Harrison Ford—and Indiana Jones—Deserves Better Than ‘Dial of Destiny’
CANNES, France—The first image of Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a disorienting one. It’s 1945, the war is just about done, and a group of Nazis are trying to squirrel away stolen antiquities. They have captured an interloper and covered his head with a sack. When his face is revealed, sure enough, it’s Indiana Jones, aka Ford, but he’s disconcertingly de-aged. His face is too smooth. His eyes are too bright. When he speaks, it doesn't sound like the words are really coming out of his mouth. This might as well be called Indiana Jones and the Uncanny Valley.
The deaging mostly goes away after the 20 minute opening sequence and the action jumps forward until 1969. But, during a screening at the Cannes Film Festival, I found myself mostly wishing that it would just let Harrison Ford be an old man.
Ford is 80 and while James Mangold’s movie occasionally acknowledges that Indy has seen some shit, it also mostly ignores the physical realities of what an 80-year-old body can do. Old Indy jumps on a police horse and barrels through the New York City subway system. He punches too many people to count. He scales structures and deep sea dives. I could only think, man, that must be painful.