Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is an American action-adventure film and the sequel to . It was directed by James Mangold while Steven Spielberg and George Lucas served as executive producers, released in the UK on June 28, 2023, and on June 30 in the United States. It is the final theatrical installment in the Indiana Jones franchise to feature Harrison Ford as the titular character (as well as the first film with Disney's involvement).
==Plot==
In 1944 during the Allied liberation of France in World War II, Indiana Jones is captured by a division of Nazi SS soldiers, while attempting to retrieve a stolen artifact alleged to be the spear that pierced Jesus Christ during the Crucifixion. Meanwhile, Jürgen Voller, a German astrophysicist, reports to his superiors and attempts to convince them that he has found a far more valuable, and powerful, artifact, the titular Dial of Destiny, which was invented by the Siceliote mathematician Archimedes and is capable of locating fissures in time. Jones escapes and boards a train full of antiquities looted by the Nazis. After determining the spear is a fake and acquiring the Dial, he escapes the train before the train derails after passing over a rail bridge that is destroyed by Allied bombers. He is joined by his colleague, Basil Shaw, a fellow archaeologist who teaches at Oxford.
In August 1969, Jones is woken up in his apartment in Manhattan by a young neighbor who is celebrating the return of the Apollo 11 astronauts from the Moon by blasting the first track of The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour. It is revealed that he and his wife Marion Ravenwood are now separated. Jones goes to his university where his colleagues greet him with a surprise retirement party. A despondent Jones heads to a nearby bar to drink away his sorrows while the citizens of New York gather for a parade honoring the astronauts. He is joined by Helena "Wombat" Shaw, Basil's daughter and Jones' goddaughter who he has not seen in 18 years and is herself an archaeology student and treasure hunter. Jones tells her the Dial was split into three and that the now-deceased Basil was driven to the brink of insanity while attempting to unlock its secrets, forcing Jones to take custody of the artifact.
They retrieve the first third of the Dial in a university store room where they are attacked by Voller, who has been working for NASA under a new identity, and a group working with CIA agent Mason, who kill a secretary and one of Jones' co-professors. Jones flees into the parade and later on horseback through the New York subway system before jumping on a train to escape. Now on the run and falsely accused of murdering his colleagues, Jones is aided by Sallah, now an immigrant living in New York with his family and working as a cab driver. Jones opts to fly to Tangier where Helena has taken the first part of the Dial to sell it to highest bidder at an auction in a bar. After Jones encounters her young sidekick, Teddy Kumar, Voller and his goons arrive. A fight ensues and the trio escape after a chase through the city's streets on an auto rickshaw. Voller is initially apprehended by Mason and taken to a helicopter. After Mason tells him that the US government is disavowing him for his recent actions, Voller and his men commandeer the helicopter and kill her, while setting their course towards the Mediterranean Sea.
Jones convinces Helena that she cannot sell such a valuable and potentially dangerous, artifact. The trio journey to Greece where they meet Renaldo, an old friend of Jones', who is an expert deep sea diver. Jones reveals that he and Marion separated because of the death of Mutt, their son, who opted to enlist and become a soldier in the Vietnam War. Because Jones was unable to console his grieving wife and stubbornly focused on his work at the university instead, she left him and filed for divorce. Helena and Jones use Renaldo's boat to travel to a spot in the Aegean Sea where they retrieve the second part of the Dial while contending with vicious eels that frighten Jones because they resemble snakes.
Voller and his goons arrive and kill Renaldo, and after the trio escape, follow them to Sicily where they discover the third, and final, part of the Dial from the grave of Archimedes. Now possessing all three parts of the Dial, Voller reassembles it and boards a plane with Jones and his group, who are revealed to be fugitive Nazis and sympathizers who are all dressed in vintage SS uniforms. Their plan is to fly to through a rift in space time after Voller determines its coordinates with the Dial and kill Adolf Hitler in 1939, hoping that with Hitler no longer in charge of Germany, a better leader would rise and lead the country to victory in the war. The plane is pursued by Helena on a motorcycle who manages to sneak on board before it travels through time, followed in turn by Teddy and a pilot on another plane.
