As Hollywood desperately digs into its biggest franchises to make a remake or reboot, the Indiana Jones franchise is also going under the knife for one of Hollywood’s other fashionable variations, the ultimate sequel (and ending).

The franchise had already tried to pass the torch with its sequel Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull in 2008, starring Shia Labeouf who was seen as the new Indi, but like Labeouf’s career, this fourth episode was a disappointment for most fans, who still disown the film today.
Succeeding Steven Spielberg and with all the franchise’s fans against him, James Mangold had already succeeded in giving Wolverine a grand and tragic ending in his 2016 film Logan, which broke away from the superhero movie movement and recipe to make a bloody and introspective road movie. Returning to direct the end of an iconic character once again, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is an engaging and entertaining adventure for Indi’s character, but one that fails to be honest with itself and the viewer.

Set in the 1970s and its cultural upheaval in America, the character of Indiana Jones is closer to the dull professor than to the intrepid adventurer he was in the flashback that forms the film’s introduction. Overtaken by society and its changes, Indi looks more like the antiquities he studies and no longer arouses the interest of the crowds as he did forty years ago.
It’s quite apparent that the film is very meta in its commentary on the representation of Indi, and Harrison Ford himself, in today’s film culture. Adored by previous generations, forgotten by new ones in favour of superhero franchises, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny also wants to show that old franchises (and old actors) still have something to entertain with epic adventures. After all, the franchise didn’t wait for the MCU to offer action-adventure sprinkled with comedy.

A character and a franchise in search of an identity

Despite all his goodwill, Harrison Ford’s age and ability to deliver great action scenes show his weaknesses in big sequences with special effects that are sometimes very visible in his close-ups. In the middle of a tuk-tuk chase in Morocco, it’s hard not to see the green screen behind Ford, as these shots are almost omnipresent and make the sequence, while entertaining and interesting, rather long and repetitive.

So as not to put all the weight of the film on the shoulders of an 81-year-old actor, Indi shares his adventure with Helena Shaw, daughter of his scientist sidekick, Basil Shaw. Played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Helena’s taste for adventure and knowledge make her more of a female Indi than a character in her own right. This is perhaps the eternal problem with the franchise: it’s nothing without Indi, and any attempt to substitute or replace Harrison Ford’s character only results in an exact or inferior copy. Indi’s near carbon copy persona and Helena Shaw’s unsympathetic, mercenary motivations never manage to give us empathy for what happens to her, and Indi sometimes seems to be catapulted by the script’s magic into the film’s key points, because in the end, what Indi says to Helena Shaw rings just as true for the whole film: “You need me”. The notion of the driving character, the leader of the group, is questioned by several of the characters themselves, but what may come down to an interaction between two generations of adventurers and a dynamic of actors also raises our question: does the film itself know who the main character of this adventure really is ?

It’s rather contradictory to see Indiana Jones regularly relegated to the status of a follower, a secondary character, when the film constantly proves the necessity of his presence for the proper unfolding of the story.

Ending on a high note (or close to it)

Marketed as Harrison Ford’s last appearance as Indiana Jones, the film aims to give Indi’s character the ending he deserves, an adventure that resonates with everything that makes up the essence of the character, from ancient history to temple exploration to Nazis. The film wants to put an end to the character’s demons for a final resolution that would give Indi back his inner peace before hanging up his hat.
But this inner peace and the objective of giving the character an end are totally contradicted by the last shot, which shows Indi picking up his hat for the umpteenth time, as a symbol of a return to adventure. Symptomatic of an era, a cinematic climate and a studio unable to let go, this last shot is in total contradiction with the whole story and the character’s conclusion, and is proof of the inability of today’s studios to put an end to flagship franchises that are often forty years or more old. As deceitful as its own character, the film is a sell-out, dangling a satisfying ending throughout, only to turn around and leave open the possibility of making it an endless last film. This final shot once again immortalises the studios’ preference for digitising an 80-year-old actor rather than looking for new stories to tell the public. It leaves a taste of lies and greed in the mouth as the credits roll before our eyes.

You can’t help but see a contradiction between what the dialogue, the story and the communication around Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny are trying to tell us about Indi’s character, and what the images are telling us. Despite being over 40 years old, the Indiana Jones saga has never been able to separate itself from its character and actor, despite numerous attempts to introduce new characters to take up the mantle. James Mangold still manages to make an entertaining film that respects the franchise and its codes, but can’t help falling into the trap of the hero who can’t die, give up or hang up.