Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Cannes 2023, review: Harrison Ford carries this ripped exercise in nostalgia

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Indiana Jones, the final installment in the saga that began more than 40 years ago with Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), created a sensation in Cannes. Press and public alike were fighting over tickets. The number of photographers crowding around the Grand Theater Lumiere, where it was shown, has skyrocketed. Dial of Destiny may be left out of the competition, but it’s the world premiere everyone wanted to see. An additional flair was given by the fact that Harrison Ford had already confirmed that this would be his last performance in Indiana. At its world premiere, the brash old actor was so emotional he received an honorary Palme D’Or from festival director Thierry Frémaux.

Ford is typically suspect in The Dial of Destiny, but the movie itself is sprawling and very uneven. It begins promisingly with an action sequence at the end of World War II in which you somehow, using CGI magic, show Indiana as a young man grappling with the Nazis. This is when he first encounters the villain Jurgen Fuller (Mads Mikkelsen). This prequel delivers exactly what you’d expect from an Indiana Jones adventure: chases, explosions, and epic fight sequences on top of a runaway train. Toby Jones is on strong credit as Indy’s sidekick, Basil Jones, a diminutive and eccentric but ruggedly heroic English academic who helps Indiana survive.

Then we moved on to the late 1960s, the era of the Beatles and the space programme. Indiana in New York, about to retire from his university. His students could hardly stay awake in his classrooms. Basil’s daughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) appears at one of his lectures. He is her godfather but he has not seen her in years.

Ford’s age is not ignored. In fact, it is a wellspring of the plot. Age has made Indiana Jones more divisive than it was in the previous four films. There are constant references to his aches and pains, his “collapsed vertebrae” and diminished stamina. He is referred to as an “old tomb robber” at one point. Yet he still climbs rock faces and waves that old whip with the tenderness that generations of fans have grown to love.

Helena reminds him of the mysterious old tablet he found on that runaway train during the war. He’s soon competing to get it back with Fuller, who’s changed his name and is now working on the US space program. Enamel was designed by Archimedes thousands of years ago. If its two halves are combined, its owner will be able to jump through time.

The film consists of a series of pursuits and battles linked by plots more unlikely than ever. The work is often organized very innovatively. James Mangold, who took over directing duties from Steven Spielberg, sets a brisk pace. One early trailer from Braves includes Indiana riding a cop’s horse in the subway with his opponents in hot pursuit.

Waller-Bridge’s Helena is a frustrating presence: she’s an intellectually brilliant adventurer who’s also a mercenary con artist. Its partnership with Indiana is a little strained. There is clearly no romantic spark between them – he is too old for her. She is inappropriately cheerful, and screams excitedly in one scene after a nearby Indiana is murdered.

Tonally, the film echoes. It pulls in many different directions at once. On the one hand, this is an exercise in soulful nostalgia. On the other hand, like its predecessors, it is an old-fashioned adventure in which the characterization is deliberately broad. Some episodes are perceptive and ridiculous, while others seem painfully simplistic.

Franchise fans will find plenty to savor. Indiana and Helena grapple with bugs and hang from airplane wings. There are scenes of deep sea diving and sequences in caves. Yet the screenplay by Jazz Butterworth, John Henry Butterworth and David Koepp sometimes feels like a mishmash of elements from older films strung together in a scattershot style. On the final reel, the film slides into utter absurdity. Harrison Ford is the hero of the hour. He never lost his frown or stubbornness. He plays even the most flimsy scenes with conviction and a dry sense of humor. His performance carries the movie. Age can’t really wilt it at all, but the franchise itself looks a bit tattered. This is a good moment to end it.

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Director: James Mangold; Starring: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethan Isidore, Mads Mikkelsen.

‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ hits theaters from June 30

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