Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (#446)


I noted in my newspaper on Thursday that it was Harrison Ford’s birthday, and that he was 81.  To celebrate the event, I went to the theater and saw INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY and after half an hour of dimly lit action I thought to myself, utilizing an oft quoted utterance attributed to the venerable Yogi Berra, it’s like deja vu all over again, except without Sean Connery as Indy’s father.  Believe it or not, he’s back battling the Nazi’s again, this time in search of a reputed invention of Archimedes, the dial of destiny.  This invention purportedly allows the user to return to the past, and the Nazi group want to go back to 1939 and assassinate Adolf Hitler.  I must have missed their reason during my many naps.  This ridiculous plot, substantiated by many ridiculous subplots. led to an overly long just plain boring and lousy movie.  At 81, Ford is too old for this nonsense, and the film makers recognized it by keeping most of the movie in low light, and when there was daylight, Harrison was kept in shadows.  There is one event that is so ludicrous that I am going to reveal it, so if you don’t want to know what happens near the ending, stop reading!  Captured by the Nazis who now possess the Dial, Indy realizes they misused it and they’re not going back to 1939 but to 314 B.C. at an ancient battle scene where Indy actually meets Archimedes and wants to stay there and learn first hand what he has to say.  Ludicrous?  Ridiculous?  That’s my take on the script.  In case you were wondering, 68% of critics and 88% of audiences gave this film a thumbs up. Guess at almost 94 I am too old for this nonsense.


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