Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

[Darth Krawlie]

Pretty solid follow up to the original three.

[Zathras]

2 hours ago, Darth Krawlie said:

Pretty solid follow up to the original three.

Agreed. I still rank it #4 though.

1. Raiders

2. Last Crusade

3. Temple of Doom

4. Dial of Destiny

5. Crystal Skull

 

 

[Darth Krawlie]

Same rankings for me honestly, and that’s really all I was hoping for.

[Zathras]

After Crystal Skull, my bar was low.  Dial is way better than that movie for sure.  The first 3 are just that good, that hard to top them.  

[Rogue 3]

13 hours ago, Zathras said:

After Crystal Skull, my bar was low.  Dial is way better than that movie for sure.  The first 3 are just that good, that hard to top them.  

Yeah, exactly this. When you grow up with something like those original 3 films, they are elevated to legend status for not only being great fun and brilliant films, but all the good memories they bring with them. Certainly for me anyway - the big family Christmas film in certain years, the original trips to the cinema, quoting the lines endlessly with your mates - “He chose… poorly” being a great example that fits into a lot of situations!

Crystal Skull - I was thinking on this on the weekend. Definitely 5th place by a good margin. But I think that, aside from the fridge moment, it’s only the alien thing that annoys me about it really, and I find it odd when you have Lucas & Spielberg involved - 2 people with a fairly decent track record on that subject! 
Must have made total sense to go that way with the age Indy was at that time and all the Roswell stuff. But once you deviate from that historical, archeological goal, it just lost something.

Really pleased that everyone seems to be having a great time with Dial of Destiny! Good to finish up on a strong note!

[Iceman]

Indy's final adventure is a fun one. Director James Mangold manages to keep consistent with Spielberg's style. The opening has some of the best deep fake I've ever seen. If I had a complaint I would have shortened the opening. That's really the only negative of the film. It needed to be tighter. I enjoyed the new characters, Indy's goddaughter and her friend. The villains were good. Some of the stunts did remind me of several Roger Moore Bond movies like Octopussy, The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only. The tall henchmen reminded me of Jaws. The Dial of Destiny is a much better film than Crystal Skulls and a more fitting note to go out on. Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones will be missed.

 

My ranking:

1. Raiders

2. TOD

3. TLC

4. DOD

5. KOTCS

[Dark Wader]

Looks like I’ll be the only one here who didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t think it was actively bad or anything but I do think it was a soulless and actually really dull outing. None of the action sequences were memorable and weren’t really choreographed that well, looked more like they were shooting for ways to hide Harrison’s body double. 

Though that said, I did like Fleabag and the last sequence. But I don’t think I could rate it higher than Crystal Skull, which for all its faults I think had a bit more heart in it than this one. 

[Tank]

I can't seem to muster up the interest or energy to go see this...

[Zathras]

9 hours ago, Dark Wader said:

Looks like I’ll be the only one here who didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t think it was actively bad or anything but I do think it was a soulless and actually really dull outing. None of the action sequences were memorable and weren’t really choreographed that well, looked more like they were shooting for ways to hide Harrison’s body double. 

Though that said, I did like Fleabag and the last sequence. But I don’t think I could rate it higher than Crystal Skull, which for all its faults I think had a bit more heart in it than this one. 

Dumb question: Who's Fleabag?  I missed that character.

[Rogue 3]

7 minutes ago, Zathras said:

Dumb question: Who's Fleabag?  I missed that character.

That’s Helena Shaw - Phoebe Waller-Bridge wrote and starred in BBC comedy series Fleabag - definitely worth a watch.

Side note - she was also the voice of Lando’s droid L3-37 in Solo amongst other acting and notable writing duties (Killing Eve for example).

[Dark Wader]

Yeah sorry I couldn’t remember the character or actor name so just went with the what I think she’s best known for. Didn’t hate her character like I’ve seen a lot of people react. Couldn’t stand that kid though. 

[Lord Darth Hunter]

11 hours ago, Dark Wader said:

Looks like I’ll be the only one here who didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t think it was actively bad or anything but I do think it was a soulless and actually really dull outing. None of the action sequences were memorable and weren’t really choreographed that well, looked more like they were shooting for ways to hide Harrison’s body double. 

Though that said, I did like Fleabag and the last sequence. But I don’t think I could rate it higher than Crystal Skull, which for all its faults I think had a bit more heart in it than this one. 

You’re not the only one. I second that motion.

I liked “Wombat” too. She mirrored Indy’s development in the original trilogy — started off seeking “fortune and glory” and growing into letting go of the prizes to focus on saving her surrogate family. 

That said, I agree with the rest of your take. I put it right there with Crystal Skull. To quote Eddie Wilson from Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! It was not bad. 

"Listen, if I was in a bar and I heard you playing, it'd be nice being in there. Then I'd go home and I'd forget all about it. That's what not bad means."

 

[Darth Krawlie]

To everyone, Indiana Jones is always gonna be the original three movies. I don’t think that was ever gonna change. But, unlike crystal skull, to me at least, it’s a nice tribute/tip of the cap. It was folly to expect it to be anything more than that, I think. Not that you guys were, but you know what I mean.

