At this point in his career, there isn’t any projectHarrison Fordcould star in that would detract from his legacy. He is Harrison Ford, the bounty hunter in space and charming adventurer with a whip. That being said, Ford can significantly weaken the legacy of some of his most beloved characters, like Indiana Jones.Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destinyhasn’t ruined the original trilogy any more thanKingdom of the Crystal Skulldid, but it does mean that the final few years of Ford’s career won’t be as flawless as they could have been.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destinyisa toothless effortfrom director James Mangold and makes it harder to appreciate the Indiana Jones series as a whole, a trend that is all too common in classic blockbuster franchises likeStar Wars,Alien, andTerminator. Ford is right not to run away from the movie and tarnish it, but there’s no escaping that it damages his standing and Indiana Jones' standing as a timeless hero of the screen. It suggests that Indiana Jones is a franchise of its time and that theDial of Destinywas unable to recapture a formula that at one time seemed rock-solid gold.
The movie makes the mistake of sitting on the fence, ultimately feeling too new tofit into Indiana Jonesand too old school to feel like an evolution of the franchise.Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destinyfails as a legacy sequel because it tries to be too many things at once and leaves Ford out to dry. Why isIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destinya failure? What does it say about the franchise as a whole? Does it do any damage to Harrison Ford’s legacy? Here’s what you need to know.
‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ Is Somehow Worse than ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destinyfumblesthe potential of a legacy sequel, which, to be fair, is a sentiment that can be aimed at lots of them today.In trying to recapture the magic of Indiana Jones' classic adventures, it loses the charm of the period they were made in. The movies used to feel like Sunday morning cartoons, butIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destinyis so focused on hitting the recognizable beats that it misses the simplicity of what made them so watchable. There has to be a Nazi villain that feels like the others, but because there’s no escaping Ford’s age, it feels wrong. He isn’t who he was, and trying to make him that is simply a flawed concept that the movie never works around.
The solution is to bring in Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who similarly misunderstands the charm needed in a movie like this. She tries to be the sarcastic figure, but Indiana Jones is more than that. Waller-Bridge feels too modern in the role, like she’s mugging the camera for a clever self-aware laugh. The charm is inherent in the situation, and Harrison Ford worked so well in the previous movies because he was the everyman, buoyed by Spielberg’s blend of historical accuracy and campy sensibility.
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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destinydoesn’t do anything new or use Harrison Ford’s age as an interesting plot point. He’s old and sad now, out of place in his modern world, but kept from returning to it. Instead, everything is just copied and pasted forward without acknowledging that anything has to change in the end.
Does ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ Hurt the Franchise’s Legacy?
All of this means that fans have to awkwardly separate the original trilogy from the fourth and fifth films. The first three movies are untouchable, butKingdom of the Crystal SkullandnowDial of Destinyactas bizarre epilogues that take the franchise to new, preposterous heights. They jump the shark, less focused on the trilogy’s blend of fantasy and realistic action and more on set pieces that force the structure to constantly one-up itself. Eventually, the movies land themselves in a series of outlandish moments that feel out of place.Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destinyis the same. The film ticks the boxes of what the audience might expect, without the fantasy elements feeling appropriate or like the characters are even fazed by them.
It always felt like in the trilogy, Indy was reacting to what was happening. He isn’t a slick hero; he’s just trying to survive.Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destinyalmost turns the character into a myth, as he is haunted by a face from his past, and none of the events feel naturally occurring. We know that he’s seen it all before. Even inThe Last Crusade, whenIndiana Jones was challenged, it felt like uncharted territory for him, like he was making it up as he went along.
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Indy knew the history behind what he was searching for but was unprepared for the bad guys to fight back.Dial of Destinyis somewhere in the middle. He’s at a natural disadvantage because he’s older than everyone else, but he is also coated in plot armor because no man at his age, even him, could go on this adventure.
Where Does This Leave Harrison Ford?
Ford should be commended for sticking byDial of Destinydespite the criticism, but as he’s done a couple of these legacy appearances now, it has diluted his career slightly. He said that he wants to keep trying new things, which is great, but like a lot of actors of his level, his roles have been separated by his earlier work and his later work that you just kind of look past. We don’t have the beauty of hindsight on somethinglikeDial of Destinyyet, and its reception could change in later years, but Indiana Jones isn’t immune to the changing times, even if Hollywood is desperate to plant him in a modern movie-making context to rinse nostalgia.
To restate, Harrison Ford is Harrison Ford, and he hasn’t exactly been damaged by the poor reaction toIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The character will similarly live on, butIndy hasn’t escaped the curse of the legacy sequel either. For a disarmingly delicate tonal balance that the first three achieve in different ways,Dial of Destinyis plagued by modern forms of directing and the need to tie everything up in a neat bow.
If the trilogy was all about adventure, thenDial of Destinyis about regret, and Indy wasn’t the best character to channel this theme. Indiana Jones might still be able to take the punches, but every time he does, we are reminded of just how unnecessary all of this is.Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destinyis streaming onDisney+now.
