Harrison Ford will universally be remembered for two things – Han Solo and Indiana Jones. At 81, the former carpenter who lucked out after years of struggling as an actor when he was cast as Solo in the first Star Wars. He was 35 and now a household name. But as luck has it, his destiny has been based on directors having to recast.
Originally Glynn Turman was considered for the role of Solo, but George Lucas was worried how audiences would react to a black man and a white woman romantically involved. Ford had been cast in American Graffitti, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now by the time he was asked to read with other actors. Lucas didn’t want to hire an actor he had previously worked with but there was something about Ford that attracted Lucas.
In the early 1980s, he wasn’t supposed to be cast as Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones Jr. in Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was Tom Selleck. Google it and you’ll see photos online. But Selleck had a problem. He had a contractural obligation to appear on Magnum P.I. But there was a TV actors strike that would have allowed him to work as it delayed production. The Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists wouldn’t merge until 2012. Oh, well, these things happen.
Steven Spielberg continue to push for Ford to be cast and eventually it happened. And the rest is history. Indiana Jones was intended to be an Allan Quartermain type of advernturer mixing Erroll Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks heroics with a James Bond feel. Raiders has a little bit of meta tongue-in-cheek humor as Indiana is supposed to be a great hero but gets most of his accomplishments through pure luck. A fan theory has circulated it would’ve been better had Indiana allowed the Ark of the Covenant to go to Berlin where it would’ve done in Adolf Hitler and ended the Third Reich.
But what made the first one so wonderful was how it felt like a great adventure that didn’t take itself seriously. Indiana almost seemed to fly by the seat of his pants on his adventures as he’s having to battle Nazis. At one point, he tells Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) and Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) “I don’t know I’m making this up as I go” when he talks of hijacking a truck that is carrying the Ark. Earlier, Ford and the rest of the cast and crew were suffering from food poisoning so while he had diarrhea and weak, Ford told Spielberg Indiana should just shoot a swordsman rather than fighting him. Spielberg liked the idea and filmed it. And so did audiences.
Spielberg isn’t around for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny except just as a producer. James Mangold handles the director reigns. Mangold has grown from an independent film director in the 1990s to a wonderful filmmaker with movies like Logan and the underrated The Wolverine. And for the most part, he is able to direct in the style of Spielberg but not trying to echo Spielberg. And this is both good and bad. Spielberg advised Mangold to direct like he was filming one long movie trailer. And this is the type of trailer you can get up and go get popcorn and a Dr. Pepper and not miss anything.
The movie begins in the final days of Germany’s involvement in World War II as Indiana is arrested as a spy by Nazi soldiers led by Colonel Weber (Thomas Kretschmann who is always available to play Nazi officers). Indiana and Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) an Oxford archeologist, are trying to retrieve the Lance of Longinus in the French Alps. On a train, they encountered astrophysicist Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) who has found the Archimedes’ Dial. This quite possibly could enable time travel which is more powerful.
Indiana is able to get out and free Basil as they run from the Germans on a speeding train bound for Berlin. Mangold is able to film an exciting prologue action sequence that is thrilling. Indiana and Basil stop the Nazis and take the Dial with them thinking that it’s all over and and done with.
The movie flashes to the summer of 1969 as Indiana is now an older man. His marriage to Marion, which ended the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, is on very rocky ground where divorce is being considered. It’s said later that their son, Mutt, died in the Vietnam War, causing Marion to become depressed with grief. Indiana is finishing up his last days at Hunter College as the students don’t seem in awe of him anymore. They’re more interested in the NASA astronauts who have just returned from walking on the moon. I like how this shows how times were changing but Indiana as an archeologist is still stuck in the past.
Indiana is visited by Basil’s daughter, Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who initially he doesn’t realized. In the years since WWII, Indiana and Basil fell out of contact as Basil, now deceased, became obsessed with studying the dial. He sent Indiana half to destroy it but he never did, leaving it in the college archives. But what they don’t initially know is that Voller has survived the war and is in New York City where he’s employed some people to get the Dial half by any means necessary.
It’s at this point, the movie kinda goes on auto-pilot going through the same motions we’ve seen before in previous movies. Indiana and Helena travel from NYC to Tangier and then to Greece. Sallah pops up in a supporting role just long for us to realize it’s him as he helps Indiana out once again. Rhys-Davies is 79 so he probably can’t do much running around like he used to 35-40 years ago.
Following the opening sequence in WWII, it feels more of a letdown. Despite the obvious CGI special effects, it never feels dull. However, once Indiana and Helena go globetrotting, the store lacks the excitement it should have. It’s not Mangold’s problem. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull lacked a lot of the thrills of the first three movies. And while I can understand what they were trying to do with the aliens, it never did really work.
Maybe they should’ve just left Indiana, Sallah, his father, and Marcus riding off into the sunset at the end of The Last Crusade. Ford still has the charisma as Indiana but the plot seems to take on a more James Bondian style. While I said that Indiana always seemed like James Bond, he did his own thing. But there’s not the same framining that the previous movies had. These are more episodic sequences.
This leads to a final act that might rub audiences and fans wrong. But the previous movies present an Ark of the Covenant that had supernatural spirits destroy Nazis by melting their faces; a Thugee cult that ripped people’s hearts out and they remained alive; a Knight who was able to live hundreds of years by drinking from the Holy Grail and of course the aliens. The Indiana Jones movies have always towed the line between reality and the supernatural. I have previously posted how The Temple of Doom is actually a horror movie.
Ford still looks good as Indiana even though you can tell there’s some stunt doubles and careful editing during certain scenes. The theme this time deals with Indiana having to question his life’s work. Times have changed and he’s stuck having to teach students who have to take his class as a requirement. But he’s also dealing with guilt and grief himself over whether he should have stopped Mutt from enlisting.
Mikkelsen does his usual bit as a villain. He wants to go back in time to assassinate Hitler and assume his power. As Voller tells someone, America didn’t win the war against Germany, Hitler made too many mistakes that he feels he can correct. (In reality, America never did declare war on Germany but Japan. Germany declared war on America.) Considering this is the third time Indiana has dealt with Nazis, I feel it was done because it worked best earlier.
Waller-Bridge is a harder role because Helena isn’t much of a good addition. And it’s not because she’s a woman. The character never seems fully developed. Helena is Indiana’s goddaughter but they never seem to have much charisma. Antonio Banderas pops up in a smaller role as Renaldo, another old friend of Indiana’s whose experience as a frogman comes in handy.
Like a lot of movies, it seems to be too concerned with a longer than needed run time and special effects rather than the pacing of the plot. It works at times and doesn’t work at other times. And an Indiana Jones movie should be one long fun ride. Sadly, there’s too many scenes that seem to stop the pacing cold dead.
The movie’s less than stellar box office return considering that it cost up to $300 million means this will be the last time we see Indiana as he has hung up his lasso and Fedrora for good. I really don’t see the need for another movie. Ford has played this role five times in movies and once on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Just like Solo where he played five times in a movie and that infamous Holiday Special, he’s probably reading to move on to other things as he’s set to appear as Thunderbolt Ross following the death of William Hurt.
If might have been in Ford’s destiny to play Han Solo and Indiana Jones but should he do it for much longer is the question.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 