War für dich der MacGuffin episch genug und nachvollziehbar genug dargestellt?

Meine Bewertung: 9 von 13 komischen Dingsis

Zur Erklärung: Der Film war für mich eine solide 9 von 10, aber mancher würde dann die Teile 1-3 irgendwo zwischen 11 und 13 einordnen, einfach dafür dass es Ausnahmefilme waren.

Ein paar spoilerfreie Beobachtungen:

- Der Film strotzt vor fetter Action, echten Sets und Location und damit einer "Schwere", die viele Leute bei CGI vermissen. Leider gab es ganz wenige CGI Szenen, die schlecht gemacht waren. Man hätte sie einfach weglassen können. Dummerweise wurde die einzig wirklich Üble durch das erste Einsetzen des Main-Themes "geadelt". Wer keine Computer-Effekte ertragen kann, sollten den Film nicht anschauen

- Papamichael ist kein Slocombe, aber die KotCS-Look Hasser dürften zufrieden sein

- Ein Reviewer sagte, dass Indy am Ende "Out of Character" war, ich habe vergeblich versucht, diese Stellen zu finden.

- Ein anderer schrieb, dass das Main-Theme inflationär eingesetzt wurde bei jedem Auftritt von Indy. Fand ich nicht. Ich bemerke zwar selten Musik, aber ich fand, das Hauptthema wurde sparsam eingesetzt und es gab viel gute Musik zur Action.

- Der Film hätte eine halbe Stunde kürzer sein können, da war auch viel Drumherum, auch mal langsamer. Kann man sicher als "bad pacing" bezeichnen, aber genauso kann man aus heutiger Sicht sagen, "2001" könnte zwei Stunden kürzer sein.

- Ich fand weder die weibliche noch die jugendliche Hauptrolle (zu viel Spoiler?) nervig oder mit einem Mangel an Heldenverehrung. Die weibliche Hauptrolle schien mir etwas sprunghaft im Charakter.

- Old Indy war mir überhaupt nicht zu alt und schon gar nicht für gute Action.

- Anspielungen an die ersten Filme waren mir etwas zu sehr "by the book", um mal einen leicht negativen Punkt zu nennen.

- Was die Story und einige Szenen angeht, ist das für mich ein "Enjoy now - ask questions later" Film, was auch immer man daraus machen möchte.

Es geht los mit deutschen Kritiken auf Youtube von Filmmagazinen etc.

