SPOILERS: Indiana Jones 5: The Dial of Destiny

[Consumer]

I feel like people forget how strong the first half of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull actually is. It’s really not until they get to the jungle that the movie falls apart. But the opening sequence, the car chase through the town, flying to Peru, it’s all good old fashioned Indiana Jones fun. Pure Spielberg.

Dial of Destiny? There is no fun and there is no soul. It’s corporate content and nothing more.

 

[mf1972]

i actually liked the beginning of crystal skull. the rest of the movie had some ok scenes, but it’s obviously the worst in the series. we saw dial of destiny in theaters & we enjoyed it. not as good as the trilogy but better than crystal skull. a minor thing i nitpicked it for was i found it a lame way to kill the villain. the other films had creative ways. this one, not really.

 

[Consumer]

Didn't Indy save himself from a nuclear blast by hiding in a refrigerator in the first part of the film?

You're right, that's so much worse than drunk Indiana Jones walking around in his underwear.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Ultimately, this movie delivers a classic Indy experience. A series of predicaments he must escape from against the odds. They're generally fun and well executed. The tuk tuk scene was a bit much, I don't buy older Indy pulling off many of those stunts. Later scenes where he scuba dives and searches caves are still fun while being a bit more grounded in reality.

Even if one doesn't like the "grumpy old Indy" story, he moves on from that relatively quickly. It's arguably a necessary story element because if we just picked up with 70 year old Indy still being an active adventurer, it wouldn't have been plausible.

Raiders set a high bar that no sequel will ever match. Even Last Crusade, which is beloved, pretty much plays it safe and echoes Raiders much in the same, comforting, way The Force Awakens did for Star Wars.

If one keeps their expectations in check they can appreciate this as a good adventure movie and a solid entry in the series. Minor quibbles aside, it avoids some of the egregious moments that impacted Cyrstal Skull.

 

[TalkingHead]

Lousy CGI-crippled green screen filmmaking doesn’t help. The fact that the final narrative choice in the movie is taken out of his hands and given to the goddaughter(?) is lame writing. Throwing Marion into the final scene when she hasn’t appeared in the movie up to that point is cheap fan service.

Glad it bombed. Good reminder that any hopes of SW getting a back-to-basics entry is highly unlikely at this point. The people at Lucas don’t know to write this pulp stuff with heart. It’s embarrassing watching them try.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I feel like people forget how strong the first half of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull actually is. It’s really not until they get to the jungle that the movie falls apart. But the opening sequence, the car chase through the town, flying to Peru, it’s all good old fashioned Indiana Jones fun. Pure Spielberg.

Dial of Destiny? There is no fun and there is no soul. It’s corporate content and nothing more.

Pretty much my take too. Crystal skull has too many side characters, falls apart near the end and I didn't need aliens in the IJ universe. But there was also fun to be had, the movie is better than it gets credit for. I loved the much maligned refrigerator scene.

DoD is slightly better storywise, but there's no lighthearted fun - that indispensable IJ hallmark. What sourpuss made this movie? All action, all fighting. No comic relief. Come on now! Poor side-characters too. Pity, in rough outlines there's a good movie here that I actually enjoyed. But it's like trying to swallow dry food.

 

[celluloid]

DoD is slightly better storywise, but there's no lighthearted fun - that indispensable IJ hallmark. What sourpuss made this movie? All action, all fighting. No comic relief. Come on now! Poor side-characters too. Pity, in rough outlines there's a good movie here that I actually enjoyed. But it's like trying to swallow dry food.

I agree. I usually hate this sort of phrase, but if you combine some of the better comedic attempts from Crystal Skull and serial style atmosphere with the more intelligent writing of Dial of Destiny, one would have a much better movie.

 

[erasure fan1]

All action, all fighting. No comic relief. Come on now! Poor side-characters too. Pity, in rough outlines there's a good movie here that I actually enjoyed.

If there's one thing I learned from Loki season 2 is that short round would have made the movie much better. It was a real missed opportunity. Unfortunately that's a staple of Lucasfilm.

 

[FettFan]

Regarding Point 2, how was that disrespectful given that they had already split up once before in the course of the franchise? Relationships can be complex and changing things; there’s no shame or insult in breaking up and getting back together.

You don’t jerk away a character’s definitive happy ending twice over just because you need the character more or less alone for your story to work.

I’m not the biggest Shia Laboeuf fan, but there are better ways to handle his character than an offscreen offing because you need cheap tension between Indy and Marion.

 

[FettFan]

I was asked why Indy was at a different school and apartment when he had a beautiful house. Wasn't Indy kicked out of his school for allegedly working with the soviets in Crystal Skull? I guess Marion got his house.

