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)
