Experience the return of legendary hero, Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones (Harrison Ford), in the fifth installment of his beloved swashbuckling series of films. Finding himself in a new era, 1969 to be exact, 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, Dr. Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelson), Indy must don his fedora and pick up his whip once more to make sure an ancient and powerful artifact doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary dial that can change the course of history. Accompanied by his goddaughter, Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), he soon finds himself squaring off against Voller, who just happens to be a former Nazi who works as a scientist for NASA.
Others to round out the cast are Antonio Banderas as Renaldo, Karen Allen as Marion, John Rhys-Davies as Sallah, Shawnette Renee Wilson as Agent Mason, Toby Jones as Basil Shaw, Boyd Holbrook as Klaber, Thomas Kretschmann as Colonel Weber, Eth ann Isidore as Teddy, Olivier Richters as Hauke and Martin McDougall as Durkin.
This was grippingly and intensely directed by James Mangold ("Heavy" '95, "Cop Land" '97, "Girl, Interrupted" '99, "Kate & Leopold" '01, "Identity" '03, "Walk the Line" '05, "3:10 to Yuma" '07, "Knight and Day" '10, "The Wolverine" '13, "Ford v Ferrari" '19) plus TV. Considering this filmmaker hasn't been involved with this franchise clearly speaks volumes of his ability as a fine and detailed director. Of course, Harrison Ford knows Indy like the back of his hand, but it is still fine directing that showcases this director's ability to show his audience the 'at ease' in which Ford portrayed this character. His last film, "Ford v Ferrari" was amazingly well directed, so it wasn't much of a stretch to believe that this film would have the same quality. If you like this director's brand, his "Star Wars: Down of the Jedi" is in pre production. This was equally well penned by writers Jez Butterwork, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp and James Mangold. With only one of these writers being an alumni of this franchise--Koepp who wrote one other Indy film, and with so many writers involved, it' was written so effortlessly that one would've assumed that it was written by all alumni of past Indy films. Considering the vast experience each of these writers have, it's no surprise that it was delineated well. Usually if there is more that two writers involved in any given script, the story has a tendency to become mired with inconsistencies and confusion--too many chefs in the kitchen, but because these writers are seasoned to the degree in which they are, we have been given a tight, cohesive and well thought out screenplay. And, like aforementioned, the visual effects predominantly designed by ILM, were seamless, especially in the sequences where both AI and older footage of Harrison Ford were used. The score, which was created by John Williams, who wrote the music for the original, was moving and definitely helped showcase the story.
Certainly, if you are an Indy fan, you'll love this, but even not, and you yearn for more escapism when going to the multiplex, this definitely fits the bill. Was it as good as the original? No, but it definitely kept me glued for the two and a half hour running time. Ford says, this is the end of Indy Jones, but it is too bad since it's a fascinating franchise. This was executive produced by Spielberg and Lucas. How bad could this be? You be the judge.
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: PG-13 154mins.
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