They had him run out on Marion, just like Han Solo ran out on Leia.

Because Bob Iger’s Disney loves making Harrison Ford’s characters miserable.
Can’t wait to see how they work him over as General Ross.

 

[LittleBuford]

You don’t jerk away a character’s definitive happy ending twice over just because you need the character more or less alone for your story to work.

I’m not the biggest Shia Laboeuf fan, but there are better ways to handle his character than an offscreen offing because you need cheap tension between Indy and Marion.

It worked for me, and the actors portraying the characters seem not to have felt affronted by it. I don’t understand why it bothers you so much.

 

[LittleBuford]

They had him run out on Marion, just like Han Solo ran out on Leia.

Because Bob Iger’s Disney loves making Harrison Ford’s characters miserable.
Can’t wait to see how they work him over as General Ross.

He walked out on her before Crystal Skull. I guess you’ll have to blame that one on Spielberg and Lucas.

 

[LittleBuford]

Plus isn’t it revealed that he abandoned her even before the first film? So that’s three times they split up, yet it’s only in the Disney instalment that people have a problem with it. Quelle surprise!

 

[Fox&Hound]

Finaaaaaally watched it on D+. It was really good. Not sure why it did so poorly. Agree that the de-aging on Ford was impressive, good action sequences, however, there were some silly parts (stunts that an older Indy would never be able to do). Like that he still got to be a hero and there were some funny lines. Overall, much better than Crystal Skull. I recommend this one.

Edit- Spoiler- but the overall movie does not really change things as I feared it would. Just another installment in the franchise. If they wanted to (and I hope they don’t) there are no decisions in this movie that would preclude them from continuing the saga.

 

[erasure fan1]

Finaaaaaally watched it on D+. It was really good. Not sure why it did so poorly.

I can see why it did so bad. I can't decide if this was better or worse than crystal skull. The first 20min or so really felt like Indy. But after that it was such a mixed bag. I really think people just didn't want old run down Indy. They didn't need to knock him so far down in my opinion. He's separated, his sons dead, his career is done... Is it necessarily unrealistic? No, but it's not how most want see their hero.

Agree that the de-aging on Ford was impressive,

It's funny because a lot of what I've seen, people seem to not like it. I thought it was pretty good as well. The big issue was they did nothing to Fords voice. So he looked like Ford from 30yrs ago but sounded like old man Ford. That did take me out of it a bit.

good action sequences, however, there were some silly parts (stunts that an older Indy would never be able to do).

That didn't really bother me. What bugged me the most was the bad guys constantly catching up with them like they had gps tracking on them. It happens to an extent in most of these types of movies, but this one seemed to take it to an extreme level. I looked through my binoculars and they aren't going the direction they said. So they must be going to this country, and city and will be on this street at this time!

 

[TalkingHead]

The big issue was they did nothing to Fords voice. So he looked like Ford from 30yrs ago but sounded like old man Ford. That did take me out of it a bit.

Incredibly sloppy craftsmanship. They couldn’t use an impersonation or tweak Ford’s ADR? Was it because the film already cost $450m or whatever and they said good enough? Have to believe Mangold recognized it wasn’t where it needed to be.

 

[Tha Realest]

I wonder if the original ending had Indy in the coffin. A lot of focus on his watch with no real payoff.

 

[erasure fan1]

I wonder if the original ending had Indy in the coffin. A lot of focus on his watch with no real payoff.

All signes point to the ending being changed, as much as some deny it. In my opinion the way this film turned out there is only two real options. One, the ending was changed like the rumors pointed to, and watching the film points to in my opinion. Or two, Kennedy and Mangold are just completely incompetent as film makers. Because I don't see anyone who isn't incompetent watching that last 30+ minutes and thinking it was good.

 

[Robbiem]

I feel like people forget how strong the first half of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull actually is. It’s really not until they get to the jungle that the movie falls apart. But the opening sequence, the car chase through the town, flying to Peru, it’s all good old fashioned Indiana Jones fun. Pure Spielberg.

Dial of Destiny? There is no fun and there is no soul. It’s corporate content and nothing more.

I have to agree. I’ve just watched Dial of Destiny and the one thing that stands out to me is the lack of fun. The old movies always had those tongue in cheek moments and comedy scenes showing a lighter side to Indy. Dial was just too dour to be fun IMO

 

[_caleb]

I have to agree. I’ve just watched Dial of Destiny and the one thing that stands out to me is the lack of fun. The old movies always had those tongue in cheek moments and comedy scenes showing a lighter side to Indy. Dial was just too dour to be fun IMO

I thought there were several fun/funny parts that made it feel aligned with classic Indy.

Dr. Voller: “You should have stayed in New York.”
Indiana Jones: “You should have stayed out of Poland.”