With a fifth and presumably final time as the world’s most famous archeologist in Friday’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” Harrison Ford proves he can “go home” again.
The character of Indiana Jones was created by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas as the hero of a series of outlandish, somewhat comical adventures inspired by the 1930s Flash Gordon Saturday afternoon movie serials.
The series began over 40 years ago with 1981’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” the template for the future franchise, giving Indy his fedora, whip and Nazi villains. Tom Selleck was their first choice but when he couldn’t be released from his “Magnum P.I.” TV series, the role went to Ford who had shot to stardom as Han Solo in Lucas’ “Star War.”
“Raiders” charts a 1936 quest for a mythological ancient artifact, the Biblical Ark of the Covenant, which supposedly is able to make the army that possesses it invincible. That’s Germany’s nasty Nazis, who in “Destiny” are back in a big, big way.
It’s 1945 Germany, near the end of WWII and through computer-generated imagery, Ford’s Indy looks a youthful 40. He seeks possession of one half of an ancient mechanical contraption made of gold that has mystical powers when joined with its missing other half. His foil is Mads Mikkelsen (the “Casino Royal” villain is also de-aged) as Nazi scientist Jurgen Voller.
“Destiny” then jumps to 1969 where Ford’s Indy, now old and looking like himself, is being retired from his professorship at Manhattan’s Hunter College. It’s the exact moment when a band of old Nazis turned US rocket scientists for NASA (and who are still Nazis led by Voller), have come to steal that gold gizmo.
The startling fact is that this nearly $300 million movie – already one of the most expensive movies in Hollywood history – stars a game 80 year old. That’s not just never been done, it’s risky.
Today, seeing Ford slug his way through chases and making mighty leaps, it’s no longer taken for granted that, “Of course, he’s leading the chase.” It’s now, “How amazingly fit and game this guy is without killing himself.”
And once again, “Destiny” and Indy depend on its scene-stealing Nazis as never-say-die villains.
Whatever the fate of “Destiny,” there’s no stopping this Ford. In addition to another season as a therapist battling Parkinson’s disease in AppleTV+’s comedic “Shrinking,” the veteran replaces the late William Hurt as “Thunderbolt” Ross in two Marvel movies slated for next year: “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Thunderbolts.”
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” opens in theaters Friday