Film Review

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary artifact that can change the course of history.

“It’s not the years, honey. It’s the mileage.” It’s hard to believe Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) once made that remark in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), 42 years ago, when he was only 39. Audiences would gladly turn back the clock to the days when everyone was introduced to the globe-trotting archaeology professor and part-time tomb raider.

The Indiana Jones saga, especially the first three classic instalments, is an icon of the action-adventure genre — so much so that every modern equivalent (National Treasure, Tomb Raider, Uncharted) owes them a debt and can’t resist referencing them. The franchise was already a vehicle for nostalgia in the 1980s, as writer-producer George Lucas used them as a means to update his beloved 1930s serials, which even inspired the term “cliffhanger” because their all-American heroes would commonly end each instalment clinging precariously off a cliff-face. Now, the fifth and likely final instalment arrives with Harrison Ford an…