Overview
Finding himself in a new era, and approaching retirement, Indy wrestles with fitting into a world that seems to have outgrown him. But as the tentacles of an all-too-familiar evil return in the form of an old rival, Indy must don his hat and pick up his whip once more to make sure an ancient and powerful artifact doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
Introduction
Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) has had an adventurous career. However, he is not the same man that he used to be as he is getting older. As he gets ready to retire, his goddaughter shows up and begins asking questions about Archimedes’ Dial, an artifact that Indiana Jones stole from the Nazi’s nearly 15 years before. What did the Nazi’s want with the dial? Will Indiana be able to have one last triumph?
“It belongs in a Museum”
Dr. Henry Jones has always had a love for history, and he believes that any artifacts that he finds belong in a museum for the people to be able to learn from. Indiana loved his life as an adventurer, but he also realizes that he is getting older and can’t do the things he used to be able to do. In one scene, Indy begins to ask himself why he is doing things that he should not be doing in his sixties. However, he still wants to do what is right.
In the end, the Nazis lose and Indiana is able to retrieve the dial and puts it in a museum for people to learn from, as all artifacts should be handled.
“Why did it have to be snakes?”
There a few scenes where people are shot dead. There isn’t much blood, but there is some. A few people are seen being speared as well as falling out of an airplane. Explosions are seen as well. A few fist fights are seen as well.
Indiana Jones and a few other men are seen shirtless a few times.
We see a few people smoke and drink in a few scenes.
The Lord’s name is misused twice, once combined with the d word. Jesus’ name is misused once. The s and h words are heard a few times.
Some of the artifacts that Indy finds have some kind of mythology attached to them. For example, a blade is found that supposedly drew the blood of Jesus Christ and therefore is believed to have some kind of magic power.
“It’s not the years, it’s the mileage”
I went into this film wondering why Lucasfilm wanted to make another movie about Indiana Jones. Personally, the ending in the Last Crusade was a good ending for the character. However, they continued to make more Indiana Jones films.
The beginning of this film actually felt like it was an Indiana Jones film. The pacing, the adventure, and the action all felt right. However, when we jumped to 1969 after the first 20 minutes, the film just felt off.
While there were some good callbacks to the old films, for the most part we are watching Indiana Jones try to catch up with his goddaughter who stole something from him. Helena, the goddaughter, is a strong feminist who constantly is telling everyone that she is the leader and “in control” of the expedition. However, Indy doesn’t agree and continues doing what he has always done.
Towards the end, there were two great endings that Indy’s character could have had, and they did use one of them. Once the dial is used, Indiana and Helena are transported back in time and Indy wants to be left back in time to live out the rest of his days in the past, something that he has studied his entire life. I personally think that ending would have been fitting for Indiana, and wouldn’t have minded that ending. However, instead he goes back to his time period and reunites with his wife who cares for him and helps him recover from his wounds. The film ends with them back together which also a nice sendoff for Indiana Jones.
The Last Crusade
Overall, while this film was not necessarily necessary for the franchise, it did give Indiana Jones a good sendoff. I really enjoyed the first part of this film and the ending. The main story felt a little different from the other films, but it still had some good moments. I hope that they will now let Indiana Jones rest and let Harrison Ford go down as the one and only Indiana Jones. What did you think of this film? Let me know in the comments.
Purchase the film below:
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny | DVD
