Admirably poised and unhurried, Harrison Ford has played Indiana Jones for over 40 years; he runs, rides, jumps and somersaults as the physically demanding role demands. If it wasn’t for a Hollywood star, he might have been a war-torn Scandinavian legend, Beowulf in a fedora.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fate, The fifth and final installment in this surprisingly successful series begins with a long, cumbersome, and somewhat boring prologue, which is also a bit of a bait-and-switch. We’re back in WWII Europe: Young Indy (Ford, with great skill, reinstated his age) was captured by the Nazis and failed in Hitler’s attempt to stop him from obtaining the legendary Spear of Longinus. However, there is a second ancient object in the game, a device that can turn world history upside down (no one can Indiana Jones The film is eager to discover something as trivial as a painting from Picasso’s lost “purple” stage). Created by the Greek mathematician Archimedes, this legendary doohickey is a dial with wheels as meticulously designed as those on a modern watch. It would require a massive Swatch band!
In any event, Indy escapes and the dial becomes the engine of a 2 hour, 20+ minute movie that alternates swinging and culminating, with John Williams’ brash theme blazing at times like a strategically applied dose of Viagra. .
The story jumps to 1969. Indie is now more wrinkled and quiet than ever, living in a messy, ugly Manhattan apartment that may have been rented to Richard Dreyfuss in an old Neil Simon romantic comedy. She still has to deal with that Greek thing: Goddaughter Helena (Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge) wants to find him and make a fortune. So they go!
Jonathan Olley / Lucasfilm Ltd.
Waller-Bridge is a great talent, but he’s wrong here – he lacks the right sarcastic arrogance. It’s like choosing Emma Thompson when you needed Barbara Stanwyck. Okay, sure, that actress died in 1990, but who can say that digital magic and Archimedes’ genius can’t resurrect her? Meanwhile, the movie squanders Antonio Banderas for a small role and underutilizes Mads Mikkelsen in a larger role: Indy’s Nazi rival for the disc, Voller. On the other hand, Mikkelsen does not need to have the necessary vitality to take advantage of such a role. Their performances tend to be perfectly precise, as if their emotions were being measured with a straw.
The film offers some surprising, if not satisfying, action sequences – the usual booby-trapped tomb – before suddenly taking on an exciting life in its final third. Both crazy and inspiring, there are grumbles on the internet that this latest comeback isn’t far from shark-jumping, but it’s not quite fair: Let’s not forget that Raiders of the Lost Ark He reconstructed the Ark of the Covenant as a nuclear device.
Ford always looks completely sane, even as time itself spins on its invisible axis. This could be the key to this entire series. Imagine playing Jack Nicholson.
Indiana Jones and the Fate Dial now playing in theaters.