Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (James Mangold, June 30 2023)

[Jurassic Shark 12,947]

Yeah, it's a very good film.

[The Train Station 8,603]

12 minutes ago, Anthony said:

My biggest complaint of all is, probably due to Ford's age, Indy doesn't really do much. He's more of an observer to Helena's adventure. He gets to do a LITTLE MORE as the film goes on, but it really needed a big fist fight with "old" Jones to satisfy my action craving. The opening scene isn't enough.

 

It's so stupid. His poor hips probably can't take it anymore!

[crumbs 14,794]

15 hours ago, Anthony said:

My biggest complaint of all is, probably due to Ford's age, Indy doesn't really do much. He's more of an observer to Helena's adventure. He gets to do a LITTLE MORE as the film goes on, but it really needed a big fist fight with "old" Jones to satisfy my action craving. The opening scene isn't enough.

 

I think the film would've been received more warmly if Indy had meatier character growth across the narrative. It's an awfully long movie to have your main character effectively unchanged from Act 1 through to the final scene. Even at the Syracuse climax, Indy refuses to make the decisions we'd expect from Indy... until he's literally punched in the face and forced to change. Hardly an inspiring arc for a beloved character who showed few of these traits in the prior films (maybe briefly prioritizing the grail over his father in TLC comes close).

 

Before seeing the film I was onboard with Mangold's vision because I assumed the narrative crux would be Indy rediscovering his mojo across the adventure, that he'd become the classic character we all loved by Act 3. But instead he spends the entire film miserable and lost until the final moments.

 

For all the hate Rian Johnson received for Luke Skywalker in TLJ, that character very clearly turns a corner in the third act and becomes the "legend" he was refusing to be in Acts 1 & 2. Contrast that with Indy in DoD and it's hard not to question whether Mangold understood the basics of what made this character (and these films) so appealing in the first place.

[Smeltington 1,555]

5 hours ago, crumbs said:

TLJ

 

[The Train Station 8,603]

Crystal Skull is better than Dud.

[John Dutton 7,286]

[Groovygoth666 972]

8 hours ago, Smeltington said:

 

 

[Tom 5,034]

3 hours ago, Unlucky Bastard said:

Crystal Skull is better than Dud.

But is it better than Doug?

 

[The Train Station 8,603]

A particularly dangerous Doug called Sebulba.

[Gabriel Bezerra 387]

I like the movie to an extent, the one thing that keeps me from loving it is the 3D map! WHY?! WHY BREAK CONSISTENCY NOW?! (It also looks bad)

 

I'm kidding, but it does annoy me... to an unreasonable amount.

[filmmusic 2,156]

3d map? Hehe, I don't even remember noticing this..

[Jurassic Shark 12,947]

Me neither. 

[Mr. Hooper 3,170]

5 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

3d map? Hehe, I don't even remember noticing this..

 

1 minute ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Me neither. 

Classic memory repression. I'm trying to repress the whole thing.

[Jurassic Shark 12,947]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

 

Classic memory repression. I'm trying to repress the whole thing.

 

The whole map? Good luck.

[filmmusic 2,156]

3 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

I'm trying to repress the whole thing.

Me too really. I want to forget that I saw this, and that Williams scored it.

[Mr. Hooper 3,170]

On 25/5/2024 at 12:56 PM, filmmusic said:

Me too really. I want to forget that I saw this, and that Williams scored it.

Helena's Theme is the film's saving grace, and makes its existence tolerable.

[Jurassic Shark 12,947]

You guys have become the depressed man that Indy is in parts of this film.

[Mr. Hooper 3,170]

7 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

You guys have become the depressed man that Indy is throughout and right up until the final moments of this film.

Fixed.

[Jurassic Shark 12,947]

You missed the prologue, among other things. Not surprising the film left you confused. Next time, try not drinking so much soda.

[Mr. Hooper 3,170]

Why would I count the prologue? The criticism is directed at the handling of old Indy.

[John Dutton 7,286]

Indiana Jones and the Uncanny Valley 

[Bellosh 3,883]

The prologue was cheating. Also goofy as hell.  Blue eyed boy story felt like a marvel quip. Him running on top of the train made me cringe harder than swinging with the monkeys.  But even THAT looked believable. Him running on the train did not.

 

This movie needed Spielberg so badly.  I would love his honest thoughts on it tbh.  Spielberg and Capshaw pillow talk on Dial. I need it.

