Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30th, 2023)

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This is no Fury Road or BR2049... be prepared. And expect the worst. That's what I did.

We're bickering about whether this is the 4th or 3rd best Indy movie. Come on, honestly, that's not too good. :lol
Oh I definitely am mot expecting either of those, thats my point. Those are exceedingly rare. My mindset with any film these days is;

1. Did ot entertain me?
2. See rule one.

We can rate and critique the merits all day, but in the end , as long as I feel I got value from the experience, I am good.

My biggest marker for greatness is, do I want to see it again...also ....did it leave me thinking about the film and asking questions/talking about it.

These tentpole summer films almost never do that....

Now Oppenheimer? I have high hopes for that one.

Well off to the theater! Taking my son, the only other film freak in the family. He loves Indy, but is also a pretty good judge of a film. I am curious what a 17 year old will think. He loves Raiders...TOD anD TLC....
 
The silliness in LC really does kill it for me. I always hated how Last Crusade had become like a "Roger Moore Bond" movie, it even had a nod to that type of comedy when the old man is trying to change his tire but before he can replace the hub cap, the car rolls away. All he needed to do was a double-take and then guzzle from a bottle of local wine. They saved the double-take for when Indy looks to the pilot in the flaming fuselage. :slap

Connery saved the movie, huh? Well, in an action/adventure movie, when the "quiet parts" are the best parts, something is definitely wrong.
OMG you hit the nail on the head comparing this to a Roger Moore Bond movie :lol

That really sums up TLC perfectly
 
No objectivity at all. Tough way to go through life prepared to be outraged all the time.

WTF???

Because we can see the obvious issues of "a film"??? It's a film, we're not talk about world famine or something truly important, and yet you defend it like you wrote and directed it yourself and slander anyone who doesn't like it.

Jesus. I love how all of us who have issues are called names or told we're living a **** life.

Just because we aren't in love with it doesn't give you a right to continually demean, belittle, or use personal attacks.

You like it. Great. Enjoy it. We all like different things and that's okay.

But please don't get on your ******* horse and tell me my opinion is wrong.

Did you like Dune? If not, should I label your whole life as **** because you don't think it's a masterpiece?

This is a forum; some want to talk positively about it, and others want to critique it. And I dare say I speak for everyone who has issues with it - nobody wanted it to be bad. We all wanted it to be amazing. Hell, nobody wants anything to be bad....
 
Batman defeated Indy in both 1989 and 2008. Exclusive footage of their final box office confrontation:

IllegalWhirlwindFox-size_restricted.gif
 
OMG you hit the nail on the head comparing this to a Roger Moore Bond movie :lol

That really sums up TLC perfectly
Right down to the old man, young woman *** scene.

Williams has done so much music in his time, its amazing he can think of anything new. I mean, that man is legend.

I've been a devoted fan of his since his music for Poseidon Adventure and Earthquake. Actually, before that even, back when he was Johnny Williams doing Lost in Space -- I was a tot but even then his music stuck with me.

By the time Jaws and Star Wars came along, I was already convinced that anything that had his score in it was the next big thing.
All I’m going to say is The Fury, one of his most underrated, absolutely ball tearingly brilliant scores.
 
Ok , here we go.....

Thar be spoilers ahead
:


Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. 7/10

What worked:
The over all story was entertaining. The sets and locals were fantastic. The score of course. Good acting from the supporting cast, especially Mads and Phoebe. The general story arc was pretty good.....but......

What didn't work:
This film needed a better editor. The action sequences were WAY too long. Fords acting was pretty bad for parts of the film. Some dodgy CGI.


Discussion: Was I entertained? Yes, Do I feel a need to see it again.....not right now.

The overall story had an interesting premise, time travel being all the rage since Endgame. But I couldn't help but feel the stakes were never really raised to a level worthy of the last Indy outing. I actually thought the better part of the story was showing how Indy was ageing and how it was affecting him. Being I see the effect daily with the seniors I work with, it hit harder than I expected. I also think, being the age I am, it resonates more the older you are, so if you saw ROTLA in theaters, maybe chime in and tell me of that part of the story was more meaningful to you.

