Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (2023)

The last Indiana Jones movie with Harrison Ford in the starring role (apparently) and the first Indiana Jones movie to be directed by someone other than Steven Spielberg (it's James Mangold at the helm for this adventure), Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny comes along with the advantage of simply having to be better than Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. I just wanted it to be on the same level as that film, another that I seemed to enjoy more than many other people.

This is a fun time at the cinema, thank goodness, and any tentative fears I may have had were assuaged within the barnstorming, extended, action sequence that opens the film. There has been a theme in recent years in these franchise instalments, something I have no doubt mentioned before, an idea that, in a world that looks to have passed them by and rendered them obsolete, it is the older “dinosaurs” (although that has been literal, as well as metaphorical) with the strength and ability to save us from some new threats. While this film gives us quite a bit of that, and a number of jokes about the age of our central character, it is also a loving send-off to someone who has been part of the pop culture, and part of our lives for over four decades. It reassures him, and audiences, that having time away from adventuring doesn’t mean life stops. It just means that you can realise how much you can help people in other ways. The fact that this messaging is couched in a script that still doles out a good share of very enjoyable dialogue, entertaining action scenes, and nods for the fans to smile at makes it a perfect conclusion to what has been, in my view, an amazingly consistent blockbuster series.

I suppose I should summarize the plot. After that opening sequence, featuring a de-aged Harrison Ford that sometimes looks like the best de-aging I have ever seen, and sometimes looks like a character was photoshopped in from one of the first couple of Uncharted videogame cut-scenes, we get to the main storyline. Dr. Jones is retiring. He is alone, and tired. Visited by his god-daughter (Wombat, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge), he ends up dragged into an adventure to find both parts of a fabled device created by Archimedes (it has a different name onscreen, but it’s the titular dial of destiny). This leads to a number of chases as our heroes try to evade the henchmen of a very determined Nazi villain (Dr. Voller, played by Mads Mikkelsen), who we saw being beaten by Indians Jones in part of the opening set-piece.

With no offence intended to him, director James Mangold does a decent job here, and has experience of directing a “hero walking into the sunset movie” with Logan, but I couldn’t help wondering just how well Spielberg might have treated this material. Perhaps due to the age of the star, or perhaps due to the complexity of the stunts, most of the big action beats are slightly over-edited, and there are not enough grin-inducing/fist in the air moments. No truly iconic hero shots, sadly, although some moments come close to giving off that indefinable aura of pure cinema magic (Wombat and Indiana looking around a tomb being the best, in terms of that shot composition and lighting combo). Mangold also helped write the script though, alongside David Koepp, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth (I though Waller-Bridge had also been asked to polish some dialogue, but I could be misremembering), and this is where the film excels. Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny is a perfect example of how to blend together a lot of fun and some serious themes (Nazism, obviously, but also regret and gradually losing a sense of purpose, as well as a few other key emotional touchstones). This is the Indiana Jones we have all known and loved for the lifetime of the character, but everyone is very much aware that he’s not immortal, or indeed infallible. His legacy will endure though, both onscreen and off.

Ford is great in the role, which seems like the most redundant thing to say. He has always been perfectly cast as Indiana, and he seems to enjoy embracing the chance to show the true age of the character, particularly when he gives a touching performance in one brief scene that stands head and shoulders above almost any other acting he has delivered in the past decade. Waller-Bridge is a decent foil, an antagonistic equal to our hero, although the character feels like it has been slightly reshaped to make her as essentially Waller-Bridge-ian as can be. And young Ethann Isidore plays Teddy, a boy with excellent pickpocket skills who makes our central pair into an even more plucky and resourceful trio. Mikkelsen is the kind of baddie you want, in line with other greats who have been before him. He’s cold, full of self-belief, and intelligent enough to think one step ahead of the heroes until he eventually realises that he actually hasn’t thought things through as thoroughly as he should have. Boyd Holbrook is a gun-happy henchman, and very good he is too, and Olivier Richters is a man-mountain also doing what he can to help Mikkelsen achieve his main objective. There are small roles for Toby Jones, Antonio Banderas, both doing work that makes you wish they were involved in the adventure for longer, and a couple of people that fans of the series will be delighted to see onscreen, even if only for a minute or two (you may already know who joins in with the fun, but I am not spoiling any potential surprises here).

