Critical Drinker’s disdain feels pushed in this instance. He’s not wrong to feel angry and turned off by Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny but I suspect that most ticket buyers will be fairly comme ci comme ca about it.

It’s certainly a much better film of its type than Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or John Wick: Chapter 4, both of which made me sick to my stomach.

From HE’s 5.19 review: “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a mega-budget serving of silly, rousing, formulaic, high-energy Hollywood wankery.

“If you pay to see it with that understanding in mind, it’s ‘fun’ as far it goes, largely, I would say, because it also feels oddly classy…a well-ordered, deliciously well-cut exercise in which Mangold does a better-than-decent job of imitating Spielberg’s psychology, discipline, camera placements, cutting style, easy-to-follow plotting and generally pleasing performances.

“For most of the 142-minute running time I felt placated by this big, noisy, unsurprising, handsomely shot old-schooler — an imitation Steven Spielberg tentpole film that feels like it could have been made in 1992 or ’95 or ’01 if 2023-level CG had been available, and if 80-year-old Harrison Ford had been (duhh) 30 years younger, which wouldn’t have gotten in the way of anything plot-wise.”