Never you mind about what Rotten Tomatoes or some Reddit mega thread has to say. The final word on cinema, as on all matters, is Mojo’s, and you are all her constituency. With pride in this civic duty, we bring you our release date review of Indiana Jones and Dial of Destiny. After reading it, you will require no other review, or much of anything, because you’ll be dead of old age. Cripes, Jason.
Disclaimer: While we tried to be mindful about spoilers by refraining from any explicit summary of the plot beyond the first act, we can’t vouch for what your personal standards are. Go to the cinema clean if you want to experience the movie that way. And who are you kidding, anyway -- it’s not like you aren’t going see this like a good little consumer.
This should speak for itself.
We’ve went to watch it today and the votes are anonymous: a good movie, only bittersweet because it is the last time to experience the fun and the thrills of Indy.
This resonated for me in the theme of the movie which lets you think about ageing (both the actors as the viewers) without making it feel forced.
I’m not sure if my younger self would have liked it as much, but we’ve also aged since 1989. For a less biased opinion, my kids who just got to watch the previous movies for the first time in preparation liked this one too and did not complain about Indy being old/not cool/…
The finale divided opinions a bit more as some found it too hard to believe, but I’m in the believers camp on this one. Unlike in Crystal Skull, the end reveal is something that is hinted at enough to prepare the viewer, and just as unrealistic as the ones in the first three movies, which is what I expect from an Indy story.
At one point Indy says something like “it’s not so much what you believe, it’s how hard you believe it”, which is a pretty good fourth-wall breaking summary.
Another thing they got better again after Crystal Skull was taking the time to drop the treasure-hunting clues ahead of their solution and pace them so viewers can sleuth along. Taking time for establishing shots and music that spend more time to build atmosphere and tension were back as well after their cruel omission in Crystal Skull.
Mmmm it seems it is really hard to review Dial without comparing to the previous entry.
But I’m glad they could end the series on a positive note.
We're going to see it in 4DX (ie: on a motion-simulator with atmospheric elements). I don't know if anyone else has those near them, or if anyone else even likes them, but it's become my favorite way to experience blockbusters. It made me enjoy Avatar 2 a lot more than I probably would have otherwise.