The CGI was just OK. It was a stark contrast to some of the real sets and locals....The initial de-aging looked pretty good for most scenes, but the screen I saw it on was calibrated terribly, and the contrast was so high , the entire opening dark scenes were really washed out. Once I see it on a proper calibrated acreen, I will revisits that CGI review.

Solid acting from everyone BUT Ford who seemed to be dialing it in quite a bit. Mads was great but I also felt he could have done more. PWB was actually the bright spot here. She was an interesting character. I am not sure why we needed that kid....the smart move would have been to replace that kid with an older Short Round....now that alone would have amped up the story another 1-2 on the rating scale.

I know Ford is old, and they explored that quite a bit, which I liked, but it also limited the chase scenes to vehicles, If Indy walked the total of a mile in this film I would be surprised. He went from one vehicle to another, but it was kinda painful watching he attempt to run fhe few scenes he did so....

And those chase scenes were WAY TO LONG. Most of them were uninteresting and went on way longer than my interest held. The horse chase (terrible face CGI), went on about 2 minutes too long, and the Tuk Tuk scene (terrible background CGI) was just boring. Its a shame too because there were at least 2 stunt shots that looked great, but they watered it down with snappy (dumb) dialogue and lame chase cliches for 5 minutes.

Which brings me to my chief complaint. Editing. Whom ever edited this has no sense of timing or pacing. I am convinced a much better film exists here with a better edit. Cut out 50% of the stale chase stuff, and you have a tighter film, with more exciting action elements.

Lastly, this is a very different type of Indy film, so its tough to compare it to the others. This was more archeology than fantasy (score one to ROTLA) and also a story about aging and feeling lost in the modern world (score one for TLC) albeit a much more serious tone. Aside from the mention of Kali, there were really no elements of TOD that I saw....and the only nod to KOTCS was actually Fords best scene. As much as most people hated Mutt (I didn't) it was a emotion scene, more so to anyone with kids, especially military familes.

I think it was a good sendoff. The last 10 minutes saved the fill entirely for me. Seeing Indy come back round to the world or the living , rather than the world of dead history, was a great payoff.

So here we go with the traditional CF rating...

ROTLA 10/10
TLC 9/10 (I never understand the hate this gets here.
TOD 7/10
DOD 7/10
KOTCS 4/10 (I really hate this film, it gets marks only for being filmed well and a few good scenes)
 
Ok , here we go.....

Thar be spoilers ahead:


Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. 7/10

What worked:
The over all story was entertaining. The sets and locals were fantastic. The score of course. Good acting from the supporting cast, especially Mads and Phoebe. The general story arc was pretty good.....but......

What didn't work:
This film needed a better editor. The action sequences were WAY too long. Fords acting was pretty bad for parts of the film. Some dodgy CGI.


Discussion: Was I entertained? Yes, Do I feel a need to see it again.....not right now.

The overall story had an interesting premise, time travel being all the rage since Endgame. But I couldn't help but feel the stakes were never really raised to a level worthy of the last Indy outing. I actually thought the better part of the story was showing how Indy was ageing and how it was affecting him. Being I see the effect daily with the seniors I work with, it hit harder than I expected. I also think, being the age I am, it resonates more the older you are, so if you saw ROTLA in theaters, maybe chime in and tell me of that part of the story was more meaningful to you.

The CGI was just OK. It was a stark contrast to some of the real sets and locals....The initial de-aging looked pretty good for most scenes, but the screen I saw it on was calibrated terribly, and the contrast was so high , the entire opening dark scenes were really washed out. Once I see it on a proper calibrated acreen, I will revisits that CGI review.

