Harrison Ford is in typically redoubtable form in his fifth and final Indiana Jones film, titled The Dial of Destiny, but it is otherwise sprawling and very uneven. It starts promisingly with an action sequence toward the end of the Second World War in which somehow, using the magic of CGI, Indiana is shown as a youngish man tussling with the Nazis. This is when he first encounters the fiendish Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen). This prelude offers exactly what you expect from an Indiana Jones adventure: chases, explosions and an epic fight sequence on top of a runaway train. Toby Jones registers strongly as Indy’s companion, Basil Jones, a diminutive, eccentric but staunchly heroic English academic who helps Indiana stay alive.
We’re then whisked forward to the late 1960s, the era of The Beatles and the space programme. Indiana is in New York, on the verge of retirement from the university where he teaches. His students can barely stay awake in his classes. Basil’s daughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) turns up at one of his lectures. He’s her godfather, but hasn’t seen her for years.
