Rating of
3/4
Long-awaited sequel that has a sense of finality.
Indyfreak - wrote on 07/15/23
Director James Mangold takes over the Indiana Jones franchise from Steven Spielberg. Although it is a half hour longer than necessary and there’s more CGI than I prefer, it’s a solid effort.
The opening twenty minutes is a WW2 prologue and the entire feel is identical to the original movies. The de-aging effects for Harrison Ford is better than expected, and the action is exciting. The spirit of Indians Jones seems reinvigorated again in these moments.
The main plot brings us to 1969 after the Moon landing and Indiana Jones is propelled back into a new adventure after a chance encounter with his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). Meanwhile an old enemy of Jones (Mads Mikkelsen) is looking for the same artifact as Helena. An ancient relic that can supposedly harness time travel! Now it’s a race literally against time around the world from New York to Morocco and then Greece.
There’s a lot of chase scenes in this sequel that are competently handled. You can tell that James Mangold wanted to evoke the earlier movies. A hectic escapade through the streets of Tangier is a highlight. The final action scene is absolutely bonkers and easily one of the most memorable set-pieces in the whole series. No spoilers for that part.
Harrison Ford is a bit more grouchy than the other movies but here we see why later. And they’re well acted moments from Ford. Mads Mikkelsen is appropriately slimy as the chief villain, an ex-Nazi who has surprising motivations for acquiring the dial in question. We see return appearances by familiar characters and it’s a warm reminder of exactly why we enjoy them in the first place.
Now we have to get to Jones’ newer companions. I hate to say this but Phoebe Waller-Bridge was miscast as his co-lead Helena Shaw. She’s much more grating than captivating as a screen presence. It doesn’t help that her character has a treacherous streak in relation to Indiana Jones. I think someone else like Felicity Jones or Daisy Ridley would be more compelling.
They also throw in a kid sidekick who is not great but he’s not necessarily annoying. He’s just kind of there. But there’s an escape scene he’s in that is actually clever. It’s very telling that Antonio Banderas shows up in essentially a cameo but I can buy his rapport with Harrison Ford better. Boyd Holbrook plays the bad guy’s lead henchman and he’s yukking it up.
Another complaint I have is the movie is fairly long at 2.5 hours. There’s certainly room to trim it down to a full two hours. Honestly as much as I liked the opening action scene, it could have been cut. Or maybe a few bits of idle chitchat in some scenes.
Overall, this is probably the best Indiana Jones movie to expect with an 80 year old Harrison Ford. The sense of adventure is still there and it’s got plenty of action to spare.
