Adventure has a name. And a new trailer.
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” isn’t due out until June 30, but thanks to the Super Bowl we have a fresh look at the fabled treasure-hunter (once again played by Harrison Ford) and his brand-new adventure.
Set in 1969, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” sees Jones unraveling a mystery against the backdrop of the space race. While plot details have remained tightly sealed in a vault underneath Cairo, we do know that Mads Mikkelsen plays the heavy, a maybe-not-so-former-Nazi now employed by NASA; Phoebe Waller-Bridge is Jones’ goddaughter; and franchise stalwart John Rhys-Davies returns (as was teased in the initial trailer). Boyd Holbrook, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, Thomas Kretschmann and Shaunette Renée Wilson also star. James Mangold takes over directorial duties from Steven Spielberg, who had directed all of the previous entries (Spielberg stayed on as producer) and co-wrote the screenplay with Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth.
An “Indiana Jones” trailer at the Super Bowl is a homecoming of sorts since in 1995 he inconceivably starred in the Halftime Show. Disney was promoting its new Disneyland attraction Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye (aka Indiana Jones Adventure) and, this being the extravagant ‘90s, they did so with a lavish Halftime Show that also included (for reasons not entirely clear) Patti LaBelle and Tony Bennett. At the end of the show a visibly confused Bennett and a slightly more game LaBelle duet on “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from Disney’s blockbuster “The Lion King.” There are lasers, performers dressed like Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood, some very questionable “native” costumes and fireworks.
Did it sell any tickets to Disneyland? Who knows! But it is routinely ranked as among the worst (if not the very worst) Super Bowl Halftime Shows ever. So there’s that.
Based on the promotional materials released so far, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” looks like a ton of fun and a rousing return to form after the halfhearted “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (released way back in the year of our lord 2008). We’re ready to grab our whip and our hat and our beat-up leather jacket for this one.
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” opens on June 30.
