CANNES, France — “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” premiered Thursday night at the Cannes Film Festival and Los Angeles Times film critic Justin Chang and culture critic Mary McNamara were there, walking the red carpet, watching Harrison Ford tear up as he accepted an unexpected honorary Palme d’Or and, most important, reuniting with one of cinema’s most iconic adventure heroes, Henry “Indiana” Jones. Who, like the rest of us, is a bit older than he was when we saw him last. That, of course, was the big question going into the fifth Indiana Jones film, 15 years after its predecessor: Are Indy, and the franchise, past their prime? Should it have been called “Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Ancient Sequel”?
Mary McNamara: Though it will doom me among cinephiles everywhere, I confess that “Dial of Destiny” is the reason I came to Cannes. Well, that and the fact that my editor asked me to. Fly across a continent and a slew of sleep-fracturing time zones to get a first look at the return of my beloved Indy? You bet. Was I afraid I’d be disappointed? Absolutely. I saw “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”; I knew the risks.
Mercifully, the franchise’s rule of odds and evens held true: “Dial of Destiny” joins the pantheon of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” and not just because there were so many fine and fun references to each of those films. It’s impossible to recapture the thrill of the original, but not only does “Dial” hold its own as an adventure tale, it is less a trip down memory lane than a contemplation of the dangers of nostalgia, which is pretty cheeky, when you think about it.
