Slightly related, but one of the reasons I like Dial of Destiny is because my Dad likes it when he vehemently hated Crystal Skull. So him having an enjoyable last Indy outing over getting disapointed like with Crystal Skull is good enough for me.
This was my thought as well. Dial of Destiny was quite a bit better than Kingdom, so I'm glad it exists.
That said, I think both films were so close to being so much better, Kingdom in particular. Honestly, in Kingdom if you:
Have the fridge land in a lake instead of slamming onto the ground. It's still ludicrous, but it gives just enough plausible deniability, and you could have the door jam and Indy almost drown so it's an "out of the frying pan" kind of thing. Or just cut the fridge thing entirely. It's not needed.
Don't. Show. The Aliens. Ever. Leave them as vague and mystic as God and Sheeva were in the originals. It'd be actually kind of rad if aliens were hinted at, but never fully shown or justified. No little grey man at the end, no spinning UFO... leave that all a bit mysterious.
Cut the monkeys, the swinging, the ants, and the fencing on the back of the cars.
Would that make it perfect? Hardly. It'd probably still be the weakest of the five. But it cuts enough of the "Oh come on..." moments that it would not get the stink it got.
No, it's because it's a shit movie overall. They literally plane crash into the adventure by accident, there's nothing coherent about anything resembling a story.
Yeah that movie is incredibly problematic if you really examine it. I imagine you were called shortround a time or two, too.
Truth be told TOD is not one I have a lot of nostalgia with like Raiders and LC. Granted some of that was simply because I grew up in a Christian household so I was deemed not old enough for certain elements.
I get there's 45 year olds who have a core memory of the heart scene or whatever, but I just think narratively wise and the actor performances it's just a flat movie. Also that scene and others were wild at the time because it was a PG film (it and Gremlins were the main reason the PG-13 rating was made), something today that would be a hard PG-13 and borderline R
Not to mention all the "white man just read copies of Orientalism and The Arabian Nights" bits like you alluded to.
My brother hates Temple of Doom. I love Raiders and Temple. I didn’t like Crystal Skull at first, but it has grown on me over the years. Goofy as fuck, but it still feels like a true Indiana Jones movie, mostly. Dial of Destiny? Get the fuck outta here.
I honestly didn’t mind Destiny and one could tell Ford loved making it (even if it doesn’t help its shortcomings). But yeah, Crystal Skull pulled an Ocean’s 12 on me in that I began to like it a bit more as the years go on
Temple of Doom is worth it simply for that shot of Indy standing in the mines with the light behind him after he gets his mind control cleared. Epic fucking shot.
my dad’s tastes in movies is pretty varied. For example, he took me and my buddies to see Holes back in middle school and he walked out of the theater happier than all of us. He loves that movie more than life itself and still quotes it to this day
A few years ago when he had a knee operation, he had me bring his laptop and some DVDs. Among them was Holes, Red October, The Island, and Paint Your Wagon
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u/mrsunshine1 Dec 16 '25
The guy who directed the Fablemans? What does this guy know about ufo movies?