Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

➤ Rated PG-13
➤ Theaters

What should we make of 80-year-old Harrison Ford’s new film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny? Is this just another cynical cash grab in which a studio and aging star pad their bank accounts by resurrecting an old franchise? Did the world need one final Indiana Jones adventure?

Maybe fans weren’t clamoring to see Indiana swing his bullwhip one more time, but I’m happy Lucasfilm and Ford decided to make one final Indiana Jones movie. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) was a terrible disappointment, and the franchise deserved a proper conclusion that honored its iconic legacy.

Dial of Destiny opens with a spectacular scene set during the last days of World War II, featuring a quite convincing, though somewhat distracting, digitally de-aged Ford. As the Third Reich’s war machine falters, Nazi soldiers continue to loot European art and antiquities, but adventuring archaeologist Indiana Jones and his fedora show up to stop them.

The bulk of the movie is set in 1969, in which an elderly Dr. Jones feels he’s not much use to the world. He’s estranged from his wife Marion, and he despondently considers his upcoming retirement from the university where he teaches. Americans busily celebrate astronauts and excitedly look forward to the future of space. No one has time for Dr. Jones’ archaeology and love of the past.

But when his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) shows up looking for Archimedes’ fabled Antikythera—a dial that can predict fissures in space and time—Indiana gets dragged into another globe-trotting adventure that brings him face-to-face with an old Nazi nemesis (Mads Mikkelsen).

The movie is rated PG-13 for violence and smoking, but it includes almost no strong language or sensuality. With Dial of Destiny, director James Mangold pays ­homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark, returning to the most endearing aspects of Indiana Jones. Much of the practical stunt work has been replaced by computer generated effects, but the script and the visual language allude to key moments in the original. The movie even includes a throwback score from legendary composer John Williams.

Out of the five Indiana Jones movies, I would rank this one in the middle. It’s not as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but it’s much ­better than Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Maybe Dial of Destiny pulls on our heartstrings one too many times. And maybe the film contains one too many ludicrous chase scenes. And sure, the climax is a bit of a mess because Mangold couldn’t figure out how to land the plane. But nostalgic fans of the franchise will feel like both they and Indiana have finally come home after a lifetime of adventure.