Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Finding himself in a new era, and approaching retirement, Indy wrestles with fitting into a world that seems to have outgrown him. But as the tentacles of an all-too-familiar evil return in the form of an old rival, Indy must don his hat and pick up his whip once more to make sure an ancient and powerful artifact doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
Kevin Ward reviewedJuly 2, 2025
Genuinely fun and pulpy MacGuffin chasing adventure. I loved the opening 20 minutes in particular, but there are a few action set pieces that were really well done. Harrison has still got it bringing to life one of the most iconic characters to ever grace the silver screen. If this is the last rodeo, I’m happy with the way this one closed out. Phoebe Waller Bridge’s character was a little too one dimensional (for most of the film at least). In the final act she’s finally given some layers, so maybe I’ll feel better about her character on second watch. I do think PWB fits well into this universe though. I think what I liked best about this film is that there’s a moment near the end where the dial is activated and I genuinely had zero idea what was going to happen next. Those kinds of experiences, I find, are extremely rare in cinema. It was really thrilling and I loved where they went with it. No spoilers, but I didn’t love Indy’s ultimate fate. I watched with my daughter and we were both sort of hoping that the film would follow through with the fate that is suggested by Indy. I think that would have been a more emotionally impactful ending. Instead, they kind of took a safe and easy route. Still, my daughter and I both immensely enjoyed it. We watched in ScreenX which we don’t do very often but this was really fun and immersive. And truthfully none of the CGI ever bothered me even if some of it is pretty obvious. So much better than Crystal Skull. Some of these stars might be simply for washing the awful taste Crystal Skull left in my mouth.