For some reason, this movie didn’t feel like my Indy or the one I expected to see after a 15 year break (or 12 years by the films chronology) . With that said, I’m NOT saying its a bad film. I give it a 7/10. Its just not where I expected the character of Indy to be in 1969.
They did a lot of what I call “checkbox movie making” to get the movie on the right track to quiet some fans angered by Crystal Skull.
Gunfight - Check!
Whip play - Check!
Map/travel - Check!
References to previous films -Check!
Brilliant score by the master John Williams - Check!
Indiana Jones and Dial of Destiny has chases. Fights. Creepy crawlies. Everything you would expect from an Indy film. So far so good.
The cast is fine, though when I hear Antonio Banderas talk, all I hear is Puss n Boots nowadays. Phoebe Walker-Bridges is also a great companion, not the overbearing, scene-stealer that was rumored by so many “fans” over the past few years. She is a far better than Mac was a sidekick. Loved Maads Mikkelson as the main bad guy, he is always good and he services the story quite well. Special shout out to Thomas Kretschmann as the WW2 Nazi colonel in the flashback opening. I remember him as the boat captain in King Kong and Baron Strucker in Avengers: Age of Ultron. When I interviewed him at New York Comic Con in 2019 I said that he’d be great as an Indy villain. Glad my hunch was correct.
It has a decent McGuffin, some ancient dial from thousands of years ago that has a mysterious power. Stop the bad guys from getting and taking over the world. Thats all standard Indy and its fine.
The CGI flashback effect was well done. Though the older Harrison sounding voice coming out of the 45-ish face threw me for a loop and took a few minutes to get used too. Surprised they didnt modulate or speed it up it to sound - “younger”.
If I had to put my finger on it, the only thing that really bugged me about the movie. I just didnt like seeing such a battered, beaten down Indy that drinks too much to hide his troubles. I never thought he would end up that cranky, old loser of teacher no one wanted. I thought he would be more respectable in the end like his dad as played by Sean Connery in Last Crusade. At some part in the movie cranky old Indy reminded me of George Hall’s eye patch wearing (from the now edited out) portrayal on the first run of Young Indiana Jones Chronicles in the 1990s.
Without spoiling a thing - for all the grief the 4th Indy movie gets - Believe it or not - Crystal Skull was a brighter more upbeat tone for Indy. I do not understand why modern filmmakers like Mangold, seem turn all our childhood heroes into cranky, miserable jerks - Luke Skywalker, Batman, Han Solo - its like that upbeat, heroic spirit has been beaten down into a cynical hermit. Obi-Wan in the 77 Star Wars was older but had a quality of honor and dignity around him even for a “wizard who was a crazy old man” as Uncle Owen called him.
There are parts of the script that bring in real world issues going on in the late 1960s, the war, social unrest, even the moon landing. Look, I look at these films as adventure movies not historical documentaries. That was the Young Indy TV show’s schtick. Here they are just thrown in for background decoration. Though Indy hiding in a group of anti-war protest is played for laughs it felt out of place.
There are some unresolved plot points in Dial of Destiny that we discussed after the movie ended. A few as frustrating as the Crystal Skull ones. Like remember when Indy fled the country after being considered a Commie-sympathizer by the FBI and returns without any other witnesses to Spalko, Mac and Russians dying except his pals and all is forgiven and he got promoted to assistant Dean after being fired?
However, it still has my favorite actor playing my favorite character so it gets a pass no matter what. In the end, its FINE. It gives Harrison Ford some GREAT acting moments and I am glad he got to wrap up the part he has played for over four decades. The man deserves an award for the vast catalog of entertainment he has been part of.
BUT….
Here is the nitpicking, without spoiling: I always saw Indy as a scholarly Carl Kolchak the hero if the old Night Stalker show. Getting into bizarre, supernatural situations looking for treasure/museum pieces rather than newspaper stories. Ford even had that Darren McGavin comedic/serious when he needs to be acting style.
All the other Indy movies ended with our hero smiling, even though frustrated he didn’t get to keep the prize. This time it felt like they should have played Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” over the credits.
There is a vignette/iris closing effect, like an old movie or Looney Tunes cartoon. I almost expected Indy to say “th-th-thats all folks”!
It suggested what? Everything is just fine. Nothing to see here. I was like - man that was kind of depressing. Again they turned him into too much of a real a person with problems beyond poison darts, voodoo, snake pits and all the rest— Indy isnt a superhero with powers, but he’s not in need of therapy. He’s a serial daredevil, a matinee hero this guy in Dial of Destiny is joe average.
They turned him into the action movie version of Hawkeye Pierce at the end of MASH. Same name. Same clothes. Same job. But he evolved into someone else. But that worked as the show slowly evolved over 200+ episodes. After 11 years it seemed seem-less, but with only 5 movies the leap from the character in Temple of Doom in 1935 (it was a prequel after all ) to this guy in 1969 he seemed totally alien. I thought Ford’s last turn as Han Solo and Rick Deckard seemed more consistent in tone.
But for his “LAST” adventure. I wanted something more epic in scale - like the whole world would know his name and that he saved the world and give him his due.
If the filmmakers we are going for “fan service” I would have thrown in a few more cameos. But I realize thats the movie in my head. As George Lucas said when fans complained about Return of the Jedi in 1983, you can never satisfy the movie the fans created in their imagination. So I admit I am a victim of that dilema. I asked “INDYFANS” filmmaker and friend, Brandon Kleyla, who was at the LA premiere too, why didn’t they show Indyfans the script before filming and ask for an opinion. He said “don’t get me started”, just to fine tune it here and there.
You only get one shot at this so lets go for broke. I look at season 3 of Picard. Producer Terry Matalas got the balance of nostalgia and new story telling perfectly. Mangold turned Indy into Logan from that self titled movie, not that comic book-heroic Wolverine but a sick, aging worn out limo driver that drinks too much and looking to get away from it all. There it worked better than what he did with Indy in this film. Logan/Wolverine was an outcast loner looking for a family (I know as I have been reading about him since I bought his first appearance in Hulk 181 off the spinner rack at 7/11 in the 1970s. Indy is different. Indy has always been surrounded by a family of friends and allies around the world.
In the end, DIAL OF DESTINY its a FINE Indy movie and with some fine tuning it could have been Last Crusade great! The opening WW2 sequence is worth the price of a ticket - and it does entertain.
My ranking, Raiders, Last Crusade, Doom, Dial and then Skull. It is above Skull because pacing is better, story is tighter, and above all because he was punching out the scum of the Earth - you know those goose-stepping morons.
See you later Indiana Jones, it has been the adventure of a lifetime. Truly a great ride for 42 years, I enjoyed all the mileage but not all the years it took to get here.
A 7/10. B-