Jones reveals Voller made a mistake and did not take the continental drift into consideration. Instead of 1939, they wind up in 212 BC during the Siege of Syracuse. Jones and Helena battle the Nazis while the plane is heavily damaged by weapons launched at it by the soldiers below. The two escape with a parachute before it crashes, killing Voller and his remaining men. Now gravely injured, Jones begs Helena to leave him behind and allow him to spend his final days living in the past, literally becoming part of ancient history. Realizing this could dramatically impact future events and create a paradox, she pleads with him to board the other plane before they cause more damage to the past. The two have a brief conversation with Archimedes who has run out of his workshop to investigate the plane crash with an assistant. Eventually, Helena knocks out Jones with a roundhouse punch and they return to 1969.
Jones wakes up in his Manhattan apartment where Helena greets him. They are soon joined by Sallah, his grandchildren, Teddy and Marion, who has decided to return and cancel her plans to divorce Jones. Everyone leaves to go get ice cream while Ravenwood and Jones reconcile while recalling a conversation about Jones' injuries on a boat during the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
==Cast==
*Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones
*John Rhys-Davies as Sallah
*Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Helena Shaw
**Holly Lawton as Young Helena Shaw
*Mads Mikkelsen as Jürgen Voller
*Antonio Banderas as Renaldo
*Shaunette Renée Wilson as Agent Mason
*Toby Jones as Basil Shaw
*Boyd Holbrook as Klaber
*Thomas Kretschmann as Colonel Weber
*Olivier Richters as Hauke
*Ethann Isidore as Teddy Kumar
*Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood
==Production==
The film was officially announced in 2016 after years of rumors and speculation with a release date of July 19, 2019, but the date was pushed back twice following delays surrounding the script and story. Originally intended to be directed by Steven Spielberg, it was announced in February 2020 that he would be stepping down and replaced by James Mangold. On April 8, 2021, Lucasfilm announced that Phoebe Waller-Bridge would star alongside Ford, and that John Williams would return to score the film.
On November 23, 2022, it was revealed that the title of the film would be Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
===Filming===
Harrison Ford was digitally de-aged for the opening prologue of the film, set in 1944, depicting his appearance as it was in the first three Indiana Jones films. The process used several techniques, and introduced new software from ILM that used archived footage of a younger Ford. When Harrison Ford first saw himself de-aged, he opined that the process "spooked" him a bit, but was nonetheless impressed.
The train sequence during the prologue was filmed during June 4-5, 2021 on the in North Yorkshire, England before moving onto Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland. The locomotive used in the scene was a BR Standard Class 9F (registered 92134) dressed as a Nazi train.
===Music===
In June 2016, Steven Spielberg confirmed that John Williams, who scored for the previous films in the Indiana Jones franchise, would return to compose the music for the fifth film. In 2022, Williams stated that it would be his final film score, following plans for a retirement, though he later backtracked on this decision. Williams premiered one of his compositions, "Helena's Theme", at the Hollywood Bowl on September 2, 2022, at Mangold's request.
==Release==
The film was released on June 28, 2023 in the UK and on June 30, 2023 in the United States. Before that; it was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2023.
===Marketing===
The first trailer was released on December 1, 2022. On February 8, 2023, the second trailer was released during the Super Bowl. The third trailer was released at the Star Wars Celebration event on Good Friday (April 7) 2023. Followed by a world premiere in Los Angeles on June 14, 2023. The London premiere was held on June 26, 2023, ahead of the film's release in the UK on June 28. The film's release was pushed several times due to rewrites to the film's script and then being hit by the throughout 2020. The current release date was announced in October 2021.
===Home media===
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was released on digital formats on August 29, 2023. The film achieved first place on VOD charts, topping iTunes, Google Play, and Vudu. It is also scheduled for a DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Blu-ray release date on December 5, 2023.
