I think Ford still has the love of the craft, but he's been given so much shit to be in lately that it's the project itself he doesn't care about. So he kind of checks out. The strange thing about Dial of Destiny is he had the power to make it better. Without Ford there is no Indiana Jones film. It's a mystery.

So at this point we all know I was right about the commercial missteps of casting PWB, trying to de-age Ford and pushing the shitty effects in the trailer. Moving past that, finally saw the film today and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It's miles ahead of The Crystal Skull. Yes, there's far too much CG and the CG isn't good. Right at the start they hit you in the face with that dodgy de-ageing; although the odd thing is, some of those shots DO work, and I haven't see that before, so that's interesting. But then other times we're right back in the uncanny valley. I don't know if they could have fixed it with more time or if the concept is still a few years out. But okay, things improve after that, up to a point. If it were possible to combine the fun of this script with the In-camera approach of Mission Impossible 7 (which I also enjoyed), would that have delivered the summer blockbuster we all needed? Perhaps... Although at Ford's age I'm guessing strapping him to the top of a moving train, etc, was never an option. So they worked within the limitations and some of it still paid off. I enjoyed the tuk tuk chase, the dive and also the finale, which somehow hadn't been spoiled for me prior to viewing (that said, Mads dies far too easy). I liked the Greek theme and the Mediterranean locations, reminiscent of the old Fate of Atlantis game. I feel like on the page the film probably worked even better - Butterworth is a decent writer, after all. Away from the action, the tone of the script approximates the originals much more effectively than the Crystal Skull. There are no 'commies' or "I like Ike", thank god. Arcs shmarks. Most surprisingly, Phoebe is actually ok, although the balance of screen time isn't quite right. Again, I can see the reasoning given the age of Ford/Indiana - certainly, it was a good decision to keep the other seniors in the background and stop it turning into Last Orders. And someone had to take up the slack and I guess she was their solution and I guess it beats DeNiro kicking that guy in The Irishman. One thing that did bug the fuck out of me however was that wooden bridge on the way to the tomb. Who the hell built that, because it certainly wasn't the Ancient Greeks?! Oh and, whilst we're at it, if Archimedes was so afraid of the dial, why would he trust someone else to leave it in his tomb? Although considering you need to fly to make use of it I'm not sure what he was so afraid of in 200BC anyway? Quibbles aside, I might just watch it again.

Wow. Amazing what actually watching a film can do to your opinion of it. . But yeah, all good points, I was just less forgiving of it on initial viewing. Maybe in a few years I’ll watch it again and see where it lands for me.

Expectations perhaps.