Review | Cannes 2023: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny movie review – Harrison Ford fights Nazis one last time as the legendary archaeologist
- Director James Mangold steps in for Steven Spielberg to capture the rollicking spirit of older Indy films, with lots of action, humour, mystery and German foes
- Ford and Mads Mikkelsen excel in their roles as hero and adversary, and John Williams’ score sets the tone for a satisfying end to the seminal action series
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4/5 stars
“A few times in my life I’ve seen things … things you can’t explain,” remarks Indiana Jones in this fifth outing for Harrison Ford’s intrepid archaeologist. By the end, he’ll have something else to add to that list.
Fans of the adventure series are given a film replete with Indy staples: action, humour, mystery and his old foe, the Nazis. Director James Mangold, stepping in for Steven Spielberg, brings the character’s adventures to a satisfying close, while Ford revels in reprising the role for one last hurrah.
Beginning in 1944, a digitally de-aged Ford is a younger Indy facing off with German troops and Nazi official Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) as they chase the Lance of Longinus – the blade that drew Christ’s blood. It’s a slightly awkward sequence, very CGI-heavy, as Indy and others fight atop the roof of a speeding train.
But Mangold soon cuts to 1969. On the eve of the Moon landing, Indy is living alone in New York. Still teaching archaeology, now at Hunter College, he’s on the verge of retirement when his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) turns up.
Shaw is the daughter of Basil (Toby Jones), a fellow archeologist glimpsed in the 1944 scene, who was obsessed with Archimedes’ Dial, aka the Antikythera, a device he believed could pinpoint fissures in time. Like her father, Shaw wants to find it, although her motives aren’t exactly pure.
The same can be said for Voller, now living under the identity of Alabama academic Dr Schmidt. He has helped the United States in the space race with the USSR, and is using his connections with the CIA to hunt down Shaw and locate this so-called Dial of Destiny.
Soon enough, Shaw’s godfather is dragged into the search for a missing part of the Dial, a journey that takes them to Tangier, Morocco, where they hook up with her teenage associate Teddy (Ethann Isidore), and later Greece.
With genuine emotion sewn into the story, it’s not just John Williams’ instantly recognisable score that hits the right notes.
