Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: "yesterday belongs to us, Dr. Jones"

★★★ 1/2

SPOILERS BELOW

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny begins in exactly the way you'd hope it would: in the middle of a flashback sequence of Indy's high-speed, high-stakes escape from an entire battalion of Nazis, an ancient and powerful artifact in hand. Not even 5 minutes into the sequence, my boyfriend turns to me and says, "that definitely should have killed him." The scene in question? Indy fighting a Nazi general on top of a moving train— when the train goes through a tunnel, the general bashes Indy's head into the rock ceiling multiple times.

Yes folks, this is Indy back on track.

When we meet present day Indy— rather, July, 24 1969 Indy— he is old, alone, and in the midst of a divorce from Marion Ravenwood. We learn later the separation was driven primarily by grief over the death of their son Mutt, who was killed in Vietnam— a strong motivation as well as a neat way to write a problematic Shia LaBeouf out of the franchise for good. On the day of his retirement from the university, Indy is visited by his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), daughter of Basil, a fellow archaeologist and adventurer. A discussion of the Antikythera, the titular "dial of destiny" and artifact Indy was escaping the Nazis with, under the guise of it being the subject of Helena's doctorate work, leads to Indy reluctantly agreeing to help her find the dial.

When the two are chased and attacked in the records room by a CIA agent and Operation Paperclip scientist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) it's revealed that Helena only plans to sell the dial in an illegal auction, while the bona fide Nazi wants to use it to go back in time and ensure that the Axis powers win World War II. The rest of the film is a cat and mouse adventure featuring several extravagant car chases, an explosion on a boat, eels, and not one, but two "it belongs in a museum"s.

What Works:

After the epic opening sequence detailing Indy's history with the dial, an abrupt cut shows Indy sleeping on a reclining chair, being woken by loud music from some young neighbors, and grumpily charging down the stairs with a baseball bat to confront them. Out loud I said, "there's our guy." Far and away the strongest part of this movie comes from the fact that they don't shy away from Indy's age. This is not the suave, smooth-talking, punch-packing Indy of the original trilogy— though the old man can still fight. This is a man who's lost everything, struggling to come to grips with the fact that he may be getting too old to do the thing he loves so much. Harrison Ford plays the aging Indy with a poignance and nuance that makes the once near-superhero level archaeologist so much more grounded than we've seen him in the past. A particularly emotional moment comes when he pleads with Helena to be left behind in the midst of the Siege of Syracuse, insisting he has nothing left for him in the modern world. In one of the movie's more outlandish moments, Ford managed to find reality and humanity.

But what would Indy be without his bad guy? Enter brilliant NASA scientist and bona fide Nazi Jürgen Voller. Even in his old age Indy is still doing what he does best: punching Nazis, this one in particular played with restraint and disturbing coolness by Mad Mikkelsen. Voller's goal is a subversive one from a plot perspective: rather than go back in time and aid Adolf Hitler in securing victory, he wants to replace him. As a top ranking officer and scientist in Hitler's regime, he aims to correct the mistakes he saw being made right in front of him. Mikkelsen is calculating and poised, he plays Voller with the detached calmness of a man who knows the numbers are on his side. I have only one complaint with Mikkelsen's performance: the script didn't let me see more of it.

What Doesn't:

All the criticism I have for Dial of Destiny can be boiled down to one thought: the movie spends too much time with the least-compelling parts of the story.

The opening sequence immediately thrusts this problem into the spotlight. We spend a long time with a digitally de-aged Harrison Ford as Indy circa the late 1930s. While the CGI work is incredibly impressive, it's a bizarre, wooden version of the young, charismatic Indy we've already known for three movies. Had the opening sequence spent less time with him it may have been believable, but we're forced through the uncanny valley Indiana Jones in the name of what is ultimately a too-long action sequence.

The supporting cast, despite some incredible performances, are half-baked in the name of action as well. In a true disservice to the story, both Waller-Bridge's Helena Shaw and Mikkelsen's Voller are just under developed enough to raise irritated questions. The overlooking of a deeper emotional arc for Shaw in particular is a disappointment, and a clear indicator that Indiana Jones creators still don't know what to do with a woman Indy isn't sleeping with. The motive behind Shaw's desperate "I'm only in it for the cash" mindset to archaeology despite her having a clear passion for the subject seems only to serve as a set-up for Indy to open her heart, and even that teachable moment falls flat. While Waller-Bridge plays the hell out of every moment we're with her character, it's clear that she had potential that was sacrificed in the name of action.

Final Thoughts:

The nice thing about a franchise as iconic as Indiana Jones is that you know exactly what you're getting into when you walk into the theater. As someone who has been watching these movies since before she can remember, I can't deny the supreme feeling of nostalgia and warmth that came over me when the theme song began. And while Dial of Destiny certainly fell into the unfortunate footsteps of its predecessors by underutilizing its female characters and creating what is a largely stock villain character, it also capture an element of realism that can only come from an actor who's been playing this role for decades, and who clearly loves it deeply.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hits theaters June 30!