1981, just two days after the wedding of Charles and Diana, my friends and I headed off to ABC 1 in Enfield for an opening day screening of a new adventure from the director of Jaws and produced by the man behind Star Wars, about an archaeologist looking for a religious relic. I remember spending the whole movie with my mouth completely open and coming out after two hours, shaking, giddy with excitement and humming that now legendary theme tune. Raiders of the Lost Ark injected some well-needed escapism into cinema and introduced an iconic character in the form of Indiana Jones. 42 years later, Indy is back for one last adventure, and just that thought alone was enough for me to return to the cinema feeling like I did all those years ago.

It’s 1969, and Indiana Jones is retiring from his job as a professor at a New York university. Struggling with a life of noisy neighbours, unexcited about the moon landing and failing to cope with the collapse of his marriage to Marion Ravenwood, Indy is looking for just a quiet life. Then his goddaughter, Helena, appears in his life, wanting the part of a find that her father and Indy had discovered during the war’s end. A clock built by Archimedes that could turn back time. Being dragged into her world to find both parts, Indy has to don his hat and whip one last time to find the dial before his old enemy, the Nazis, gets there first.

It’s a shame that Steven Spielberg decided to step away from directing duties this time, although he and George Lucas take executive producing roles. Although the series is in good hands with James Mangold, who has proved a solid director with the likes of Logan and Le Mans ’66 under his belt. It does lack the cinematic flair that Spielberg brought to the series, but Mangold handles the set pieces extremely well, and there are a lot of them throughout the film. In fact, it kicks off with a cracking pre-credit sequence.

Giving us a sequence set just before the end of the war, Indy is on board a train, a prisoner of the Nazis, as they transport treasures towards the Austrian border. Along with mild-mannered Basil Shaw, the two men discover they have come in contact with Archimedes’ dial. Moving forward to the 60s, the dial is in storage at the university. Helena Shaw, the daughter of Basil and Indy’s long-forgotten god-daughter, who sells ancient finds to the highest bidder, needs the dial for her own personal gain. However, there is an interested party, Dr Voller, who wants that dial.

It gives us everything we want from an Indiana Jones movie. He may be in his 70s now, but the adventure and escapism are all there, from wild and sometimes inventive chases to hidden trap doors and tombs to an unbelievable final act that has been massively criticised for being far too ridiculous but when compared to previous Indy movies, we have had melting Nazis and an ageing knight from King Artur guarding the Holy Grail, so all Indy movies have ridiculous endings.

There are moments when you feel the film could do with some trimming, as this is the longest of the series. It often has far too much exposition for its own liking, but as soon as John Williams’ score and that theme tune kick in, you are lost in another classy, exciting adventure that only Indiana Jones could be involved in.

The film’s real winner is the casting. Harrison Ford is and will always be Indiana Jones. He has stated that this will be the last time, and rightly so. He has been in our lives for so long that no one could ever play the role, and no one ever should. He is vulnerable, imperfect and a man who likes making things up as he goes along. He is the flawed hero in a world of superhuman heroes. Adding Fleabag’s Pheobe Waller-Bridge to the mix is a stroke of genius. As Helena, she brings a lot of human and gusto to the role while being a perfect foil to Dr Jones’s no-nonsense attitude. The relationship between the pair is excellent, and you can tell the two actors really enjoy each other’s company. Along for the ride are the always reliable Mads Mikkelsen as Dr Voller and a brief but scene-stealing Toby Jones as Basil Shaw.

Indiana Jones is not quite up to the quality of Raiders or Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. It is a huge improvement on the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which I didn’t mind too much. Having said that, this ticks all the boxes of a decent adventure movie. Fast-moving, exciting and almost cliffhanging action, enough moments to smile about and that incredible score, which needs to be heard in a cinema with a decent sound system. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a blast and it’s great to have the man in the hat back for one last adventure.

4 out of 5

Director: James Mangold

Starring: Harrison Ford, Pheobe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Toby Jones, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renee Wilson

Written by: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp, James Mangold, (based on the characters created) George Lucas and Philip Kaufman

Running Time: 154 mins

Cert: 12A

Release date: 28th June 2023