstances. It makes their partnership very poignant, because Indy is paired with an alternate version of the person he used to be. The fact that Indy in this movie is no longer the character he used to be is the movie’s best decision. (But we still classic Indy thanks to the super fun prologue - compete with Nazi highjinks! ). I agree the punch at the end could have been handled slightly differently, but I loved the circumstances the movie had constructed. Helen and Indy ultimately save each other. I would have happy with a solid entry, but I think this movie is narratively addictive to the character of Indiana Jones and the franchise as a whole.
You make valid points and I’m sorry you didn’t care for it. I actually enjoyed watching this film even though it’s far from perfect. The action/chase scenes were fairly well put together. The punching of Indy at the end got a huge laugh from my audience. Phoebe Waller-Bridge was charming, funny, and she had agency. This felt like a much better version of passing the torch than 007: No Time to Die.
I was hoping “Dial” would feature Indy walking by a movie theater where a Bond movie was playing and shaking his head. I guess in ‘69 that would’ve been On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
I finally opened the email containing your review after watching the film last night. It had been haunting me with the subject line for months. Would the movie be a letdown? For me it wasn't. I enjoyed it and I only had two disappointments: that I didn't see it in the theatres, and the end of the film was uneven (though I'm happy Indy didn't stay in 213 BC, that would have been far worse). I did feel that there was a bit too much cutthroat killing from the antagonists, but it was an adventurous movie running from location to location. I agree the de-aged Ford wasn't great, though he looked much better when his face was a bit obscured. It took me out a little that his voice was 80-year-old Ford on a 30-something face; but it was a fun prologue.
I'm sorry to say I disagree with the entire review. I absolutely loved DIAL OF DESTINY and a flabbergasted by these sorts of reviews. What a soulful, moving coda to one of cinema's greatest heroes.
HARD disagree. I’m so happy this film exists. I’m a life-long fan (Last Crusade is my favorite movie of all time) and I love this movie. I love that it actually spends time with old Indy, I love what it says about the call to adventure and what happens to heroes after their prime. I love the way it uses tropes of past Jones films, but in a way to make a new point. The character of Baz is a darker echo of Sean Connery from Last Crusade, a man obsessed with history and one historical artifact in particular. Indy sees his own relationship with his father in Helen and Baz and of course Helen was molded into who she became by very similar circumstances. It makes their partnership very poignant, because Indy is paired with an alternate version of the person he used to be. The fact that Indy in this movie is no longer the character he used to be is the movie’s best decision. (But we still classic Indy thanks to the super fun prologue - compete with Nazi highjinks! ). I agree the punch at the end could have been handled slightly differently, but I loved the circumstances the movie had constructed. Helen and Indy ultimately save each other. I would have happy with a solid entry, but I think this movie is narratively addictive to the character of Indiana Jones and the franchise as a whole.
You make valid points and I’m sorry you didn’t care for it. I actually enjoyed watching this film even though it’s far from perfect. The action/chase scenes were fairly well put together. The punching of Indy at the end got a huge laugh from my audience. Phoebe Waller-Bridge was charming, funny, and she had agency. This felt like a much better version of passing the torch than 007: No Time to Die.
I was hoping “Dial” would feature Indy walking by a movie theater where a Bond movie was playing and shaking his head. I guess in ‘69 that would’ve been On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
I finally opened the email containing your review after watching the film last night. It had been haunting me with the subject line for months. Would the movie be a letdown? For me it wasn't. I enjoyed it and I only had two disappointments: that I didn't see it in the theatres, and the end of the film was uneven (though I'm happy Indy didn't stay in 213 BC, that would have been far worse). I did feel that there was a bit too much cutthroat killing from the antagonists, but it was an adventurous movie running from location to location. I agree the de-aged Ford wasn't great, though he looked much better when his face was a bit obscured. It took me out a little that his voice was 80-year-old Ford on a 30-something face; but it was a fun prologue.
I'm sorry to say I disagree with the entire review. I absolutely loved DIAL OF DESTINY and a flabbergasted by these sorts of reviews. What a soulful, moving coda to one of cinema's greatest heroes.