Harrison Ford’s halfhearted farewell (review)

Harrison Fords halfhearted farewell review

INDIANA JONES. Directed by James Mangold, the fifth episode of the franchise to be seen at the cinema this June 28 is a hybrid work which marks Harrison Ford’s farewell to the emblematic character.

After a last tour aboard the Millennium Falcon and an appearance in Replicant circles, Harrison Ford continues to bid farewell to his mythical characters. Indy’s turn to re-enlist for a last last stand after the decried Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skullsince the actor has explicitly indicated that he was now done with the character.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destinythe fifth part of the saga initiated by Steven Spielberg in 1981, will be released in cinemas this Wednesday, June 28, 2023. For this final lap, it is James Mangold, director of Logan, Le Mans 66 Or walk the linewhich takes over to make the link between past adventures and future horizons, in osmosis with the subject of this fifth film.

The result is a hybrid work, torn by opposing issues, like two films in one. However, in his words and the themes explored, Indiana Jones 5 is implacable: our hero is old, haunted by the passage of time, nostalgic for his past adventures, wandering in a world that has left him on the sidelines. Through Indy, Mangold questions our own report nostalgic to these childhood sagas that we can’t manage to abandon, as if to better turn us towards the future (here, the modern anti-heroine perfectly portrayed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge). With just a look, a word, a posture, a growl or a plea, Harrison Ford is overwhelming as an aging hero, overwhelmed, overwhelmed and a prisoner of his past, refusing to look to the future. As if the actor take the opportunity to bid his own farewell to the spectators.

Unfortunately, these moments of grace are too fleeting, drowned in a festival of futile chases, repetitive action scenes, nostalgic winks, a host of characters and unnecessary lengths. The specifications are heavy to respect, the precarious balance of the film is found broken. To add insult to injury, Harrison Ford sometimes seems withdrawn, eclipsed from his own film by a myriad of supporting roles. It is only when James Mangold allows himself to break free from the legacy of past films and films his 80-year-old hero, today and now, that the film paradoxically finds its essence. It’s in those fleeting moments that we tell ourselves that Indy will be sorely missed.

Synopsis – Indiana Jones is back for new adventures, this time alongside Helena, her goddaughter. The most popular archaeologist of the seventh art finds his hat and his whip to, once again, face his greatest enemies, the Nazis.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a highly anticipated film for fans of the franchise. This will be Harrison Ford’s last lap as the famous archaeologist with the whip and the very distinctive hat. In France, the feature film is released directly in cinemas on June 28, 2023, two days before the United States. It will be screened beforehand at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2023.

In the Indiana Jones 5 trailer, unveiled on December 2, 2022, we can discover our hero evolving in the late 60s but also in the 40s in a sequence where Harrison Ford was rejuvenated via absolutely stunning techniques. We also discover the character of Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) who plays the goddaughter of the adventurer.

At the start of 2020, Disney announced a major change concerning Indiana Jones: Steven Spielberg will not be directing the fifth film in the saga which features the archaeologist. At the time, the American magazine Variety explained that, according to someone close to Spielberg, the decision was entirely up to the filmmaker. Steven Spielberg would indeed like to pass the torch to a generation of younger directors so that they try to bring their own vision of the character and this 40-year-old license. Steven Spielberg will remain producer of this Indiana Jones 5 but will not be directly behind the camera, which is therefore a first since the beginning of the saga of the archaeologist with the whip in 1981.

It was American director James Mangold who signed with Disney and Lucasfilm to shoot Indiana Jones 5. Mangold, to whom we owe Walk The Line and Le Mans 66 (awarded two Oscars in February 2020), already lent to the exercise of following a strong license. He has indeed directed Wolverine Le Combat de l’immortel and especially Logan, a twilight superhero film much appreciated by critics and the public when it was released in 2017.

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