When Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull was released in 2008, I was certain its failures would mean
the end of the franchise. Instead, plans were almost immediately made to
release a fifth and final swashbuckling adventure starring everyone’s favorite
archaeologist hero, though they would take 15 years and multiple rewrites to
reach fruition. Finally, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny has
reached theaters, with Steven Spielberg stepping down as director for the first
time in the franchise and James Mangold taking the helm in a production that
mostly feels content to capture the style of the series without any major alterations.