Solid acting from everyone BUT Ford who seemed to be dialing it in quite a bit. Mads was great but I also felt he could have done more. PWB was actually the bright spot here. She was an interesting character. I am not sure why we needed that kid....the smart move would have been to replace that kid with an older Short Round....now that alone would have amped up the story another 1-2 on the rating scale.

I know Ford is old, and they explored that quite a bit, which I liked, but it also limited the chase scenes to vehicles, If Indy walked the total of a mile in this film I would be surprised. He went from one vehicle to another, but it was kinda painful watching he attempt to run fhe few scenes he did so....

And those chase scenes were WAY TO LONG. Most of them were uninteresting and went on way longer than my interest held. The horse chase (terrible face CGI), went on about 2 minutes too long, and the Tuk Tuk scene (terrible background CGI) was just boring. Its a shame too because there were at least 2 stunt shots that looked great, but they watered it down with snappy (dumb) dialogue and lame chase cliches for 5 minutes.

Which brings me to my chief complaint. Editing. Whom ever edited this has no sense of timing or pacing. I am convinced a much better film exists here with a better edit. Cut out 50% of the stale chase stuff, and you have a tighter film, with more exciting action elements.

Lastly, this is a very different type of Indy film, so its tough to compare it to the others. This was more archeology than fantasy (score one to ROTLA) and also a story about aging and feeling lost in the modern world (score one for TLC) albeit a much more serious tone. Aside from the mention of Kali, there were really no elements of TOD that I saw....and the only nod to KOTCS was actually Fords best scene. As much as most people hated Mutt (I didn't) it was a emotion scene, more so to anyone with kids, especially military familes.

I think it was a good sendoff. The last 10 minutes saved the fill entirely for me. Seeing Indy come back round to the world or the living , rather than the world of dead history, was a great payoff.

So here we go with the traditional CF rating...

ROTLA 10/10
TLC 9/10 (I never understand the hate this gets here.
TOD 7/10
DOD 7/10
KOTCS 4/10 (I really hate this film, it gets marks only for being filmed well and a few good scenes)
The last Crusade is good, but it's no 9/10. It's my third choice for sure, but 7.5 at best. Liked your review and agree with some of your points
 
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Like most here, I grew up on Indy and the classic 3 movies. Saw them all opening weekend. Loved them ever since. TOD being my favorite.

Yea, I saw CS opening weekend as well. Nothing in it has made me ever want to revisit it.

As for DOD. Opening scene had some iffy moments but overall, it was fun. When he put on the hat and had his pose moment, CGI or not, that moment was awesome. Could have lasted a few more seconds of just that. I could have walked out after that scene and be fine.

Most of the CGI after that opening was mostly awful.

The rest of the movie was pretty much a retread of Last Crusade. Which isn't a bad thing.

But Ford was there and for the most part played a good old man that has lost everything and is winding down. Though you could tell he phoned it in on several scenes.

The golf cart scene did go on way to long and wasn't interesting at all. Guess Disney watched the mine cart scene and was all we can do that. Uhhh no, you didn't.

Nazis shooting Ancient Roman invaders is something I can check off my list.

The badguys all got boring deaths. No exploding heads or crushed by stone rollers. I though for sure the big guy was going to show up later with the fence still hand cuffed to him and then getting dispatched by Chick Indy with a flare gun or something. But no. Really no need having a this big monster of a guy.

I would have liked to see Indy remain in the past. It would have fit right in to some of those Indy "choose your own adventure" books from back in the day.

Sooooo Ranked. . . .


TOD
ROTLA


LC


DOD


CS



Bring on Mission Impossible!
 
Yeah I honestly never had a problem with Mutt or Shia's performance either, and always thought he got unfairly blamed for everything else that was wrong with that movie.

I definitely agree about DOD needing to be more tightly edited. I suppose it was a choice on Mangold's part because the opening sequence was just as tightly edited as any of the original movies, but then once we get to 1969 the style changes completely for some reason. And it's almost like they realized they didn't have enough action beats in the movie, and so let the existing ones drag on for way too long.
 
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