MARKED MOVIES

Director: James Mangold.
Screenplay: Jez Butterworth, David Koepp, James Mangold.
Starring: Harrison Ford, Mads Mikkelsen, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Boyd Holbrook, Toby Jones, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Thomas Kretschmann, Ethann Isidore, Olivier Richters, Shaunette Renee Wilson, Martin McDougall, Karen Allen.

“I don’t believe in magic but a few times in my life, I’ve seen things. Things I can’t explain and I’ve come to believe it’s not so much what you believe. It’s how hard you believe it”

With Raiders of the Lost Ark premiering in 1981, I’d have been just over two years old. This more or less makes me as old as the character of Indiana Jones himself. So, if Harrison Ford is game to put an end to his cinematic icon, the least I can do is come out of a writing hiatus/obscurity and add some of my comments on what is, one of the very reasons I fell in love with movies in the first place. Indiana Jones has been part of my movie going experience for as long as I can remember and it’s with a heavy heart that that journey has come to an end.

Plot: Now in a new era and approaching retirement, Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) struggles to fit into a world that seems to have outgrown him. When old rival Dr. Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) returns, though, Indy must don his hat and pick up his whip once more to make sure the ancient and powerful artifact, the dial of destiny, doesn’t fall into the wrong hands where time can be altered and the course of history changed.

It has to be acknowledged that the opening 20mins of this fifth, and supposedly final, instalment of Indiana Jones has all the hallmarks of what went before; the cartoonish action and dangerous encounters, the classic John Williams score, the immediate introduction of the hero versus villain and of course, the villains being Nazi’s. It all feels very much like being on a true Indy adventure and a welcome return to his swashbuckling, whip-cracking, fedora wearing escapades. It’s also within this opening sequence that Harrison Ford undergoes an impressive de-aging which adds to the nostalgia and allows such an action oriented opening to even take place. Admittedly, there were issues with the physical movement of the character but these are minor such is the skill shown in capturing Ford’s youthful features which is already an improvement over The Irishman’s somewhat problematic approach in 2019.

After the dispatching of his Nazi adversaries, we cut to the 60’s where an aged and ruggedly worn Indy is awoken by his hippie neighbours partying and blasting The Beatles’ 1967 Magical Mystery Tour. These youngsters don’t even give the respect of calling him Dr. Jones as we all know him. Instead he’s a mere Mr. Jones and somewhat lost in this new wave of laid back America where respect has seemingly been lost alongside him and the relics of the past. It’s from here, however, that Indy’s past will resurface – as it often does.

Of course, what is missing from this instalment is the absence of director Steven Spielberg. Having helmed the previous four films, Spielberg takes a back seat and although still a producer, he’s handed the responsibility to Logan director James Mangold. Mangold, however, has seemingly done his homework on Spielberg’s style. His handling of the action set-pieces don’t feel out of place at all and genuinely feel like everything we’ve come to love and experience before despite an over reliance on CGI here and there. There’s also the unavoidable issue of Harrison Ford being 80 years old at the time of filming and unable to portray Indy the same way in terms of physical ability. That’s does, somewhat, hang over the film and you get the feeling that some potentially great action scenes have been curtailed in order to facilitate this. The supporting characters do help along the way, though; Mads Mikkelsen is the perfect Nazi villain and Phoebe Waller-Bridge more than an able wisecracking accomplice that fits the obligatory female/English sidekick.

In terms of the story, there’s a lot that does keep in tune and follow the beats of the previous films. The ancient mythology is firmly in place ranging from Christ to Dionysius and eventually Archimedes. Some questions can be raised in how effective the denouement is and although it does require a certain suspension of disbelief it’s still much more effective than Crystal Skull’s outlandish endeavour. It’s bold and it may not entirely work for some but the tone of the film is so true to Indy’s roots that it just about gets away with it. What it does do comfortably and very poignantly though, is bring an old character back for the final scene to partake in a replay of a classic exchange before the curtain falls on what is one of cinema’s greatest and most escapist of characters.

Verdict: Obviously due to his age, Harrison Ford simply can’t continue these wondrous adventures and without him there is no Indiana Jones but I suppose the final say comes down to where it ranks within the franchise. Is it as good as Raiders, Temple of Doom or The Last Crusade? No, it’s not. But it’s a vast improvement over Crystal Skull and an enjoyably poignant and emotional note for Indy to hang up his hat. In an age of Hollywood remakes and reboots it should be said that the iconic character of Indiana Jones “belongs in a museum”.

Mark Walker

Trivia: The street scenes of New York were actually filmed in Glasgow, Scotland in late July 2021, with the astronauts’ parade taking place on St Vincent Street.

This entry was posted on September 15, 2023 at 2:16 pm and is filed under Action, Adventure, Fantasy, History with tags 2023. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.