Roze-Rating: 3.8/5

Forty years after his first adventure on the big screen, Indiana Jones is back… and so are the Nazi’s! Life hasn’t been easy on Indy since his last outing, now separated from his wife Marion (Karen Allen), and wondering what life after retirement holds. It isn’t long until he’s forced to don the iconic hat and whip again, when reacquainted with Nazi astrophysicist Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelssen), hellbent on rewriting history by stealing back Archimedes’ Dial.

Incredibly, the film feels like an Indiana Jones flick from start to finish, despite Spielberg not returning and Harrison Ford being well into his 70s when filming this sequel. Despite his age, the energy and charisma of Indiana Jones is still in full force. Of course, we can’t question Harrison Ford’s commitment to these characters, now that he’s resurrected three of his most iconic roles as Han Solo, Rick Deckard and now Indy in the last decade. 

I’m almost annoyed at how good this film is, and how awesome Harrison Ford remains as Indiana Jones. I found myself constantly feeling melancholic over the realisation that the character and franchise is coming to an end, especially when seeing Indiana Jones going head to head with thugs half his age. It’s not fair! In honesty, I wasn’t even excited for this film to come out, and wrote the film off after the first trailer… I’m glad the cynic in me was wrong. With that melancholy, soon came annoyance at how we haven’t managed to get an adventure franchise on par with Indiana Jones since its inception. Especially with IP like Uncharted and Tomb Raider out there, it takes an 80 year old Harrison Ford to show us how an action/adventure hero should look like on the big screen. 

To me, what makes Indiana Jones so fun are how well choreographed and inventive the action sequences are… I’m thinking the Cairo ambush in Raiders, the mine-cart chase in Temple of Doom, and the Tank sequence in The Last Crusade. To my delight, The Dial of Destiny delivered multiple times on this front, even gifting us a de-aged Harrison Ford in a thrilling opening sequence, to remind us of how bad ass this character is from the outset. 

Phoebe Waller-Bridge proved to be a worthy sparring partner for Harrison Ford, encapsulating the wit and cheek we love to see in these films. I’ve not seen much of her work, but I’ll be keeping tabs on her career now that she’s getting a Tomb Raider series off the ground. Fingers crossed she nails it like most of her work so far! Seeing Mads Mikkelsen as the villain gave off nostalgic vibes for me, as I loved his performance in Casino Royale. He plays deranged and obsessive very well… maybe a bit too well.

Unlike most franchises rebooted or resurrected from decades past, The Dial of Destiny doesn’t rely heavily on nostalgia to win us over. Rather it tries its best to stand on its own, whilst staying true to the qualities we love about Indiana Jones, and move his story forward. Let’s just hope they wait at least 50 years before thinking about a reboot….