==Reception==
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 69% based on 404 reviews, with an average rating of 6.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "It isn't as thrilling as earlier adventures, but the nostalgic rush of seeing Harrison Ford back in action helps Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny find a few final bits of cinematic treasure." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 58 out of 100, based on 65 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
==Videos==
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Official Trailer
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Big Game TV Spot
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Official Trailer-2
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - The Last Adventure
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Rescue
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Steal
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Get in the Pool
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - The Legacy of Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - John Williams
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Train
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - One Final Adventure
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Behind the Action
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Map of Adventures
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – A New Discovery
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Spoiler Warning
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Ride of a Lifetime
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Crafting Indy
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*This is the first Indiana Jones film to be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, following the 2013 deal between The Walt Disney Studios and Paramount Pictures, in which distribution rights to future films in the series were transferred to Disney, whereas Paramount would retain the previous films already released, in addition to receiving "financial participation" and credit on the marketing for the film.
*Dial of Destiny marks the first instance in a theatrical release in which the Disney logo makes an appearance on the poster of a Lucasfilm production.
**It also marks the thirteenth instance in which a theatrical release was cross-marketed as a Paramount production released or co-produced under a Disney label, following Popeye (Disney), Dragonslayer (Disney), (Touchstone), (Touchstone), (Touchstone), (Touchstone), (Touchstone), (Touchstone), (Touchstone), The Avengers (Marvel Studios), Iron Man 3 (Marvel Studios), and (20th Century Fox), as well as the third instance in which a theatrical release was cross-marketed as both a Walt Disney Pictures and Paramount Pictures production following the first two aforementioned films. 
***If one counts the 2023 re-release of (20th Century Studios), this will be the fourteenth film.
***Theatrical releases aside, if counting home video releases, (or Generation¹³) would be the fifteenth film, which was never released in the United States, where Disney held distribution rights, and was instead released internationally by Paramount Home Entertainment.
***Like the MCU's The Avengers and Iron Man 3, Paramount Pictures still received studio credit and "financial participation" for their involvement in the Indiana Jones franchise, since Paramount also participated in the production of those films, which were also distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
***It is also the first feature film released by Lucasfilm to also be released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner and the first to feature the opening logo, although the cut-short version of the logo that is otherwise found in trailers was used at the beginning.
***The "100 Years of Wonder" tagline also made a surprise appearance in the opening Disney logo at the beginning of the film after Strange World and Encanto at the Hollywood Bowl. However, it only appeared on the international version of the film.
***Until 2023, the Walt Disney Pictures logo or credit didn't appear on any Lucasfilm feature film, or production (similar to Marvel Studios and 20th Century Studios, and if not counting the cut-short variant of the opening logo used in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga) since the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015, as none of the previous films were a co-production with Walt Disney Pictures, nor did any potential scenario occur were one could have been released after switching studio labels, despite the fact that (without co-production involvement) the films produced by other Disney labels were distributed under the Walt Disney Pictures banner (although being distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures) minus the Disney logo and credit.
*This is the first Indiana Jones film to have its soundtrack released by Walt Disney Records.
*This is the first time since Raiders of the Lost Ark that both Marion and Sallah appear in the same film.
*It also marks the only Indiana Jones film to feature a different logo design, with a largely modified font compared to the original one used.
**Despite this, the subtitle still uses the same font as the original one, although both the film's main title and subtitle feature different colors.
**The one used in Dial of Destiny also has the words of "Indiana Jones" stacked vertically, unlike previous media, which typically had them shown side-by-side horizontally.
*Harrison Ford, Mads Mikkelsen, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge had starred in the Star Wars franchise, albeit not together.
*Following the announcement of Disney shifting physical media to Sony Pictures Entertainment, this is the last Lucasfilm feature film to be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on physical media in the United States and Canada while also being the first Lucasfilm feature film to be distributed by Elevation Sales in the UK and Ireland through Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.
*This is also the first Walt Disney Pictures film to be broadcast on Freeform just one year after its theatrical release.
==References==
==External links==
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Category:2023 films
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Category:IMAX films
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Category:Academy Award nominated films