Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

[Zauriel]

Whatever dollars the Dial of Destiny lost in the theaters, streaming services and home video sales will make up for the losses.

[ChrisIII]

Just watched half of this again tonight, I'll finish it up tomorrow. Better than the first time I watched it (in theatres). It helped that Indy in his underpants was only on my small screen rather than 50 feet tall on the movie screen.

But I do like the premise of ancient technology holding surprises. Beyond that the plot is just kind of straightforward and doesn't have any twists or turns, making it seem amateurish as a movie. And Indy is reduced to sidekick status, for the most part, which is ok. But Waller Cates was also acting basically like a sidekick for Indy. And the real sidekick, the kid, was the most interesting of the three of them!

The whole shady government angle just isn't working for me here. And neither is the Nazi turned US scientist from Alabama. Its too stupid to be cliche and too out there and unexplained to be anything but a big odd choice of a dead end plot element. Other than the brilliant flashback sequence that opens the movie, the first half feels like running in place to get nowhere.

The Federal government not being on the level with Indy is kind of keeping with the first and fourth films, the Ark being stored in a warehouse by 'Top men" with nothing but a cash settlement, later the whole deal with Indy being taken to Roswell, the alien remains being held in the same warehouse (Revealed to be Area 51, no less!) blaming him for Spalko infiltrating the place and stealing them and ruining his reputation and job.

[Scott Taylor]

The Federal government not being on the level with Indy is kind of keeping with the first and fourth films, the Ark being stored in a warehouse by 'Top men" with nothing but a cash settlement, later the whole deal with Indy being taken to Roswell, the alien remains being held in the same warehouse (Revealed to be Area 51, no less!) blaming him for Spalko infiltrating the place and stealing them and ruining his reputation and job.

In the first movie, it was just used as a stinger at the end of the movie. It understood how we all think and made a joke of it. It didn't dominate the plot of belabor the punchline or take the whole thing seriously like you see here in Dial.

Government conspiracies are fine and all but kind of a dumb thing to have Indiana Jones go out and tackle.

As far as the fourth movie, the conspiracy angle was the least problematic part of that one for me.

[thwhtGuardian]

In the first movie, it was just used as a stinger at the end of the movie. It understood how we all think and made a joke of it. It didn't dominate the plot of belabor the punchline or take the whole thing seriously like you see here in Dial.

Government conspiracies are fine and all but kind of a dumb thing to have Indiana Jones go out and tackle.

As far as the fourth movie, the conspiracy angle was the least problematic part of that one for me.

It didn't dominate the plot but it was a definite punchline poking fun at the inadequacies of government bureaucracy.

[Jokerz79]

Just watched half of this again tonight, I'll finish it up tomorrow. Better than the first time I watched it (in theatres). It helped that Indy in his underpants was only on my small screen rather than 50 feet tall on the movie screen.

But I do like the premise of ancient technology holding surprises. Beyond that the plot is just kind of straightforward and doesn't have any twists or turns, making it seem amateurish as a movie. And Indy is reduced to sidekick status, for the most part, which is ok. But Waller Cates was also acting basically like a sidekick for Indy. And the real sidekick, the kid, was the most interesting of the three of them!

The whole shady government angle just isn't working for me here. And neither is the Nazi turned US scientist from Alabama. Its too stupid to be cliche and too out there and unexplained to be anything but a big odd choice of a dead end plot element. Other than the brilliant flashback sequence that opens the movie, the first half feels like running in place to get nowhere.

The villain was basically Werhner Von Braun a Nazi brought to the U.S. and who worked for NASA. The man has a plaque in Huntsville Alabama.

[Scott Taylor]

The villain was basically Werhner Von Braun a Nazi brought to the U.S. and who worked for NASA. The man has a plaque in Huntsville Alabama.

Oh I didn't make that connection. Is this movie some kind of diss on that guy then? I saw the movie October Sky and it seemed Von Braun was more or less a heroic figure based on that depiction.

[Indian Ink]

The villain was basically Werhner Von Braun a Nazi brought to the U.S. and who worked for NASA. The man has a plaque in Huntsville Alabama.

That's what I thought, but I had to hold two strings of disbelief, while watching it finally a month or so ago. Firstly, why is a key Nazi rocket scientist wasting his time or being allowed to pursue (even for Hitler) artifacts in the final stages of the war when he is so needed in his proper job?
Secondly, how the hell did he survive getting hit in the head with such force while on top of the train? If by some miracle he does survive both the blow and falling off the train at speed he should be drinking soup for the rest of his life, a steel plate in his skull and an IQ 30 points lower than how he started the day.

[WebLurker]

Oh I didn't make that connection. Is this movie some kind of diss on that guy then? I saw the movie October Sky and it seemed Von Braun was more or less a heroic figure based on that depiction.

Historians have been divided on what to make of the historical von Braun; the man was a member of the Nazi party before moving to the US, but it's unclear if he was a true believer in the cause or "just" someone who needed to be a member to do their job (von Braun himself claimed that he wasn't politically motivated) or if he did anything that should've been prosecuted (apparently there were some allegations r.e. slave labor from Nazi concentration camps, but nothing definitive). So, the question remains if he was a war criminal who escaped justice or was someone in a bad situation who "deserved" grace, if that makes any sense. Von Braun himself converted to Christianity later in life, for whatever that's worth and there's doesn't seem to be any evidence of him being a "lost cause" person like the Nazi character in the movie.

[Scott Taylor]

So I finished the last half of the movie. The march to the ending is more pointless chases, meaningless threats, a little archaeology and everything falling together for the villains by coincidence and lucky guessing. The big ending in the past is fine but feels like a bunch of wasted potential. Though I do like the time loop aspect of Archimedes engineering his own solution to a siege with overwhelming odds, it seems like it would have been easier and more intelligent to just run away and let the Romans have Syracuse. The ending with Marion is sweet but again no meat on the bone there, its just nostalgia. Which is ok.

Overall, I did enjoy Harrison Ford in this one as an old guy with a bunch of old friends. Wombat was ok, but not really an interesting character because she was so all over the place and her full motivations were never really explored. I felt like she was supposed to be providing a breath of new life to the franchise but she just had no charisma. And honestly, the blonde Nazi in Crusade was a way more interesting character and she hardly did anything at all.

A decent flick that is mostly innocuous and doesn't turn the franchise into an embarrassment like Crystal Skull did (for me) but still very disappointing.