The plot: Daredevil archaeologist Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary dial that can change the course of history. Accompanied by his goddaughter, he soon finds himself squaring off against Jürgen Voller, a former Nazi who works for NASA.
Genre: Adventure, Action
Directed byJames Mangold
Produced byKathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Simon Emanuel
Screenplay by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp, James Mangold
Based on Characters; by: George Lucas; Philip Kaufman
Starring: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore & Mads Mikkelsen.
Cinematography: Phedon Papamichael
Music by John Willams
Edited by Michael McCusker, Andrew Buckland, Dirk Westervelt
Production companies: Walt Disney Pictures, Lucasfilm Ltd.
Distributed by: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Channel: Disney+
This Indiana Jones movie was bad.
Pros: I like the first 20 minutes. Hearing John Williams’s classic music was fun and me getting to experience a Indiana Jones movie for the first time.
Cons: I didn’t like how long this film was it seemed to drag. Helena wasn’t so great as Jones’s Goddaughter, I found her obnoxious and rude. Voller’s minions were boring. Indy didn’t feel like Indy for most of this film and it doesn’t know what story it’s trying to tell.
The Casts:
- Harrison Ford as Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones Jr., a world-renowned globe-trotting archaeologist and college professor. Ford was 80 years old at the time of the film’s release.
- Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Helena Shaw, Indy’s goddaughter. The filmmakers described the character as “slippery, charming, the girl next door, a grifter,” a “pioneer in ethical accounting” and similar to comedic characters with “machine-gun” dialogue akin to those of Ben Hecht‘s plays. She is the daughter of Indy’s old friend and colleague, Basil Shaw. Holly Lawton portrays a young Helena.
- Mads Mikkelsen as Jürgen Voller, a German scientist, astrophysicist and former Nazi during World War II who has been hired by NASA under the name “Dr. Schmidt” to run the Apollo moon landing program, while using CIA assets for his own gain.
- Antonio Banderas as Renaldo, an old friend of Indy who operates as an expert frogman.
- John Rhys-Davies as Sallah, Indy’s old friend who aided in finding the Ark of the Covenant in 1936 and the Holy Grail in 1938. Sallah and his family have since immigrated to New York City with Indy’s assistance. He now works as a cab driver.
- Toby Jones as Basil Shaw, an Oxford professor of archaeology, ally of Indy from his days in World War II, and Helena’s father, who was obsessed over the Dial.
- Boyd Holbrook as Klaber, Voller’s nefarious and trigger-happy right-hand man in 1969. Holbrook described Klaber as Voller’s lapdog, “and a very crazy one at that.”
- Ethann Isidore as Teddy Kumar, Helena’s young Moroccan sidekick in Tangier.
- Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood, Indy’s estranged wife, who aided in finding the Ark of the Covenant in 1936 and the Crystal Skull of Akator in 1957.
- Shaunette Renée Wilson as Agent Mason, a CIA agent assigned to work for Voller.
- Thomas Kretschmann as Colonel Weber, a Nazi whom Voller works for in 1944.
- Olivier Richters as Hauke, a henchman of Voller. Richters takes on the role of a heavybuilt henchman that opposes Indiana, a role that was preceded by Pat Roach in the first three films, and Igor Jijikine in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
- Mark Killeen as Pontimus, a soldier from 212 BC during the Siege of Syracuse.
- Nasser Memarzia as Archimedes, a brilliant scientist from 212 BC Syracuse and inventor of the Antikythera (“Dial of Destiny”).
- Martin McDougall as Durkin, a CIA agent working with Voller.
- Alaa Safi as Aziz Rahim, the son of a Moroccan mobster, who was previously engaged to Helena Shaw.
Photographs of Sean Connery and Shia LaBeouf are used to represent their respective Last Crusade and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull characters: Henry Jones Sr. and Mutt Williams (Henry Jones III).
I would STILL recommend watching the other movies before seeing this one all on Disney+.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Ryan Balkwill:
Resident film reviewer,
Level Best Art Café