Sunday, July 2, 2023

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - The Fifth and Final Installment of the Beloved and Popular Archeolog Adventure

When I found out there was going to be a fifth Indiana Jones movie, I was excited to find out what other adventures he was going to experience. But I had to wait till the weekend to see this movie in my favorite cinema with Dolby Atmos sound system. So here's more on the film.

Brief Story Line

In the year 1969, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford - Blade Runner, The Star Wars original trilogy etc) got an unexpected visit from his God-daughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge - Solo: A Star Wars Story, Goodbye Christoper Robin etc) who was eyeing for an old artifact speculated to have some powers. However, a group of people led by Indy's old enemy Dr. Schmidt (Mads Mikkelsen - Chaos Walking, Doctor Strange etc) that also included his right hand man Klaber (Boyd Holbrook - The Sandmand TV series, Logan etc), the big guy Hauke (Olivier Richters) and the American woman Mason (Shaunette RenĂ©e Wilson - The Resident TV series etc) were also looking for Helena and the artifact.

Indy got no choice but to go on another adventure across the world to find the other half of the artifact and ensure the enemy could not get their hands on it.

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

My wife and I are major fans of the character Indiana Jones and his adventures. We have seen all the past 4 movies and we loved them a lot as they were always filled with many exciting scenes where they usually have limited time to solve the clues/puzzle to search for artifact and treasure, while being chased by bad guys. For me personally, the one that made me so into this was the second movie Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom that I saw many years ago as it was really embedded in my memory. Only years later that I managed to see the first film and subsequently the third and fourth. 

Anyway, as I still remember many of the scenes including the original characters, it brought many nostalgic feeling when few of them appeared in here. And if you have seen the previous movies, you would probably still remember how Harrison Ford looked like then. So the early part of the movie where they used special effects to de-age his face was amazing as we felt thrown back to the time when we saw him years ago. When the story moved forward to the year 1969, we were a bit overwhelmed by the reality that Harrison Ford looked past his prime.  But as the movie progressed, it seemed that he was still able to do various stuff though likely most of them were by his stunt double. So it was a smart thing to add new character in the form of his God-child Helena to be Indy's "partner".

During the whole 2 hours+, the film was filled with many adventurous scenes that I thought were well crafted. Most of them were entertaining (even if they might be a bit over the top) but they were always enjoyable to see. Plus the background music were totally awesome particularly when the iconic Indiana Jones' theme song was played. The awesome sound effects in the cinema really helped as well. I read that the composer of this film was John Williams who also composed all the previous films and many others. Oh the film was directed by James Mangold (Ford v  Ferrari, Knight and Day etc) as he took over the role from Steven Spielberg who served as Executive Producer together with George Lucas who created the characters.

For those who were fortunate enough to see Indiana Jones movies (especially the first three) would definitely be happy to see him one more time in the large screen. This movie was said to be the final installment in the series so it was no surprise to have a strong conclusive feeling towards the end. It was a bit emotional for me and my wife, athough it might give stronger impact had it ended differently. There was no mid or post end credit scene here but you could see the many many names of the people who made this film possible. The visual effects team looked to be the most here which is understandable considering the effects required. It also explained the huge budget to produce the film (the settings and costumes were great giving the convincing feeling of the period).

Harrison Ford was obviously the main factor in making this movie enjoyable. Mads Mikkelsen as usual provided his cold characterization while Phoebe Waller-Bridge was good too in portraying the character with intelligence and ability to do many things. Oh there were other support characters like Basil Shaw (Toby Jones - Infamous, Christopher Robin etc), Renaldo the boat owner (Antonio Banderas - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Mask of Zorro etc), Helena's young accomplice Teddy (Ethann Isidore) and those cast from original movies that I better let you see for yourself. 

Overall this is an exciting adventure movie with focus on the treasure hunt by the beloved character we have known for a long time and so popular that he was referenced in many other medias. Even if it might not be the best among the whole series, but nevertheless it is still satisfying and serve as a nice swan song for Indiana Jones (providing that it is indeed the final movie as Hollywood could sometime do the unexpected). So if you are fans of the character like me and my wife, you would not want to miss this one in the cinema.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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