Jul 7, 20235 min read

Film REVIEW: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) - ★★★★★

Grab your bullwhip and hail a runaway mine car down for the fifth and final Indy adventure that Harrison Ford says will “kick your ass”.

Here’s everything you need to know about Indiana Jones 5.

Director: James Mangold

Writer: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp, James Mangold

based on Characters by George Lucas, Philip Kaufman

Stars: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Mads Mikkelsen, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore.

Genre: Action, Adventure

Themes: Indiana Jones Character, Sequel, Fifth Part

Archaeologist Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary artifact that can change the course of history.

It is the fifth and final installment in the Indiana Jones film series and the sequel to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).

The film received fairly mixed reviews from critics and was “a box office bomb”

In Cinemas Now

MIX UP REVIEWS:

Angus (Age 11) - ★★★★★

"The plot was excellent by fully grasping my attention and it was entirely what I would have thought Indiana jones last movie should be. They also included a few of the classic characters my favourite was Sallah Mohammed. Although sometimes it was hard to keep up further towards the end .If you haven’t seen the previous already it might be hard to understand but would still definitely recommend"

Have you seen it yet?

Indiana Jones 5 buzz - Why is everyone talking about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny?

Rolling boulders. Melting heads. The crack of a bullwhip and the silhouette of a dusty Fedora. If your pulse is already racing at these reference points, we won’t need us to remind you that Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny is released on 28 June 2023.

‘Legendary’ falls short and ‘iconic’ is inadequate. Beating off competition from his own Han Solo, Harrison Ford’s gruff archeologist is nothing less than cinema’s greatest action hero (don’t argue). You’ve followed his adventures through 1981’s Raiders Of The Lost Ark, 1984’s Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, 1989’s Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade and (not so much) 2008’s Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.

Now, with Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, this runaway mine car of a movie franchise has reached the end of the line. But Indy is going out with a bang in a fifth adventure that will make you feel ten years old all over again.

“This one is fantastic,” said Ford at Disney’s D23. “Indiana Jones movies are about mystery and adventure, but they’re also about heart. I’m really, really happy that we have a human story to tell, as well as a movie that will kick your ass.”

Indiana Jones 5 plot - What is the story of the new Indiana Jones movie?

Flashbacks aside (we’ll get to that), we know Indiana Jones 5 is mostly set in 1969, when the shiny new space race between the USA and Soviet Union is threatening to make our tomb-raiding hero seem like a relic.

But in a plot that nods to real-life historical events, the man in the hat soon sniffs out trouble on the NASA payroll. “The simple fact is that the moon-landing program was run by a bunch of ex-Nazis,” Indiana Jones 5 co-writer Jez Butterworth (Edge of Tomorrow, Spectre) told Empire. “How ‘ex’ they are is the question. And it gets up Indy’s nose…”

Let us be brutally honest: 2008’s Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull dropped the ball. But since taking over the director’s chair from Steven Spielberg in 2020, James Mangold (The Wolverine) has tapped back into that elusive Indy DNA.

Take it from Mads Mikkelsen (Doctor Strange, Casino Royale), who plays the sinister leader of those aforementioned Nazis. “They’re going heavily back to the first and second film and getting that original feel,” says the Danish actor, who cites Raiders Of The Lost Ark as his favourite movie. “The original Indy, something dense and epic.”

Indiana Jones 5 star - What do we know about Harrison Ford as Indy?

Fans are already drooling over the prospect of an opening sequence that sees a digitally de-aged Harrison Ford battle his old foes in a Nazi castle circa 1944. “It’s a blast of classic Indy action,” Mangold told Entertainment Weekly, “with me doing my very best version of Steven Spielberg, and Harrison doing his best version of being under 40.”

Elsewhere in Indiana Jones 5, Mangold told Empire he embraced the actor’s 80 times around the sun – and considering the director’s careful handling of Hugh Jackman as an agéd Wolverine in Logan, we trust him to make the right decisions for Indy. “It became really important to me,” he says, “to figure out how to make this a movie about a hero at sunset.”

As for Ford, the veteran took the beatdowns on the chin. “The shooting of it was tough, long and arduous,” he told the same publication. “But I’m very happy with the film that we have. I just thought it would be nice to see one where Indiana Jones was at the end of his journey.”

Cast of Indiana Jones 5 - Who will be helping Indy on his quest?

Toasted as British comedy’s great hope before stepping into Hollywood as the voice of a droid in Star Wars spin-off Solo, Phoebe Waller-Bridge (No Time to Die) now plays Helena Shaw, Indy’s goddaughter. “Helena's gotten herself in a bit of trouble and brings that to Indy's doorstep,” says James Mangold. “She's a character who's a wonderful set of contradictions – charming and brilliant, but also a lot of trouble.”

Sallah has got Indy out of a few tight spots in past movies and John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings) reprises the beloved sidekick for Indiana Jones 5. Meanwhile, in an interview with Collider, Antonio Banderas (Shrek series) described his newcomer Renaldo as “almost a cameo… he’s just a friend of Indiana’s character and he’s looking for him because he needs something from his friend”.

Indiana Jones 5 villains - Who will Indy have to beat?

Mads Mikkelsen’s lead villain Doctor Jürgen Voller is loosely inspired by real-life NASA engineer Wernher Von Braun. But his sinister appearance – with circular Windsor glasses and black leather trenchcoat – might remind hardcore fans of Raiders antagonist Major Arnold Ernst Toht. Let’s hope he gets the same fondue-face comeuppance.

The Fantastic Beasts star says that keeping up with Ford was no mean feat. “Not just as an actor, but physically,” Mikkelsen told The Hollywood Reporter. “I remember the first day we were shooting, it was a night shoot, we stopped at 5am – then he got on his mountain bike and went biking for 50 kilometres. Harrison is a monster of a man, a very nice monster.”

Completing this villainous roster, Logan’s Boyd Holbrook (The Host) plays Nazi henchman Klaber, while the MCU’s Thomas Kretschmann is Colonel Weber, described by the German actor as “a lapdog to Mads – and a crazy one at that”.

Indiana Jones 5 trailer - What are the best bits of footage we've seen so far?

For long-standing fans, the Indiana Jones 5 trailer absolutely smashes it. There’s a welcome slug of emotion as a silvery Indy and Sallah reflect on those long-gone days of adventure. Then the action kicks in hard, with a montage that serves up everything from a bullet-riddled rickshaw chase to an al fresco dash along the length of a steam locomotive.

Make no mistake – this is the last time. As Harrison Ford told us firmly at D23: “This is it. I will not fall down for you again…”

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