INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY (12A, 154 mins) Action/Adventure/Fantasy/Comedy. Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Toby Jones, Ethann Isidore, Boyd Holbrook, John Rhys-Davies, Shaunette Renee Wilson, Antonio Banderas, Thomas Kretschmann. Director: James Mangold.
Released: June 28
WHEN he’s not outrunning giant boulders, cheekily bringing a gun to a sword fight, riding a runaway minecart to the end of the line or surviving an atomic bomb blast inside a lead-lined refrigerator, intrepid archaeology professor Dr Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) has always been blessed with the gift of words.
He famously advised a class of students that “X never ever marks the spot”, rued the unfortunate end to his romance with Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) by declaring, “I can only say ‘I’m sorry’ so many times” and jokingly referenced his ability to cheat death by telling a duplicitous treasure-hunting rival, “I’m like a bad penny, I always turn up”.
In the final chapter of the gung-ho franchise that has been on a downward trajectory like that boulder since Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Ford’s bull whip-cracking alter ego has another moment of clarity.
Reminiscing with old friend Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) about their previous escapades, Indy tempers expectations for this loopy quest for a device fashioned by Greek mathematician Archimedes: “This is not an adventure. Those days have come and gone.”
That’s a fair reflection of a lacklustre first instalment without Steven Spielberg in the director’s chair
Instead, James Mangold takes charge, working from a script he co-wrote with brothers Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth and David Koepp, which trades heavily in nostalgia.
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Action set-pieces, including chases on horseback, two and four wheels, are slick but Ford’s hero feels tired – physically and emotionally – and digital trickery that smooths away a quarter of a century from his facial features for 1940s flashbacks is unconvincing.
Antonio Banderas appears briefly as a salty seadog, who is dragged into the globe-trotting hunt for a contraption that can turn back the clock, and perhaps spare audiences the bloated 154-minute running time of Mangold’s picture.
Twenty-five years after Indy and British professor Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) stole one half of the fabled Archimedes Dial from Nazi Colonel Weber (Thomas Kretschmann) and superstitious doctor Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), Basil’s spirited daughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) gatecrashes Indy’s retirement party, convinced she can complete her father’s work.
“Why are you chasing the one thing that drove your father crazy?” despairs her grouchy godfather.
Alas, a supposedly reformed Voller, trigger-happy right-hand man Klaber (Boyd Holbrook) and US government agent Mason (Shaunette Renee Wilson) also seek the relic, which is rumoured to act as a compass for fissures in time.
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny bounces back lightly from the series-low of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.
Action sequences limit the amount of time Ford spends on foot (a digitally rendered Indy has a strained relationship with gravity as he leaps across carriages of a speeding train) and Waller-Bridge picks up the slack by sprinting across rooftops or boarding a moving aircraft in an unconventional manner.
The eponymous adventurer has outwitted Nazi platoons, booby-trapped temples and a cult dedicated to human sacrifice, but he’s no match for the ravages of time.
RATING: 2/5
