Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is the latest and perhaps the last venture of the titular character.

James Mangold has had some really good movies in the past with films like Ford v Ferrari, Logan, 3:10 to Yuma, and Girl, Interrupted. This isn't one of them. In terms of direction, there were some intentional shots that hid the inability of our female lead to do stunts. The film has to hide its lack of substance with long chase scenes and with a lesser director it would have been a much worse film.

Harrison Ford goes through the motions. He's old and it shows, he also seems to have little to no chemistry with his female lead. There was some de-aging that many people will think is great, but I found it to be off-putting and still not ready for the mainstream.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is the worst part of the film. She's insufferable and the writers Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and David Koepp force her down our throats. Her dialogue is girl-boss and Karen-esque. The Butterworths probably wrote more of the action beats since they're known for Edge of Tomorrow and Ford v Ferrari, or they were just there for Mangold. I think the fault should lie with Koepp who wrote The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The more I think of this movie the worse my rating gets. It's still better than some films this year but it's a D+ at best for me.

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