Yesterday I saw Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (review with some spoilers).
42 years ago I escaped from school to see Raiders of the Lost Ark and today I repeated a very similar action, I escaped without giving any explanation to my boss from work to go to the movies to see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the fifth adventure of this famous archaeologist adventurer.
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I felt like a kid again, but this time with the economic capacity to buy a family pop corn and a gigantic soda.
I had a Deja Vu, I found myself in the same situation as many years ago, an almost empty movie theater, as when I was 13 years old.
There is a new object to look for in addition to the Lost Ark, the magic stones of the Temple of Doom, the holy grail that propelled the Last Crusade and the dimensional crystal skulls, this is the Dial of Destiny.
This last object was created by the Greek inventor and philosopher Archimedes, during the year 213 BC. This object could change history as we know it since it allows time travel. The dial is divided into two halves to prevent its power from falling into the wrong hands, as it turns out to be a detector capable of predicting the opening of gaps in time.
It will pass from hand to hand both by the Nazis and by Indiana Jones and his goddaughter, so it starts a race against time that will mark the last adventure of the most famous archaeologist in the world.
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Already in context, I begin to comment on the film:
Once projected 15 minutes of advertising and three trailers begins the function. I find myself in front of a film in which the brown tone of the images I see bothers me a little. There is a rejuvenation of Indiana Jones (via CGI), which in particular does not seem to me to be as shocking as in other films.
The once carefree adventurer is shown throughout the film questioning about his life, he looks tired and with a lot of bitterness inside, also I notice that this film is somewhat sober, without the vitality and agility of the previous installments directed by Steven Spielberg. It lacks a greater rhythm, and therefore sometimes even the dialogues become tiresome.
The film is devoid of that sardonic sense of humor of Indiana Jones, wanting to make up for this with nostalgia such as reminding us of the phobia of the adventurer towards snakes, the mythical scene where Jones kills the man with the whip with his gun, (but this time it is shown in reverse), the return of Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) a close collaborator of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
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John Williams' music is also used, and we are given an explanation as to why Indiana Jones' son does not appear in the film, let me tell you that the feelings that Indiana Jones transmits by his absence seem to me very false, and not at all emotional.
Helena "Wombat" Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) is his goddaughter, daughter of Basil Shaw (Toby Jones), a former explorer and archaeologist friend obsessed with the dial of destiny. She is the one in charge of detonating the dial of destiny plot. The actress manages to create a very remarkable performance accompanying Indiana Jones giving ambiguity to her intentions that in some moments is very selfish, and in others tender and collaborative.
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Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), a former Nazi and former enemy of the protagonist, who works for NASA, leads a group of Nazis and has the firm purpose of getting this device capable of changing the course of history, all this against the backdrop of the first trip to the moon. He intends to right Hitler's wrongs and restore Nazism to his favor. This actor gives a solid performance, although his role as the villain is almost cartoonish.
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Another glimpse into the past is Ethann Isidore's performance as Teddy, who is reminiscent of that character Plug from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but this time lacking the grace and sparkle of the latter.
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Antonio Banderas, playing Renaldo another collaborator of Indiana Jones who helps him in the search under the sea for this lost piece, is very underused in a very short role that could have given much more.
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There are chases in the cities of New York, Tangier, Greece and Sicily, a dive in the Aegean Sea in search of a lost piece of the dial of destiny and we will appreciate the discovery of the tomb of Archimedes.
In the last part of the film it seems that the bad guys are winning, but by miscalculation they, together with Indiana Jones, Helena Shaw and Teddy, go back to the third century BC.
A badly injured Indiana Jones wants to stay in this era and fulfill a dream, but Helena realizes that this could dramatically impact future events and create a paradox. The two have a brief conversation with Archimedess, who emerges to investigate the plane crash with an assistant. Eventually, Helena knocks Jones out with a punch and they return to 1969 together.
In this part we see the most important cameo of the film, the appearance of the appearance of Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and the kissing game (Karen Allen) and the kissing game, a replica of the scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark:
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At the end the film gives you the implication that the torch of Indiana Jones has been passed on and is more current in a new protagonist.
The screenwriters of the film are Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp and James Mangold, the music is by John Williams and the director is James Mangold.
The brown color represents autumn, it is the time when man has come to a distant life changing his life habits, his responsibilities are different, and his body is different and his abilities are diminishing. Perhaps this reasoning was applied to the film and is transmitted to us through the filter of this color.I really don't know if this opaque and brown color of the film is the work of its authors or a mistake of the movie theater where I saw the movie.
The script presents an attractive story but its execution although not bad is not as agile as Steven Spielberg would have done, in this film they sent Indiana Jones to a more than deserved retirement in a story with good action scenes.
The beginning of the film where they find the dial of destiny and Indiana Jones fights against the Nazis with his friend and colleague Basil Shaw and the last 20 minutes in an unexpected trip to the past where we witness a war in the third century BC are two of the most exciting scenes.
But I feel that there are many sections of the film that lack dynamism, I recommend the film because the performances are very good and gives us a closure to the story of Indiana Jones, but its lack of dynamism and that strange brown color have made me want to see the first three films of the saga, and even the fourth (although Shia LeBeouf is not one of my favorite actors).
The film is just beginning its commercial career and many analysts already consider it a failure, I say it is far superior to The Flash, and deserves a chance, although it could have been a better film than it is given the lack of agility in some parts of the story by its director.
This film was released yesterday July 29th in Latin America, I hope this little review has been to your liking, greetings to all.
Posted using CineTV