Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

The story kicks off with the longest and most thrilling opening we've yet seen in the Indiana Jones series, and the frantic chase continues to the bittersweet end, so no one should say this movie is boring. Some might argue that the plot involving time travel is too far-fetched, but it certainly isn't for this reviewer, who loves a good adventure story as long as it makes some sense. And this one does ... somewhat, that is.

Nazi Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), who was a physicist under Hitler and has now sent the first Americans to the Moon (Wernher von Braun inevitably comes to mind) has discovered that history's first computer, the Antikythera Mechanism, here called Archimedes' Dial, can find "cracks in time", and now he wants to get his hands on it so he can travel back to World War II and make sure the Nazis win. He and his goons are on the trail of Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who knows where the dial is, with old Indiana Jones, who stole it from Voller (in the terrific opening), but apparently Voller has forgotten this. Only when he learns that Helena Shaw is Indy's goddaughter does it dawn on him. And so the wild chase starts anew. first in the streets of New York during a ticker tape parade for Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins and then on horseback in the subway. Here we once again meet the Egyptian Sallah (John Rhys-Jones), who is just along for the fun of it..

Anyway, Voller wants to go back in time, and Indy wants the dial (which he'd apparently forgotten about) for a museum, but Helena, being more practical, just wants to sell it to the highest bidder, and of course that has to be in Tangier, so we can have an action sequence with sinister Moroccan gangsters. And then... no, I won't say any more. There has to be a few surprises for the rest of you.

And there are. Lots of them ... and some of them rather far out. But as I said about "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", a bad Indy movie is always better than no Indy movie, and despite a couple of plot holes (or maybe more like a dozen), it's great entertainment. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 points is a slightly over-the-top coincidence that ties everything together, but also destroys any reasonable credibility. But nevertheless this movie is a must-see.

Antikythera mechanism - Wikipedia

Review: Indiana Jones og krystalkraniets kongerige

Masser af god action, men historien er det rene nonsens med flere huller end en schweizerost. For eksempel: Hvordan kan to blåøjede mennesker som Marion og Indy få et barn med mørkegrønne øjne? Det er ikke genetisk muligt. Lucas og Spielberg ville aldrig...