Seeing this movie reminded me of seeing that band you loved in the ‘70s, and now they’re playing at the Del Mar Fair. You’re having fun; maybe not as much fun as you did when you saw them at the Sports Arena in ‘78, but they’re playing the hits that you know and love. So while the young crowd that isn’t familiar with them might not care, everyone 50 and older is dancing in the aisles.
We see Indy grab his whip, cool. Oh look, he’s got his hat on again! Nazis are getting blown up and smacked around – awesome! Will one of them have a plane propeller take him out? No, they’re fighting on top of a train. Ya know what? This movie almost feels like A.I. spit this out when asked: “Give us another Indiana Jones script” and we got this – complete with a John Williams score.
Here’s the premise. We start with that train fight, as the Nazis are stealing artifacts yet again. It’s the early ‘40s, and they used some CGI to make Harrison Ford look younger (it wasn’t as good as what they did with Jeff Bridges in “Tron” but better than what they did with Robert De Niro in “The Irishman”). When they jump to Indy being the age we know Harrison Ford to be now, it’s hysterical. It’s 1969, the astronauts have just landed on the moon, and hippies next door are blasting Magical Mystery Tour. We see a shirtless Indy go try to shut them up, and you’ll have the biggest smile on your face.
Later, we see Indy teaching a college course, and his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) shows up. She wants to find a dial known as the Antikythera, which we saw them fighting over on the train decades earlier.
Steven Spielberg wasn’t involved in this, and after the disaster that was the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, that’s probably smart. So “Logan” director James Mangold took the reins.
I was thrilled that a Nazi historian named Voller is played by Mads Mikkelsen, one of the best actors working today. Most Americans know him as a Bond villain, but he’s done some brilliant movies (see “Riders of Justice” from a few years ago). He’s after the Antikythera, because it’s a two-part device Archimedes made that he believes can take him back in time to help Hitler win the war. The device drove Indy’s friend Basil (the always great Toby Jones) a bit mad, and his daughter apparently inherited his fascination with it.
Perhaps some will think the tip of the hat to the previous Indy films will be cheesy, but I had fun with it. The snakes. The young pickpocket Teddy (Ethann Isidore), instead of Short Round.
Ford’s cranky attitude and enthusiasm, as well as self-awareness, make this a lovely send-off. Helena does a great job proving to be Indy’s equal, and the two have comedic chemistry. Things are a bit lacking in the character development of many of the others in the cast (and a little more of Antonio Banderas would have been nice).
The movie is a bit long, and could’ve used 15 minutes shaved off it (it’s 2 and a half hours long). Yet it’s still fast-paced fun. The CGI is weak at times, and the younger ones might not be as into it.
3 stars out of 5.