Indiana Jones: Dial of Destiny (2023)

This is a bit of a conundrum. One reviewer noted that it is somehow both never boring and never really entertaining. It walks a line of modest interest in what’s going to happen next thanks in equal parts to the story transitions and the foundation of nostalgia that everyone brings to any sequel. The movie opens in the waning days of WWII. The Nazis, everybody's bad guys, have stumbled upon half of the Antikythera, or Archimedes’ Dial. This is an object based on a real Ancient Greek item that could reportedly predict astronomical positions for decades, but had none of the supposed powers it is embued with here. Flash forward to 1969. An elderly Indiana Jones is retiring from Hunter College, unsure of what comes next in part because he’s separated from Marion after the death of their son Mutt in the Vietnam War. He quickly gets reacquainted with Helena Shaw, the daughter of Basil and goddaughter of Indy. It turns out that Basil became obsessed with the dial after their encounter with it a quarter-century ago, Helena is committed to reunited the halves, some bad guys want it as well, and we are off to the races. It’s an alternating series of frustrating choices, promising beats, and general goodwill for a legendary actor donning one of the most famous hats in movie history yet again. It should be better. It could have been worse.