[Dark Wader]

I get where you’re coming from and I agree, ridiculous to expect we’re gonna get anything in the same tier as the first three. 

I just personally didn’t feel it was a fitting or nice send off to the character at all. The ending wasn’t earned at all and just felt like another Jurassic Park 3 situation where they had no idea how to finish the movie so just seemed to make it up on the spot and rush it to the finish line. 

The biggest issue with Crystal Skull for a lot of people was the abundance of CG and reduction in the practical effects. But this movie was just way too overly reliant on it. And maybe it’s fine if the action sequences were well shot, directed or memorable in some way but they were just very by the numbers, which felt indicative of the whole movie to me. 

[Lord Darth Hunter]

Ironically enough because of Crystal Skull I went into this with zero expectations. And even then I still didn’t find it entertaining save for a few bits. 

Sidenote, the de-aging of Ford looked great, but they needed to do the respeecher or whatever that tech was that was used on JEJ's voice for Vader in the Obi Wan series. Ford, like Hamill and everyone else, doesn't sound the same in their 60's as they did in their 20's and 30's. It threw me off to see a young Ford talking in old Ford's voice. 

[Zathras]

10 hours ago, Darth Krawlie said:

To everyone, Indiana Jones is always gonna be the original three movies. I don’t think that was ever gonna change. But, unlike crystal skull, to me at least, it’s a nice tribute/tip of the cap. It was folly to expect it to be anything more than that, I think. Not that you guys were, but you know what I mean.

Agreed.  For a lot here, it will be like this:  The original 3 Indys are like the OT in Star Wars, which are universally loved.  Crystal Skull is like the PT, meaning most here hate it.  Dial is like the ST, meaning some will like it, some won't, but most will still like the original 3 Indy's better.  

[Dark Wader]

8 hours ago, Lord Darth Hunter said:

Sidenote, the de-aging of Ford looked great, but they needed to do the respeecher or whatever that tech was that was used on JEJ's voice for Vader in the Obi Wan series. Ford, like Hamill and everyone else, doesn't sound the same in their 60's as they did in their 20's and 30's. It threw me off to see a young Ford talking in old Ford's voice. 

Yeah that took me right out of it, the minute he spoke. Really odd to spend so much on the de-ageing and just not touch the voice. 

Also in retrospect, the de-ageing seemed to reflect Indy’s age in Raiders and not Crusade, and the flashbacks were after that? Doesn’t really matter much since it’s only a few years after Raiders anyway I guess.  

[Odine]

On 7/8/2023 at 9:05 PM, Tank said:

I can't seem to muster up the interest or energy to go see this...

Word. My mum wants to go see it with me cause she's all nostalgic about having watched the original films with me when I was a child. But maaaan... I dunno.. think I'd rather just have the memories and not see the curtain call flick 

[Tank]

The kid and I went today. His one word review: “unnecessary.”

I have to agree. It wasn’t as aggressively awful as Crystal Skull, but it also brought me zero joy. It was lifeless and heartless and half of it looked like muddy cg green screen work. 

[Lord Darth Hunter]

Amazing when you think about how far technology has come in the last 40 years. Everything from computers to phones to cars to the internet and everything else. Yet films seem to be the only thing that has gotten worse. It would’ve been unthinkable if someone in 1981 had told us, there will be four more Indy films after Raiders of the Lost Ark with the last one coming out in 2023. But that movie is going to look godawful. The effects will be nowhere near as realistic as this Raiders movie looks. Our minds wouldn’t have been unable to fathom that studios can’t make movies in the 2020’s look as realistic as they did back in the 1980’s. 

[Tank]

The technology exists to do CG that’s nearly impossible for us to distinguish, it’s in every movie at this point and half the time we don’t even know we are seeing it.

The first problem is when we see things we know don’t exist in our reality. The second is the time it takes to get effects to the level of perfection is usually more than any movies budget and timeline will allow for. The VFX pipeline in Hollywood is having major problems right now, mostly because of Marvel.

 

[Lord Darth Hunter]

Well, dinosaurs don't exist in our reality but they sure look real in the Jurassic movies. But I do get what you're saying. It's not an Indy problem but a Hollywood problem. It's not that they can't do it. They just don't want to spend the time and money. They get the effects to just "good enough" status to release the film. 

[Lord Darth Hunter]

By the way, something else I wanted in this film that closes out the series was a nod to Short Round. It’s always bothered me that we never heard anything about him again. With all the publicity recently surrounding Ke Huy Quran’s Oscar-winning performance and his reunion with Ford during the photo ops, I was hoping for a cameo from Short Round or at least a mention of what became of him. 

[Darth Krawlie]

Yeah I was hoping for that too

[Dom]

19 hours ago, Lord Darth Hunter said:

By the way, something else I wanted in this film that closes out the series was a nod to Short Round. It’s always bothered me that we never heard anything about him again. With all the publicity recently surrounding Ke Huy Quran’s Oscar-winning performance and his reunion with Ford during the photo ops, I was hoping for a cameo from Short Round or at least a mention of what became of him. 

I would have rather Short Round be the younger protagonist for Indy 5, would have been better than a new character from his past that we never heard of before. But regardless, I liked it.