Hammock Parties |
06-29-2023 11:23 AM |
HOME RUN
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James Mangold knows exactly what fans want and he delivers it in spades in this film, which delights in every minute it spends honoring its predecessors. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, who turned over the reins to Mangold, both serving only as executive producers on this film after having written and directed all four previous installments, picked the perfect director to take Indy into his final adventure. Mangold is a director with a particular knack at delivering high octane, audience-pleasing, fast-paced films that still manage to keep a core of humanity and vulnerability at its heart. In this era of action films aimed at teenagers that revel in fantasy and superheroes, Mangold makes thrilling films for adults, films like 3:10 to Yuma, Logan, and Ford v Ferrari. If there would be any director who could stay true to the Indiana Jones legacy of adventure, action and thrills while mining every bit of emotional (read: nostalgic) connection without falling into sentimentality, it is Mangold.
And he delivers.
Now let’s be real here, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is far from perfect. It gets really silly, especially in the final act, and some sequences are borderline over-the-top, but there is absolutely no denying the fact that I was grinning from ear to ear from start to finish, buoyed in part, yes, by the rush of nostalgic affection that was coursing through my 52-year old veins, but also by the sensational artistry and craft that went into the making of this film, a film that is everything a movie should be, the kind of movie that reminds you why movies were ever even made in the first place.
It’s impossible to not feel Spielberg’s influence and spirit in every frame. Oscar-winning production designer Adam Stockhausen (Grand Budapest Hotel, Bride of Spies, West Side Story) creates a visual world that brings you in and allows the actors to roam, breathe and maneuver through adventure after adventure, while Oscar-nominated cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (The Trial of the Chicago Seven, Ford v Ferrari) captures the essence of the adventure serials that inspired Lucas and Spielberg to create the character of Indiana Jones in the first place. No Indiana Jones film is complete without the iconic score by John Williams, and the same Oscar-winning editing team that created those thrilling racing sequences in Ford v Ferrari pull out all their tricks in the multitude of chase sequences here, most not even on wheels.
If you follow the chatter on social media sites, there will be a lot of bantering about where Dial of Destiny ranks in the pantheon of Indiana Jones films (Is it worse than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Nothing could ever be) or questions about whether Ford is too old to play Indy (No). If you are a fan of the Indiana Jones movies, in any way shape or form, you just need to tune it all out and take this film for no more and no less than what it is: a whole lot of fun. It is escapist entertainment with excellent action, lots of laughs, incredible production values and a heavy dose of nostalgia that is, guaranteed, at one point or another, to make your heart ever so slightly heavy at the thought that we’ll never see this again.
But if there’s any way to go out, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny finds the best way to say goodbye–by honoring the past, capturing the spirit of the franchise and doing exactly what Indiana Jones does best: going off into history in style—and the crack of a whip.
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