00:00.35 kinkella Hello and welcome to the pseudo archeology podcast episode 121 I am your host Dr Andrew King Kella and tonight I review Indiana Jones and the dial of. Destiny all right? So hey man it's nice to be back doing this, you know and I wanted to start this podcast just with some bragging like usual. Talking about myself talking about how great I am and my brag for the week is that I ended up being on wired so wired is a really big Youtube channel that's a descendant of wired magazine and. They do these like 15 minute long videos that are called support videos and they do them thematically often. They'll have like a paleontologist on it or they'll have like a famous actor on it this week they had ah an archeologist on it. And that archeologist was me so that was really enjoyable I got out to a really broad audience and that was it was cool man made me feel good doing that being a part of it. It was it was a nice little moment. There. 01:33.60 kinkella In my career so hey go check it out if you want. But more importantly, what's the deal with Indiana Jones and the dial of destiny all right. This is kind of tough for me, you guys this. In terms of revealing this because I felt that I felt that the movie wasn't that bad and I felt that the movie wasn't that good I felt that it was an enigma of movies and. I don't know it's I'm going to take us through it right? like I usually do just using my film degree keeping it shiny. You know, double major in archeology and film I am the guy of course to do this reveal should listen to me. Um. I've seen a lot of stuff online about how terrible Indiana Jones 5 is I know it did poorly in the box office again I think at this moment I'm about what it's been out about two weeks and I think it very much underperformed expectations. You know this kind of thing. But. Um, so what? you know we want to take this with a fresh perspective and you know what if you feel like going to watch Indiana Jones 5 go watch it. You know I can't. 03:05.99 kinkella Again I'm still stewing over how I really feel about this movie I wonder if six months from now I'll disagree with the stuff I'm going to tell you guys tonight I I can't really say I do want to warn you there will be a thousand and one spoilers I will basically spoil everything. Because I really want to analyze this I've I've done this kind of thing once in the past I did Indiana Jones four a couple months ago because I knew Indiana Jones 5 was coming out right? So I wanted to revisit Indiana Jones 4 and um how do I feel about this versus Indiana Jones far I do think Indiana Jones 5 is better than Indiana Jones for but I'll talk I'll talk more about that later. It's just been difficult again to figure out what to say because there are these really negative reviews about this show and I agree with some of them. You know I agree with aspects of what they're saying in terms of some of the negativity but there are also things I really liked about this movie too. It's it's ah it's an odd mix of stuff and I think that happens because this is one of those movies. That had about a thousand rewrites a thousand edits it's serving way too many masters. You know what? I mean a big Lucas film movie at this point owned by Disney. 04:35.94 kinkella The chances of this being sort of a cleanly made movie are just impossible. You know there's just there's just too much going down. Um, but with that said, let's go through this in the classic 3 act structure way. 04:55.54 kinkella Want to go through the whole thing ah talk 1 act at a time if we remember act 1 is of course the beginning of the movie. We meet our main characters. There's going to be sort of some big problem or some big call to adventure right. The main character will refuse the call. Oh no no no no I can't do that you know I'm too tired I'm too old I did it before whatever it is but then something will happen where they then decide I'll take it on after all and then they go on their adventure and once they kind of make that. Ah choice and they go off on their adventure then we're into act 2 right in act 2 is usually the long act in movies. there's a bunch of new allies you meet a bunch of new enemies there's just a bunch of scenes there's a bunch of new problems there's some resolutions then there's some new problems goes on and on until there's the oh my god moment right? which we would call the crisis in film world. The wow things are going really terribly usually some main character dies or someone gets shot or there's just some new. Terrible information and it seems like maybe the hero won't make it through that's right at the end of act 2 but then something will happen that enables the hero to kind of crawl out of this terrible moment and then we're into act 3 act 3. 