Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny: Orientalist, nonsensical, and drenched in the yellow filter

In the promotion of the latest instalment in the Indiana Jones franchise, its new director James Mangold promised a return to classic Indiana Jones fare and less of the science fiction of Crystal Skull that saw a critically mixed reception.

Dial of Destiny would be a return to form for the franchise, with Harrison Ford swashbuckling in archaeological adventures that would serve as a fitting finale for the beloved cinematic icon.

Dial of Destiny does indeed indulge in nostalgia, but in the worst ways by doubling down on the series’ infamous Orientalism and racism against North African and Arab peoples, with a nonsensical plotline to boot.

"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is perhaps exactly what we all should have expected. It’s a mindless and Orientalist action adventure that steeps you in nostalgia but adds little to nothing in terms of a compelling narrative that pushes this franchise forward in almost any meaningful way"

After a CGI-laden trip down memory lane to World War II, as we see Dr Jones fighting Nazis (a welcome depiction, and the saving grace of this franchise) to retrieve an artefact, we then find a depressed Indiana Jones in 1969.

He is resigned to his lonely state, but with the arrival of his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and old adversaries inquiring about the Dial of Destiny, he beckons to the call to adventure once again. But will he survive to tell his tale?

In many ways, Dial of Destiny is a very standard Indiana Jones instalment. There’s a MacGuffin everyone chases towards, Indiana seemingly learns some hard truths about himself, there’s action, and there are moments of meaningful reconciliation.

But unfortunately, Mangold and his co-writers Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and David Koepp rely on their MacGuffin to drive the plot, rather than meaningful character choices and development.

It often results in tedium when one should feel excited about the action on screen, as we are less invested in the characters than in the quest they are following.

Harrison Ford acts the best he can with this story and is able to mostly supersede it, making him a welcome sight for presumably most fans of this franchise. But the script doesn’t do him many favours for actual character development, as it lurches him through its nonsense plot.

Despite his good performance, he’s nothing but a cypher for the plot and characters around him. Bridge is charming and witty as Helena, and she stands as Ford’s equal throughout the film, as they save each other constantly. While the movie in general falters, its leads make for a somewhat tolerable time, at least when they’re not in Morocco.

Mads Mikkelsen is an evil Nazi Jürgen Voller is threatening and engaging to watch, as Mikkelsen makes the most of his scenes. But he remains very one note throughout, which of course is not a bad thing as we know we’re supposed to root for his and his fellow Nazi’s defeat.

It just doesn’t give the film much narrative bite as the conflict is very clear-cut. For instance, Boyd Holbrook, a very gifted actor, is barely given anything to do as one of Voller’s henchmen. But of course, it is good to have the reminder that punching Nazis is always a good thing to do, as Indiana Jones has always done.

But this is also a franchise deeply steeped in Orientalism, and the Orientalism of Dial of Destiny was easily avoidable. As one looks back on the film, there was no need for them to go to Morocco at all. But they do, basking Morocco in a heavy and ugly yellow filter to show that it is dangerous and exotic, just as this franchise has done previously in Egypt.

A crazed Moroccan gangster chases Helena and Dr Jones with swords and guns through the bazaar. It wouldn’t be Indiana Jones without at least some dangerous Arabs or South Asians.

Morocco is backward, dusty, and dangerous, and the film doesn’t want you to forget it as it enthusiastically embraces stereotypes about North Africa.

While the character of Teddy Kumar, Helena’s Moroccan sidekick as played by French-Mauritanian newcomer Ethann Isidore, is clearly an attempt at a positive depiction of a North African character, even he suffers under Mangold’s limited understanding of North African peoples or Orientalist stereotypes.

Isidore does his best with the material, has a sharp wit, and handles the action scenes quite well, but the writing doesn’t do him many favours either as he trudges along with the plot.

He’s a thief whose goal is to keep stealing even once he’s with the good guys, wading more into Orientalist caricatures of North Africans as thieves and conmen. He’s thankfully a full-on hero by the end, but without anywhere near the development afforded Jones and Shaw, and he just changes as the plot dictates. Hopefully, Kumar, a talented young Mauritanian actor, has more opportunities in the future with more fleshed-out North African characters.  

The return of the Egyptian Sallah, as played by vocal Islamophobe and Welsh Jonathan Rhys-Davies, is overall pointless as he’s only in two scenes, but shows him as grateful to Jones for getting him and his family out of Egypt during a particular war in the interceding time.

Dr Jones is his white saviour. With the knowledge of the actor’s comments, it’s good to know his appearance is brief, but his presence is a sore reminder of the worst tendencies of this franchise and its refusal to do better, as evidenced by the previous issues mentioned above.

James Mangold, evidently, does not have the range to portray Moroccans or other SWANA/MENA peoples in a constructive way at all. He can have his actors speak in Ancient Greek but not bother to learn a word of modern Arabic. He could showcase the beauty of Morocco but instead aimed to make it look as ugly as possible. It would behove him to have people from the region co-write or advise on his direction if he wants to depict anything in or related to the region again.

Thankfully, however, Mangold has a good eye for action, and Dial of Destiny has some thrilling scenes in this space. What he does not have a good eye for, however, is CGI.

Lucasfilm’s CGI ghoulish recreations of actors’ younger selves are worse for wear, as the CGI Indiana Jones looks pale and lifeless, making you relieved when we see his actual older self.

It makes you wish that Alden Ehrenreich, who did a solid job at playing another one of Ford’s famous roles for Lucasfilm, was cast in these flashback sequences instead. Real actors beat computer regenerations every time, and the sooner Lucasfilm realizes that, the better.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is perhaps exactly what we all should have expected. It’s a mindless and Orientalist action adventure that steeps you in nostalgia but adds little to nothing in terms of a compelling narrative that pushes this franchise forward in almost any meaningful way.

Replete with exoticism, Orientalism, and a nonsense science fiction plotline, Dial of Destiny proves the case for why this entire franchise belongs in a museum.

Swara Salih is a writer and podcaster who has written for The Nerds of Color and But Why Tho? He co-hosts The Middle Geeks podcast, which covers all things SWANA/MENA representation, and is a co-host of the Spider-Man/Spider-Verse podcast Into The Spider-Cast

Follow him on Twitter: @spiderswarz