Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) is an American action adventure film directed by James Mangold, who co-wrote it with Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and David Koepp. It is the sequel to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), as well as the fifth and final installment in the Indiana Jones film series. Featuring Harrison Ford, John Rhys-Davies, and Karen Allen reprising their roles as Indiana Jones, Sallah, and Marion Ravenwood, respectively, new cast members include Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore, and Mads Mikkelsen. Set in 1969, the film follows Indy and his estranged goddaughter, Helena, who are trying to locate a powerful artifact before Jürgen Voller, a Nazi-turned-NASA scientist who plans to use it to alter the outcome of World War II.
Dial of Destiny is the only film in the series that is neither directed by Steven Spielberg nor conceived by George Lucas, with both serving as executive producers instead. It is also the first film in the series not to be distributed by Paramount Pictures, following the Walt Disney Studios' acquisition of Lucasfilm and film rights for future sequels. Paramount retains the distribution rights to the first four films and a residual associate credit.
Plans for a fifth Indiana Jones film date back to the late 1970s, when a deal was made with Paramount to produce four sequels to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Lucas began researching potential plot devices for a fifth film in 2008, and Koepp was eventually hired to write the film in 2016. A release date was set for 2019, which was then delayed several times due to rewrites and the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, Jonathan Kasdan replaced Koepp and eventually left the project. Spielberg was originally set to direct but stepped down in 2020, with Mangold taking his place. Filming began in June 2021 in various locations including the United Kingdom, Italy, and Morocco, wrapping in February 2022. Longtime franchise composer John Williams returned to compose and conduct the film's score.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny premiered out of competition at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2023, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 30, by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film receveid lukewarm reviews from critics and grossed $383 million worldwide, becoming a box office bomb due to a lack of wide audience appeal and an expensive overall budget resulting in a nearly $100 million loss for Disney.
Plot
In 1944, Nazis capture Indiana Jones and Oxford archeologist Basil Shaw as they attempt to retrieve the Lance of Longinus from a castle in the French Alps. Astrophysicist Jürgen Voller informs his superiors the Lance is fake, but he has found half of Archimedes' Dial, an Antikythera mechanism built by the ancient Syracusan mathematician Archimedes which reveals time fissures, allowing for possible time travel. Indy escapes onto a Berlin-bound train filled with looted antiquities and frees Basil. He obtains the Dial piece, and the two leap from the train just before Allied forces derail it.
Twenty-five years later, in 1969, an elderly Indy is retiring from Hunter College in New York City. His wife, Marion Ravenwood, has recently left him and filed for legal separation due to Indy's depression after their son Mutt was killed in the Vietnam War. Indy's goddaughter, archaeologist Helena Shaw, unexpectedly visits, claiming she wants to research the Dial. Indy warns that her late father, Basil, became obsessed studying the Dial before relinquishing it to Indy to destroy, which he never did.
As Indy and Helena retrieve the Dial half from the college archives, Voller's accomplices attack them. The CIA assists Voller, now working for NASA as "Dr. Schmidt". Helena, revealed as an antiquities smuggler, absconds with the Dial to auction it on the black market. Indy is framed for two colleagues' murders, forcing him to escape through the Apollo 11 moon landing parade, then an anti-war protest. He seeks out his old friend Sallah, now a New York cab driver.
Sallah surmises Helena will likely auction the Dial in Tangier, then helps Indy flee the country. At a Tangier hotel, Indy disrupts Helena's illegal private auction, but Voller and his henchmen arrive and steal the artifact. Indy, Helena, and her teen sidekick Teddy Kumar chase them through the streets in a tuk-tuk. The CIA intercepts Voller after the U.S. government disavows him for going rogue, but his cohorts murder the agents and steal their helicopter.
Indy, Helena, and Teddy trail Voller to Greece and team up with Indy's old friend Renaldo, a professional sea diver. Guided by Basil's research, they dive to an ancient Aegean Sea shipwreck and retrieve a "graphikos" tablet containing directions to the Dial's other half. Voller arrives and murders Renaldo. Indy's group escapes and heads to Sicily, pursued by Voller.
Inside the Ear of Dionysius cavern, Indy and Helena find Archimedes' tomb, the Dial's second half, and a 20th century wristwatch on Archimedes' skeletal arm. Voller appears and captures Indy, wounding him. Helena and Teddy escape and chase Voller. After reassembling the Dial, Voller reveals his plans to time travel back to 1939 to assassinate Adolf Hitler and help lead Germany to victory in World War II. At an airfield, Voller activates the Dial and locates a time fissure in the sky. Indy is held captive on Voller's stolen plane while Helena stows away through its landing gear. Teddy follows them in another plane.
While approaching the fissure, Indy realizes that continental drift could have altered the timeline coordinates. Rather than 1939, the group arrives at the Siege of Syracuse in 212 BC. The warring armies shoot down Voller's plane, believing it is a dragon. Indy and Helena parachute out just before the plane crashes, killing everyone aboard, while Teddy lands safely. Archimedes finds Voller's body and wristwatch in the wreckage. He gives Indy the Dial but keeps the watch. Indy and Helena learn that Archimedes created the Dial to bring users from the future through fissures that lead only to 212 BC, in order to obtain their assistance in the battle against the overwhelming Roman force. As the fissure begins to collapse, Indy wants to remain behind, feeling he has nothing to return to. Helena, fearing a time paradox and unwilling to give up on him, knocks Indy unconscious.
Back in the present, a recovering Indy awakens in his apartment. Helena, Teddy, Sallah, and Marion are there as well. As everyone else leaves in order to give them privacy, Indy reconciles with Marion.
Credits
Directed by: #JamesMangold
Written by:
Based on Characters by:
Produced by:
Starring:
Cinematography: #PhedonPapamichael
Edited by:
Music by: #JohnWilliams
Production Companies:
Distributed by: #WaltDisneyStudios Motion Pictures
Release dates:
May 18, 2023 (Cannes)
June 30, 2023 (United States)
Running time: 154 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English
Budget: $295–300 million
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