06:27.16 kinkella We know what we need to do. We're focused on finishing off whatever it is and then there's a climax and then sort of the the dinou mole right? The kind of after the climax. Ah, we're back in the world where we started but we've learned something new. And we're a changed person hopefully for the better so we'll go through Indiana Jones 5 like this right? I'll talk about the movie as we go I will say I saw it 2 times all 2 hours and 30 minutes of it that's one of its problems. Two and a half hours um that is not needed so I'll go through this and then at the end I think I'll talk about some things I really liked and then some fixes or at least what I think that they could easily do to make this. Ah, better movie so getting started with act one we fade in and actually the first thing we hear is a clock sound. We hear a tiktok tiktok tiktok right. Oh it's some sort of dial of destiny. Oh some sort of clock thing and there are so many tropes for Indiana Jones right there's so many things we expect. We see the paramount mountain this is the first Indiana Jones movie where they don't fade into the image of some sort of mountain. They did that with. 07:59.94 kinkella All the other four Indiana Jones movies they didn't do it with number 5 and I think it was because they had to show the Lucas film the Lucas film limited card right after paramount it's kind of a bummer you know I do wish that kept that trope of fading into some sort of mountain image. They didn't they they didn't do it. And that it's so funny in that first five seconds of the movie it already is telling you this is going to be a little bit different right? We have a different director. Um, it's a it's a different movie in a way than than the other four. Um. Then all of a sudden we're in we're running right? and we are in a story that's taking place at the end of world war two this is 1944 1945 and Indiana Jones is caught a is caught by the nazis. And we all of a sudden see a young Harrison Ford now this is done of course using very very complex computer methods and for the next twenty minutes we have one of those little vignette scenes. The Indiana Jones is so famous for they they steal this from James Bond right the idea of we're watching indie at the end of 1 of his old adventures and then once we get out of that we will kind of use that as a springboard to a new adventure. So the first 15 or 20 minutes of the movie is a de aged Indiana Jones 09:34.68 kinkella And there's all kinds of stuff that is going to go down in this sort of nazi end of world war two moment we're going to meet his friend basil. Who is this kind of small nerdy guy who of course we're going to learn is the father of Helena of the Phoebe Waller Bridge character um and while at first they seem to be after the lance of longeness actually the lance that is. Supposedly the one used to stab Jesus while he was on the cross. We quickly find out that's a fake but on this train a lot of this first scene take place on a train that there's also the antikythera device. And this of course is gonna be used as the dial of destiny which instantly made me feel really good because I predicted it and on top of that you can check back in I believe episode 96 of this very podcast where I went over the anti cutthera device. Which at this point is over a year old and I listen back to it and well you can hear the positivity in my voice and the youthful excitement and exuberance and not like now the broken down old man I am. 11:03.92 kinkella But if you want to know about the antiettether device. Go give that a listen now we find that this this device is like the super special thing it might have something to do with time travel. Um, and at the end of this Indiana Jones is actually able to get it. You know and jump off the train at the last minute with his friend basil off the train and off a bridge into the water below and then we are at the end of this really exciting exciting adventure now this is not the end of act one One of the problems I would say with Indiana Jones 5 is act 1 is really really long. This is just the first part of it and I have to tell you guys most reviewers I've seen talk about this part and they say it's really great. they're they're like oh I really like that first twenty minutes I didn't I felt the cgi. Um I didn't think it I thought it worked by itself but not as part of this movie I think it's something that they could really take and run with for later like they could use this and make little vignettes of a young Harrison Ford or they could use this and as a. Been off and and re up the young Indiana Jones chronicles or something. But as part of this movie that cgi I'm telling you Indiana Jones just moves kind of weird and the first 20 minutes of this felt like a cartoon I'm just not a fan. Yes, it was exciting. Yes, it felt very much like kind of the old Indiana Jones 12:40.32 kinkella But you lose a lot in it. You lose Harrison Ford's really great improvisational physicality. You know he really is like he has a physicalness to the way he acts and he's always messing around. Like with this stuff in the scene he always has little looks he always has little movements that adds so much to the scene and these are gone because it's a fake Harrison Ford and you can really