by Flack » Mon Jul 03, 2023 6:04 pm
Indiana Jones got old (it happens to the best of us). At 70 years old, Jones is an artifact himself now, relegated to delivering historical presentations to bored college students. As the film opens in 1969, Jones's adventuring days are behind him. He is now a stereotypical old man, annoyed by his neighbors loud stereo and disinterested in the recent moon landing.
Jones's life is once again turned upside down when his goddaughter Helena appears and inquires about "the Dial of Destiny," part of an artifact Jones recovered from the Nazi's while on a secret mission with Basil Shaw, Helena's father. The dial, created by Archimedes around 200 BC, appears to be some sort of time travel device. The device was so dangerous that it was separated into two pieces, with Jones retaining one half and the other "somewhere." Before long the game is afoot and Jones, with Helena and her own sidekick Teddy, are hopping around the globe in search of the dial with Nazi's in tow.
It was difficult to tell whether they were thinly veiled homages or the new writers and directors had simply run out of ideas, but throughout the film you can check off scenes that appeared in previous installments. Chase on top of a train? Check. Chase involving a motorcycle with a sidecar? Check. Tomb raiding? Check. Jones encountering a cave with bugs and having to face snakes? Check. And, believe it or not, Jones failed to learn the most basic of lessons from Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was not to look behind him before discovering a rare artifact. At least three times in this film, Jones and his pals unravel a riddle or solve a puzzle required to obtain an object only to have the Nazis steal it from them 30 seconds later.
The CGI effects that throughout the film are less cartoony than the previous film's, but at times no less distracting. The film features a long flashback sequence in which Harrison Ford's face (but not his voice) have been de-aged, and while it's not too offensive if you're not staring at it, once you see it, you can't unsee it. Throughout the film you'll see planes, trains, and automo-- motorcycles, all of which look like really good 3D models from any PS5 game. For some odd reason, much of the movie is presented in a heavy sepia tone -- it's as if the director wasn't convinced we would remember this took place in the past and decided to apply a filter to the entire film, something none of the previous films did.
Harrison Ford has said this is his last Indiana Jones film, and so not only must the Dial of Destiny be dealt with, but so does Indiana Jones. A few characters from Jones's past show up at different times, and long standing relationships that have appeared throughout the series are resolved. There are a few gaping plot holes that my wife who does not typically notice plot holes pointed out, but the film pretty much ends how you expect it to, and Jones and finally hang up his hat and whip and retire to the rocking chair on his front porch where he can yell at kids to get off his lawn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQfMbSe7F2g
Indiana Jones got old (it happens to the best of us). At 70 years old, Jones is an artifact himself now, relegated to delivering historical presentations to bored college students. As the film opens in 1969, Jones's adventuring days are behind him. He is now a stereotypical old man, annoyed by his neighbors loud stereo and disinterested in the recent moon landing.
Jones's life is once again turned upside down when his goddaughter Helena appears and inquires about "the Dial of Destiny," part of an artifact Jones recovered from the Nazi's while on a secret mission with Basil Shaw, Helena's father. The dial, created by Archimedes around 200 BC, appears to be some sort of time travel device. The device was so dangerous that it was separated into two pieces, with Jones retaining one half and the other "somewhere." Before long the game is afoot and Jones, with Helena and her own sidekick Teddy, are hopping around the globe in search of the dial with Nazi's in tow.
It was difficult to tell whether they were thinly veiled homages or the new writers and directors had simply run out of ideas, but throughout the film you can check off scenes that appeared in previous installments. Chase on top of a train? Check. Chase involving a motorcycle with a sidecar? Check. Tomb raiding? Check. Jones encountering a cave with bugs and having to face snakes? Check. And, believe it or not, Jones failed to learn the most basic of lessons from Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was not to look behind him before discovering a rare artifact. At least three times in this film, Jones and his pals unravel a riddle or solve a puzzle required to obtain an object only to have the Nazis steal it from them 30 seconds later.
The CGI effects that throughout the film are less cartoony than the previous film's, but at times no less distracting. The film features a long flashback sequence in which Harrison Ford's face (but not his voice) have been de-aged, and while it's not too offensive if you're not staring at it, once you see it, you can't unsee it. Throughout the film you'll see planes, trains, and automo-- motorcycles, all of which look like really good 3D models from any PS5 game. For some odd reason, much of the movie is presented in a heavy sepia tone -- it's as if the director wasn't convinced we would remember this took place in the past and decided to apply a filter to the entire film, something none of the previous films did.
Harrison Ford has said this is his last Indiana Jones film, and so not only must the Dial of Destiny be dealt with, but so does Indiana Jones. A few characters from Jones's past show up at different times, and long standing relationships that have appeared throughout the series are resolved. There are a few gaping plot holes that my wife who does not typically notice plot holes pointed out, but the film pretty much ends how you expect it to, and Jones and finally hang up his hat and whip and retire to the rocking chair on his front porch where he can yell at kids to get off his lawn.