Well, this was better than Crystal Skull.

I know that bar is low. I absolutely loved Raiders of the Lost Ark and Last Crusade. I liked Temple of Doom. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull… I can remember coming out of that movie with a couple of friends of mine feeling like we were shocked at how bad it was.

The newest installment in the Indiana Jones franchise opened today with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Indy (Harrison Ford) is preparing to retire from teaching when his god-daughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) showed up looking for an artifact that her father had during the war. Former Nazi Dr. Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) also comes after the artifact with his own henchmen. The part of the artifact was missing so Indy, Helena and Voller went on a race to reclaim the rest of it.

I am fairly split on this plot of the movie. The first part of the movie was an exciting action bit, but was really almost too dark to tell what was happening. The darkness helped with the de-aged Harrison Ford. The middle part was slow and kind of middling. There were sections that were in there that felt like it should have been cut from the film (such as Helena’s crimelord fiancé) and the seemingly never ending chase scene could have been edited down. The third part was mixed… some felt like classic Indiana Jones and other parts felt really silly, almost a cartoon.

It is always great to have Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. He does an excellent job as this iconic character. He is great both as the young Indy parts and as the older, aged Dr. Jones. He is charming and you feel for him during the emotional bits that happen.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge grew on me as the film moved on. I was really not a fan of her in the first part of the movie but as that character moved on, I liked her better. Mads Mikkelsen is always a win.

James Mangold has directed some amazing movies such as Logan and Ford vs. Ferrari. He has done a decent job on Dial of Destiny, but it seemed to lack some of the magic of past Indy movies. This film cannot be compared to Logan in any way.

In the end, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is not a bad movie. I would recommend people to watch it, especially if you are a fan of the Indiana Jones franchise. However, it is not a brilliant film. It is okay. Parts of it are outstanding. I wish it would have been better.

3.3 stars