[Andy 5,088]

2 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

Spielberg and Capshaw pillow talk on Dial. I need it.

Beam the Vulcan up, and we’ll talk. 

[John Dutton 7,286]

I went in hoping to like it. I spent 30 bucks on it, which is more than any of you spent to see it in theaters if you did. It was a nightmare. 

[The Train Station 8,603]

Yeah I went to the cheapie $7.50 cinema.

[John Dutton 7,286]

I saw Maverick for 5 bucks at the cinema down the road from the bridge where Tony Scott committed suicide and it was great and a huge hit 

[The Train Station 8,603]

That movie was awesome. The opposite of DUD.

[Mr. Hooper 3,170]

1 hour ago, Brock Lovett said:

I went in hoping to like it. I spent 30 bucks on it, which is more than any of you spent to see it in theaters if you did. It was a nightmare. 

I spent over $30 by buying a regular ticket and an IMAX ticket for a later showing that day in advance... I also had hope going in, but wanted to walk out of the first showing, and stuck around just to watch the prologue again in IMAX—and quickly realized that it didn't stand up to a second viewing and any kind of scrutiny either.

[John Dutton 7,286]

You poor bastard 

[Mr. Hooper 3,170]

Just now, Brock Lovett said:

You poor bastard 

Yep, $30, plus the cost of therapy, which @Jurassic Shark is trying to undo every chance he gets. lol

[enderdrag64 833]

I went out to dinner with some friends like the week after it came out and it just so happens that's when they were doing the free ticket with a meal promotion, I managed to split the bill in such a fashion that I got two free tickets so I could take my girlfriend to see it.

 

So technically I paid less for my meal than a single ticket would've cost me, but I got lucky because none of my friends were interested in watching it

[Bellosh 3,883]

Indy meeting Archimedes ranks up there with any of the previous macguffin endings. And the twist that they weren't going back to 1939 was too little too late to save the film for me, however cool it was (I still think that stuff was fantastic)

 

But for it to just immediately go back into the whole feeling sorry for himself, wanting to stay and have to get knocked out. Just ruined a very very important moment of Indy's life and adventures.

 

Honestly I swear it was a Helena story this film not even an Indy story.

 

And shoehorning Marion in at the end for fan service (3 fucking raiders references in a row) made me feel like Mangold was telling the audience: 'you fucking idiots didn't actually think they would stay broken up right?'

 

Cause guess what? Nothing Indy does in this movie proves he's changed.  Leveraged legendary characters for an empty ending.

[Mr. Hooper 3,170]

57 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

But for it to just immediately go back into the whole feeling sorry for himself, wanting to stay and have to get knocked out. Just ruined a very very important moment of Indy's life and adventures.

I've heard people praise the twist ending as a "big, gutsy swing"...

 

Yeah, it would've been, if they'd followed through and allowed Indy to stay in Syracuse, with a renewed sense of purpose. It would've been pretty brilliant, actually.

 

But instead we got a weepy Indy getting clocked and dragged back to his shitty apartment.

 

Augh.

[Gabriel Bezerra 387]

13 hours ago, Bellosh said:

Him running on the train did not.

M:I Dead Reckoning a few weeks later just made it look worse.

 

9 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Yeah, it would've been, if they'd followed through and allowed Indy to stay in Syracuse, with a renewed sense of purpose. It would've been pretty brilliant, actually.

Am I the only here who would have absolutely hated the movie if he stayed in the past? I do think it could have been done better, though I don't mind the punch (Indy was always hard-headed), I do think it could have been a voluntary choice to go back, to see past his misery and realize he still has plenty of people that care for him (and that he cares about too, if anything, I think Bandera's character serves that purpose, not very well).

[Bellosh 3,883]

re: staying in the past

 

a simple fix would have been Helena wanting to stay, and possibly changing the course of history...and then Indy remembers Marion and Helena has a change of heart.  And they simply say goodbye and leave.

 

the problem with the films ending is that Marion showing up is a surprise.  The film made it's bed with that decision.

[Edmilson 8,763]

8 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

the problem with the films ending is that Marion showing up is a surprise.  The film made it's bed with that decision.

It wasn't a surprise to anyone who listened to "New York, 1969" before watching the movie, lol

 

Kinda like with Sacred Jedi Texts ruining Yoda's cameo in TLJ

[Bellosh 3,883]

i mean you ain't wrong lol