feel it to me. It felt like like 1 of those um like a superhero movie. Sometimes you know when Spiderman he's just moving weird and it just feels like oh I'm watching a video game first twenty minutes of this movie are like that and I'm a fan of that if it's somewhere else but not as part of this movie and when it ends. We then cut to modern time modern time being 1969 and an old Indiana Jones right and he's like asleep and he's drunk himself to sleep. He's in like ah you know the equivalent of like a 1 bedroom apartment sort of in New York he wakes up and he has like no shirt on he just basically has his boxers on and he's like down on his luck I don't like this scene very much. Um I think it really starts off on a very negative foot more on that later. But anyway he um gets up gets ready for work. 14:12.55 kinkella We see that there's some divorce papers from marion on the on the fridge and we get a hint that like his son is ah has died in Vietnam although that becomes much more obvious later if you missed it then it's okay. But anyway this is just like a big downer right? He goes to school to teach and he said the students all liking him. They all think he's boring as hell again I think this is not the world's best choice but because I'm kind of like. Why you have to be destroying my character. Why can't he be an old guy and still be cool in class. But ah while he's there being a sad professor then we have the Phoebe Waller Bridge character Helena Knowing everything right? She's raising her hand. She's knowing everything. And the engines is like wow then they they meet each other. Ah soon after that in a bar she she comes in after him. He's just sort of sitting in the bar. He's he's retiring and she starts to talk with him about the antikythera device. He recognizes her as Basil's daughter he but he calls her wombats like his pet name for her and they have this discussion on the antikythera device and it seems kind of exciting. But of course this is sort of the refusal of the call indiana Jones Leg um too old. Don't really deal with that anymore. You know. 15:41.92 kinkella And Phoebe Walla Bridge is like ah come on and he's like now so she leaves but then we quickly find that the cia is following Phoebe Waller Bridge it's kind of an odd the juxtaposition there at the moment we're like okay. Um, and then the stakes are raised a bit so he he takes her into his lab. Um and he shows her that he actually has the antikythera device the Cia is after them. They kind of corner them in the lab. They're really harsh they have these. Um. These guys who are sort of working with the cia but they kill some of the people in there. Some of the other professors and stuff. Um and then they have to get away phoebe wall the bridge gets away she locks the the door so indian jones can't get out. He's kind of trapped there he has to fight his way out. Gets out ultimately gets down to the um street level and they're having a parade and ah course Phoebe Waller Bridge gets away but Indiana Jones Ultimately has to get away from these cia guys and he does he has this like cool little fight scene which I thought was great and like all right here's the and Indiana Jones I want to see like beats his way out of there. He beats up some of the guys he takes like this sign from some of the parade people who are in the parade you like smack some other guys. It's awesome and I got to say you guys. 17:11.90 kinkella The sound effect. They've used for 40 years for that hit that like smack hit I love that special effect. It's like smack you know it's so great. Still use it so we like shades of old in and jones this is great. He gets on a horse. There's a chase with it with him on a horse and a motorcycle behind him. I think this chase really works. It goes back to what I've said in the past where simple chases like this are so much better than a ton of Cgi now I know there's some cgi in the horse chase. But there's not that much. And I think it's pretty cool because it's Indiana Jones on a horse and he just looks cool I want Indiana Jones to look cool and he does so gets away on the horse. Um, and now he's like. 18:07.77 kinkella Ah, oh my god I think I might have to go on this journey. He finally meets he meets sala sala comes back to and we're like yeah sala and he's talking with sala and he learns that there's going to be this antiquities meeting. Um, obviously. Outside of the United States I believe in tangiers or something like that and he's got to go all right right? This is the end of act one. It's like okay indian jones has got to go fly to tangiers. He's got to try and get the antikit their device. He's got to meet up with Helena and see what's up and he's. Off right? 1 thing I think they really missed here is sala brings indie a bag with his hat and his whip in it and when he did that in Indiana Jones opened that bag. There should have been like the. Biggest musical crescendo there and just a full on dun and you know and they didn't really do it when we come back act 2 and onward.