For those maybe a bit tired and jaded of vapid blockbuster entertainment seemingly designed just to connect other blockbusters together into a money-making blockchain, effectively, then Indiana Jones is here to rescue you. The film reminds us of how much fun a finely-tuned summer movie should be, and it also comes along at just the right time to say “it’s always okay to punch a Nazi”. Fare thee well, Doctor Jones. You may not have always (ever?) kept the spoils of your adventures, but you were festooned in fortune and glory.

8/10

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Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore (2022)

Okay, this is a bit better than the last movie in this dire series (yes, I'd love to just not watch them, but I feel compelled to remain a movie completist whenever possible), but that's a very low bar to surpass. Every attempt to wring more money from this world of magic just seems to dilute what made the original stories so great in the first place. The magic no longer feels impressive, it's tiresome. The same goes for the many characters and creatures onscreen. And the plot feels even more like tiresome padding than some very famous prequels I could mention. It doesn't help that Eddie Redmayne plays the main character, Newt Scamander, as if he is trying to hold in a bout of explosive diarrhea. He also has no warmth or charisma, I'm sorry to say, making him the least likeable person in a movie series that is supposed to have him at the front and centre.

The plot is more of the same. Gellert Grindelwald (this time played by Mads Mikkelsen) is making his move to reach a position of great power and start a war between the wizarding world and the muggles. Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) has assembled a group of people to help throw a spanner in the works. He cannot act himself, mainly due to a blood pact (aka blood troth) the two men made, Dumbledore having acted a bit unwisely because he was in love with Grindelwald. And so it falls to Newt, his brother, Theseus (Callum Turner), 'Lally' Hicks (Jessica Williams), Bunty Broadacre (Newt's assistant, played by Victoria Yeates), Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam), and the brave and loyal, but dragged into the whole situation against his will, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) to hopefully put a stop to Grindelwald's scheme. Alongside him, Grindelwald is helped by Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol), Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), and Vinda Rosier (Poppy Corby Tuech), as well as a number of others.

Director David Yates just cannot do enough to bring this series back on track, although he tries his best with the material he's given, written by J. K. Rowling, with Steve Kloves also helping to adapt the storyline into screenplay form. There are certainly some more highlights here than we got in the last film, including a suitcase-utilising, magical, equivalent of "the shell game", a foiled assassination attempt, and even the main plot strand showing Grindelwald putting things and people in place to apparently assure his rise to power. But the stuff that doesn't work feels so much worse because it all feels like padding, and because viewers are saddled with a blockbuster lead character who is possibly the very worst blockbuster lead character in modern cinema. It doesn't help that these films never feel as if they can ever end in a satisfying manner, always just being one chapter in a story that some would prefer was all over by now.

This isn't the "let's bash Eddie Redmayne again and again" hour so I am not going to say any more about him. I think I've made my feelings clear. The rest of the cast generally do good work, especially Mikkelsen, Tuech, and Miller, who are all impressive baddies. Fogler is once again a real highlight, especially when thrown into the middle of magical sequences that have him bravely looking to face off against people who could make him vanish with the flick of a wand, and having him paired up with Williams for what turns out to be the best scene in the film is a great move, especially with Williams also doing such great work. Everyone else is fine, although I do wonder how people were tracking Jude Law's accent, especially as he moves from sounding British to sounding American, and then to sounding like he's just departed from a job gigging with The Wurzels.

What else is there to say? Nothing, not really. The score is enjoyable enough, and full of familiar refrains, the action has plenty of fireworks in almost every scene, there's still not enough balance between the serious tone and the presentation of the material as family entertainment, but it's such a step up from the last instalment that I ended up pleasantly surprised. I won't revisit it, and am not keen to revisit any of these films, but I was actually entertained while it was on. Which is more than I can say about the previous film.

