Calvin's Canadian Cave of Coolness: June 2023

Friday, June 30, 2023

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny

One of the all time best times I ever had watching a movie was the original RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. It was virtually perfect. A brave and smart hero. his lady love, evil Nazis and the quest for a lost treasure were all the elements one needed for a great afternoon in the theatre. It might also be one of the films I have watched most often in my life because I can't resist when it comes on TV.

Of the sequels, the first was bad and the second was fantastic. The third was also bad so I doubleted that there would ever be another chapter in the story of this famous archeologist. Let's see if this one brings me back to better times or just wastes my time.

Okay. Indy starts the movie captured by Nazis but when I hear that strain of music that is his signature, I know things will be fine.

At 80 years old Harrison Ford is a shell of his former self but that doesn't stop him from jumping into adventure. The film has many chase sequences and escapes that are reminders of glories past and I don't believe for a second that even Indy can keep up that pace as he travels around the world in search of two pieces to the DIAL OF DESTINY created by Archemedes in ancient Greece. The dial is suppose to let a person alter time and travel backwards to fix mistakes from the past.

I always wonder how they travel with no money in their pockets. I would loves to see them pay for something despite all the resources they use to go on their quest.

Harrison Ford is great and he is playing the role with love. He knows he is slowing down and is not the man he used to be and that gives the film some emotional heft. His younger female co-star only reminds him that he had a beautiful wife once with Marian. She is the daughter of an old friend of Indy's who was himself obsessed with the disc and it's magical properties.

The film doesn't move as fast as RAIDERS but how could it without Steven Spielberg's involvement? However the chase scenes are exciting even though they seem redundant given all we have seen in the franchise's past.

I am looking for the bad guys to end up with the disc and for their to be a trick ending that solves the crisis for the good guys just like at the end of RAIDERS. It's the only way to show off and destroy the very item they are questing for. A good ending always makes the journey more worthwhile and the ending is something I would have never figured out for myself.

The film ended just like I hoped it would and wrapped up the franchise the way it deserved to be wrapped up. Enjoy this one in theatres. The critics are down on it but the audience numbers are in the eighties and that is where my score lies.