Seems we were all wrong, 2008’s Crystal Skull was only the finale for Lucas (thankfully) and Spielberg (pretty cliché now). Disney forced Ford to put on the fedora one more time as they digitized his face for flashbacks, and probably more. James Mangold did a really great job directing and Phoebe Waller-Bridge was awesome as Indy’s god-daughter. Now I’m certain this is it for Ford. He’s 89. I think he’ll die before divorcing no-talent Flockhart.
I loved Dial because it brought back the element which always work…punching Nazis! Plus Indy is finally going after a real historical object, an antikythera. Being Hollywood all they got right was the name. Its size and inventor were dead wrong; to keep out spoilers, I won’t state the facts. I also used ‘an’ and ‘the’ as I’m confident more than one was probably made given the mechanical device’s real purpose.
After the traditional opening involving some other event in his adventures, the story jumps to NYC a couple weeks after the first moon landing. He’s 80. He’s teaching remedial stuff at some unnamed university. College students of 1969 could care less. But trouble always finds him first as his god-daughter pumps him for information followed by a surrogate for Dr. Werner von Braun. Both are looking for what they call the antikythera. Why? One just wants money and obviously the Nazi has more sinister plans. You will have to see it now to find out where all this leads.
Meanwhile, I would say, screw the complainers who fall into two camps. The first are the usual Incels like Ben Shapiro. They find the weakest of reasons to hate a woman starring in a film. The second are in my brother’s camp. They’ll bitch about anything, namely how their childhoods were ruined. I readily admit I liked Crystal Skull until the aliens. This was out of character. Yes, Indiana Jones is involved with the fantastic, the impossible and too a fault, mythical. Aliens hiding in South America or inspiring pre-Columbian civilization was desperate. As if the writers threw it out there to get out of a corner they boxed themselves into while the Soviet thugs being killed off lacked the satisfaction Nazis dying gets. Ergo, Dial brings back what made Raiders and Crusade loved for decades. I also stand by a wish to see a new actor replace Ford to continue further adventures, preferably during WWII or the Thirties.
Alamo Extras:
- Trailers for Treasure of the Four Crowns, Romancing the Stone and Dakota Harris (Sky Pirates).
- Alamo’s plug for their movie about the kids who took seven years to make their own version of Raiders.
- Devo’s “Whip It” video.
- Weird Al’s parody of Raiders from UHF.
- A plug for the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland starring (I think) a kid actor from Home Improvement.
- The rest of the time was used by Master Pancake Theater’s John Erler giving a great synopsis of all things Indiana Jones up to this movie: all four movies and short-lived TV show.