6/10

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Mubi Monday: Another Round (2020)

If you have yet to explore the filmography of director Thomas Vinterberg then you are in for a treat. The man has made a number of films I would consider near-masterpieces, and Another Round is potentially his greatest work, a perfect viewing experience that carefully navigates very tricky territory.

Four male friends, all high school teachers, find themselves feeling rather listless and uninspired. Which makes them keen to try an experiment based on the idea that humans should top up the alcohol level in their bloodstream to a small amount that gives them their optimum balance. It isn’t much, just 0.5% (initially), but the positive results start to tempt the men into pushing things further. Although every main character gets enough screentime, the focus often moves back to Martin (Mads Mikkelsen), a history teacher who seems to have lost himself, disconnected from his pupils and also from his wife (Maria Bonnevie).

Having now attempted to maintain a sober life for just over thirteen months (you do keep counting these things, no matter how long it goes on for), I admit that I had a bit of trepidation when going in to this. Would it make drinking seem more tempting once again, or would it pain me to see moments of self-inflicted messiness that I could identify all too closely with? Mercifully, it does a bit of both, without overdoing either.

The script, written by Tobias Lindholm and Vinterberg, investigates the central issue with a keen eye for the strange relationship that so many people have with alcohol. You get the rites of passage, you get the use of alcohol as a social lubricant, you get the times in which someone doesn’t stop the party antics until long after everyone else, and much more. But, and most importantly, you get just as much time spent with characters who are trying to recapture a certain familiar joy, crucially not necessarily realising what they have in their lives while bemoaning what is missing.

Everyone does great work here, everyone (and the rest of the cast includes Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe, and Magnus Millang), but this is another film starring Mikkelsen that is absolutely owned by Mikkelsen. Watching him go from despondency to lively engagement with others is wonderful, watching him take things too far is worrying, and watching him dance and express every feeling running through his body without uttering a word (in a cinematic sequence that I probably won’t see beaten this year) is one of the greatest pieces of physical performance that I have seen in a long, long time. And I am not prone to hyperbole.

Considering the events that occurred just before the film was starting, a tragedy for Vinterberg that seems to have made him more determined to make things ultimately uplifting and joyous, Another Round is all the more bittersweet from start to finish. That could have also made it a difficult experience to process. It isn’t though. You can still project your own experiences and feelings over the ending, but that doesn’t stop it from being a life-affirming celebration of simply being human, and all the pleasure and pain that entails.

10/10

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Netflix And Chill: Polar (2019)

Based on a graphic novel, "Polar: Came From The Cold", this over the top action movie feels very much like an attempt to capture a viewing audience of John Wick fans. There are moments that definitely feel similar (as will happen nowadays every time one skilled hitman is facing off against numerous foes). But I think the difference can be summed up with one sentence. John Wick lost his beloved dog, the lead character in Polar accidentally shoots one.

Mads Mikkelsen is Duncan Vizla, 14 days away from his retirement after years spent working for the Damocles organisation. He's due a very lucrative pension, which is surely a worthy reward for a lifetime spent in his dangerous line of work. Mind you, the head of Damocles doesn't want to pay out massive pensions, which explains why all employees tend to die just before or after their retirement. A team is sent to track down Duncan and make sure he has no need of his huge pension fund.

I'm not sure who to blame here, having not checked out the source material, by Victor Santos. There's maybe stuff in the graphic novel that works better on the page than the screen, as is so often the case, but Jayson Rothwell doesn't help with a clumsy screenplay, and director Jonas Åkerlund feels as if he's just floating without a rudder from one Wick-lite moment to the next.

It's the tone that causes the biggest problem. Every moment that has Mikkelsen being a composed badass is great, because Mikkelsen can do composed badass in his sleep. There are also many good little conversations between him and Katheryn Winnick, playing Vivian, the mediator trying to hire him for one last job that turns out to have him as the main target. Vanessa Hudgens and Richard Dreyfuss also fare well, but everyone else seems to have been given a script for an entirely different movie.

