Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny Review: A fitting, satisfying final adventure

Harrison Ford‘s swan song in Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny sticks the landing after overcoming turbulence along the way.

After the slog that was Crystal Skull, it’s easy to feel trepidatious about Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny. However, director James Mangold (Logan) and Ford’s committed performance find the heart and warmth underneath the curmudgeonly archeologist.

Dial of Destiny opens in 1945 with a thrilling flashback sequence before jumping forward to 1969. Space travel is a reality. The world fixates on a future teeming with endless possibilities, which pushes history and archaeology to the wayside.

Jones is separated from Marion and accepted an unceremonious retirement as a professor. Somehow Ford can portray Jones as world-weary but with the hint of a twinkle in his eye. Ford’s also able to show how the heavy toll Jones is experiencing is more than just old age, it’s grief. Much to his chagrin, his godchild Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) offers one last chance for an adventure.

Waller-Bridge is terrific as Helena. She continues the franchise’s tradition of strong, self-reliant women. Helena is never a damsel in distress. Waller-Bridge and Ford are electric opposite one another. Indy’s disapproval over his godchild’s profession pairs nicely with Helena’s disregard for his opinion and forms a nice foundation for their relationship to develop as the film goes along.

Like most Indy films, the plot involves Jones racing against other parties (usually nazis) to find a specific artifact that has some kind of supernatural element. Dial of Destiny continues the trend. In Dial of Destiny, Archimedes’s Dial is the object Jones and Shaw are trying to retrieve before the nazis.

The adventure is pretty fun thanks to Ford and Waller-Bridge. However, the villains aren’t fleshed out enough which is a common issue in the Indiana Jones films. Mads Mikkelsen and Boyd Holbrook are capable of creating layered villains but don’t get a chance to Dial of Destiny.

Jürgen Voller (Mikkelsen) wants to use the dial to go back in time to World War II. His goal is to fix Hitler’s mistakes. Don’t get me wrong, watching Jones punch nazis in the face is entertaining, but Mikkelsen and Holbrook deserve better.

The 3rd act also changes course wildly but finds sure footing and packs an emotional wallop with the ending.

Overall, Ford delivers, Waller-Bridge shines, Mangold finds the heart and John Willams score reaches rare air. Dial of Destiny is a great ending for the franchise and a film that rivals Temple of Doom as the third-best Indiana Jones film.

With the overview out of the way, let’s take a deeper look at Indy’s final adventure. There may be some spoilers. The Indiana Jones films are streaming on Disney Plus and Paramount Plus.

Turning back time in Dial of Destiny

The film begins with a flashback to World War II in Europe. Jones and Helena’s father Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) are looking for a lance. They end up on a train with Voller (Mikkelsen). Separately, Voller and Jones realize the lance is fake, but also discover something much more interesting Archimedes’s Dial.

Jones punches Voller (punching nazis is a common, welcome occurrence). Then, Jones and Basil escape to the roof of the train. The dial is thought lost after a great action sequence on top of the train.

Everything about the opening sequence is quintessential Indiana Jones. There’s a grand adventure with a partner, Jones narrowly escaping death through mostly luck, a clever setpiece on a moving vehicle, nazi punching and Williams’s soaring score. The de-aging is well done, although you can tell Ford’s voice is more gravelly than in the ’80s

Enter the Godchild

Fast forward to 1969 and Jones appears to be a relic, not so different from Nick Fury in Secret Invasion. The disheveled appearance and divorce papers from Marion illustrate a listless existence of sorts. One of my favorite small moments is the way Jones angrily slaps a refrigerator magnet over Marion’s picture. This simple moment appears to be more regretful than anger towards Marion. The film reveals what has strained Marion and Indy’s relationship. The reveal is powerful and one of Ford’s best scenes in any film.

Jones enters the classroom for the last time. His students pay him no mind. Even though he’s frustrated at the students he presses on. Slowly, Indy’s excitement grows when talking about Archimedes. Eventually, one student begins answering Jones’s questions.

After dismissing the class, Jones heads to his rather ho-hum retirement party. He even gives his retirement gift to some stranger. Helena reintroduces herself to Indy. They haven’t seen each other since Helena was a child.

Helena wants Indy’s help retrieving the dial. Without much prompting, Indy reveals he has the dial. Suddenly, the CIA led by agent Mason and Voller’s right-hand man Klaber (Holbrook) shows up to apprehend Helena. She runs and leaves Indy behind. Meanwhile, Klaber kills Indy’s former colleagues and frames him for murder. Indy has no choice but to chase after Helena.

Dial of Destiny is definitely Mangold’s take on Indy. Similar to Logan and Charles Xavier in Logan, Indy is a sad father unable to move beyond his past until someone makes him face it.

Indy’s final triumph

Jones travels to Tangier to track down Helena. Turns out, Helena is a thief who just wants the dial so she can sell it to pay off her debt.

Helena does not want Indy’s help. Indy is unhappy with Helena’s life of thievery. She claims to be only interested in money, but throughout the film, her knowledge of the dial and her late father’s notes prove otherwise. Indy picks up on it the right way. Mangold does a great job of developing the relationship between Jones and Helena without losing their respective edges.

The 3rd act actually commits to going back in time using the dial. They don’t return to World War II, which is Voller’s goal. The group ends up in 212 BC during the Siege of Syracuse. Jones interacting with Archimedes is a weird beat that doesn’t really work. However, what saves the 3rd act is Indy’s desire to stay in Syracuse and Helena’s reaction. Mangold follows up the time travel with an emotional wallop of a final scene.

Everything that occurs between Helena and Indy from Tangier up to the plane flight to 212 BC is really well done. The turbulent time travel story brings things down a little, but Ford, Waller-Bridge and Mangold right the ship by the end.

Dial of Destiny final thoughts

While not perfect, Dial of Destiny is a fantastic final outing for Ford as Indiana Jones. The film’s 3rd act takes a wild swing that shouldn’t work. However, terrific performances and strong character development in Dial of Destiny deliver a moving conclusion.

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