Goodbyes donB次元官网网址檛 tend to mean much in the Hollywood franchise system. Death isnB次元官网网址檛 a reliable end for characters or, lately, even actors.
Technology, nostalgia and the often-inflated value of brands and IP have created a nightmarish cycle of resurrection and regurgitation, curdling what we love most.
And yet when someone like , for better or worse, you believe him. B次元官网网址淚ndiana JonesB次元官网网址� producer Frank Marshall has also said that they wonB次元官网网址檛 recast the character, which seems more dubious and, though well-intentioned, something he wonB次元官网网址檛 be able to guarantee. All it takes is a new executive demanding a reboot.
Not that it would ever really work, though. Any self-respecting movie fan knows the truth: The magic of Indiana Jones belongs wholly to Harrison Ford.
Apparently, he doesnB次元官网网址檛 even necessarily need Steven Spielberg behind the camera, though, to be fair, the foundation was well-laid for a veteran like . But there is no Indy B次元官网网址� none that we care about anyway B次元官网网址攚ithout Ford.
In this way, itB次元官网网址檚 hard not to go into B次元官网网址淚ndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,B次元官网网址� in theaters Friday, without a sense of melancholy B次元官网网址� not exactly the ideal state of mind for what should be, and mostly is, a fun summer blockbuster. But it certainly adds a poignancy to the whole endeavor whether the film merits it or not.
If only it didnB次元官网网址檛 start with that pesky de-aging technology (the best itB次元官网网址檚 ever looked but it remains unsettling), giving us a 45-year-old Indiana Jones doing some of the wildest stunts weB次元官网网址檝e ever seen our beloved archeology professor attempt B次元官网网址� atop a speeding train to boot. This sequence is ostensibly there to introduce the filmB次元官网网址檚 MacGuffin, Archimedes Antikythera, a real celestial calculation machine with extraordinary predictive capabilities that in the film is bestowed with some otherworldly powers.
But we know the real reason: ItB次元官网网址檚 there to let us gaze at that familiar face and to go on one last adventure with the Indy we grew up with, before being thrust back reality with a nearly 80-year-old Ford (heB次元官网网址檚 81 in July) playing a 70-something Indy.
This isnB次元官网网址檛 inherently sad, but Dr. Jones is certainly reintroduced in the most unglamorous way possible: Sleeping on a reclining chair in a sad New York apartment, a glass of something alcoholic in his hand and threadbare boxer shorts on his person. HeB次元官网网址檚 depression personified, retiring from the university where the kids barely pay attention to him anyway (long gone are the B次元官网网址淚 love youB次元官网网址� eyelids), estranged from Karen AllenB次元官网网址檚 Marion and watching the world go space crazy around him.
WeB次元官网网址檒l have to see him work back up to his adventuresome self. No training montages required, thankfully, just a plane ticket, his classic uniform (still fits!) and his old improvisational spirit.
The cumbersome plot (script is credited to Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp and Mangold) strains to justify and give meaning to the search for the Antikythera: The FBI is on the hunt for it, as is Nazi scientist J眉rgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) for whom the war hasnB次元官网网址檛 ended, and the daughter (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) of IndyB次元官网网址檚 late partner Basil (Toby Jones) who was driven mad by the gadget.
ItB次元官网网址檚 a bit much, as are many of the overly elaborate and strangely murky-looking action sequences from the train in 1944 to a deep-sea diving sequence with killer eels. The movie hits its action high notes when it sticks to the tactile classics, like a brilliantly executed rickshaw chase in Tangier.
Waller-BridgeB次元官网网址檚 Helena is an enormously enjoyable character, too B次元官网网址� a brilliant archeologist herself whoB次元官网网址檚 chosen a more glamorous, dangerous and decidedly black market kind of existence, selling stolen antiquities to the worldB次元官网网址檚 wealthiest and working her way out of debt. SheB次元官网网址檚 introduced as a wild card and a lot of the tension is derived from whether Indy should trust her.
ItB次元官网网址檚 a very good non-romantic pairing of sharp-witted old souls, a generation apart. But youB次元官网网址檇 think in an almost two-and-a-half-hour film there might have been more time for one of our returning favorites, like John Rhys-Davies Sallah (he does get a few good moments).
IB次元官网网址檓 not sure anyone had an especially burning need to know what Indiana Jones was up to lately, but at least it gives everyone a chance to end on a higher note than B次元官网网址淜ingdom of the Crystal Skull.B次元官网网址� Or maybe Ford just needed some closure on one of his iconic characters so that everyone will stop asking him about them.
B次元官网网址淚ndiana Jones and the Dial of DestinyB次元官网网址� might not be B次元官网网址淩aidersB次元官网网址� or B次元官网网址淭he Last CrusadeB次元官网网址� but itB次元官网网址檚 solid, swashbuckling summer fare and a dignified sendoff to one of cinemaB次元官网网址檚 most flawless castings.
B次元官网网址淚ndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,B次元官网网址� a Walt Disney Co. release in theaters Friday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for, B次元官网网址渓anguage, action, sequences of violence, smoking.B次元官网网址� Running time: 144 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
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