The group tasked with seeking out our hero (led by Hilde, played by Fei Ren) are almost always shown killing someone in a way that is either gleefully over the top or just allowing them to vent their frustrations on people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although it's worth mentioning the hilarious sex scene that involves Mads (fans get to see some Mikkelbooty) and Ruby O. Fee, who plays Sindy, one of the killers who gives fresh meaning to the term "special finishing move". And the less said about the owner of Damocles (Blut, played by Matt Lucas), the better.

With that glaring disparity in mind, it's hard to judge the performances, considering that everyone involved may have been doing exactly what was asked of them. Lucas still stands out like a sore thumb, he's a whole other level of awful and I really cannot understand why he was thought right for the role (again, maybe it's close to the source material, I just don't know).

Some sequences look great, including the main attempt to capture Duncan and a very satisfying final bout of revenge killing, and there are infrequent moments in which the comedy works (our lead giving a highly inappropriate talk to a classroom full of kids is great fun), but neither Rothwell nor Åkerlund have the confidence to maintain the balance required to make this a success. The fact that it still entertains is all down to the performances of Mikkelsen and Winnick.

This could have been great. It's not. This could have at least been good. It's not. It's just average, which makes it disappointing. Fans of Mikkelsen will still find enough to enjoy, but he deserved a better vehicle for his not-inconsiderable talent.

5/10

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Dead By Dawn 2016: Men & Chicken (2015)

In some ways, Men & Chicken may seem an odd choice to close a horror festival like Dead By Dawn. But it doesn't take long to deliver the kind of content that you can easily see appealing to organiser Adele Hartley.

Men & Chicken may end up exploring some very interesting ideas about happiness and family, but it begins with scenes of a man visiting his dying father, slightly perturbed when questions are asked about the whereabouts of his brother, while another man attends a date with a wheelchair-bound psychotherapist, most probably because he thinks that a meal and evening out with the lady will be more rewarding, and less expensive, than actually paying for the therapy that he needs. And that's enough to warn viewers about characters they are about to spend the duration of the movie watching.

David Dencik and Mads Mikkelsen play those two men. They are two brothers named, respectively, Gabriel and Elias. Although brothers, their dead father informs them (through the medium of videotape) that they don't have the same mother. And their dead father isn't actually their father. This information sends them on a journey to discover just where they came from, why their father abandoned them, and whether or not they can do better than the miserable existence they seem to be wading through. It turns out that they have a few brothers, all easily identified by the fact that they all have harelips, along with one or two other abnormalities.

Travelling through territory that includes black comedy, seems to reference The Island Of Doctor Moreau, feels at times akin to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and wraps up a surprisingly optimistic core with surrounding layers of cynicism and despair, Men & Chicken is  a slow burn with many small pleasures despite having few surprises. It's certainly an unusual story, don't get me wrong, but most viewers should be able to realise where the third act will end up as soon as the movie starts to properly plot out the slight narrative.

All of the cast do a great job, but most of the laughs come from Mikkelsen, partly because his role here is so removed from other, more suave, characters that he's portrayed in recent years. Dencik also does a great job, despite being almost the straight man of the piece, but singling him out is slightly unfair to the others, who all get at least one memorable moment. Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Soren Malling, and Nicolas Bro may not be recognisable names, at least not to general audiences outwith their home countries, but they easily hold their own.

It's slightly overlong, and strains at times to keep the viewer on board, but writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen manages to take all of the oddness and unpleasantness and turn it into something surprisingly . . . . . . . okay, maybe sweet is the wrong word, but it all feels very human during the final scenes, which is amazing considering the animalistic behaviour of most of the protagonists.

7/10

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And that is it for another year at Dead By Dawn. Thanks, as ever, to Adele Hartley, her helpers, The Filmhouse team, and everyone who gets along to make the festival what it is. Even my loony mates.