History Film / IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny

''Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny'' is a 2023 {{adventure}} film, and the fifth entry in the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' film franchise. In a franchise first, Creator/StevenSpielberg is only credited as executive producer on the film, with Creator/JamesMangold (of ''Film/WalkTheLine'', ''Film/{{Logan}}'' and ''Film/FordvFerrari'' fame) in the director's chair instead. Franchise co-creator Creator/GeorgeLucas also returned as an executive producer as well, but not a writer, with Jez and John-Henry Butterworth (''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'', ''Ford v Ferrari'') instead writing the script with Mangold and Creator/DavidKoepp. Lastly, the film is the first and only ''Indiana Jones'' film to be released by Creator/{{Disney}} instead of Creator/{{Paramount}} (though the latter still gets an "in association with" label credit).

** The ActionPrologue begins with a Nazi plunder train being filled up with stolen treasure, although it's captured by British troops before it can make it back to Germany.

* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Zig-zagged by Aziz Rahim towards Helena; when they first confront since becoming his RunawayBride, he angrily comes at her with a huge knife after she admits pawning the ring. Then during the chase, though ordering his goons to shoot her throughout, Aziz keeps crying out to Helena and sounding like he desperately wants her back.

''Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny'' is a 2023 {{adventure}} film, and the fifth and "final" entry in the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' film franchise. In a franchise first, Creator/StevenSpielberg is only credited as executive producer on the film, with Creator/JamesMangold (of ''Film/WalkTheLine'', ''Film/{{Logan}}'' and ''Film/FordvFerrari'' fame) in the director's chair instead. Franchise co-creator Creator/GeorgeLucas also returned as an executive producer as well, but not a writer, with Jez and John-Henry Butterworth (''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'', ''Ford v Ferrari'') instead writing the script with Mangold and Creator/DavidKoepp. Lastly, the film is the first and only ''Indiana Jones'' film to be released by Creator/{{Disney}} instead of Creator/{{Paramount}} (though the latter still gets an "in association with" label credit).

''Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny'' is a 2023 {{adventure}} film, and the fifth and final entry in the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' film franchise. In a franchise first, Creator/StevenSpielberg is only credited as executive producer on the film, with Creator/JamesMangold (of ''Film/WalkTheLine'', ''Film/{{Logan}}'' and ''Film/FordvFerrari'' fame) in the director's chair instead. Franchise co-creator Creator/GeorgeLucas also returned as an executive producer as well, but not a writer, with Jez and John-Henry Butterworth (''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'', ''Ford v Ferrari'') instead writing the script with Mangold and Creator/DavidKoepp. Lastly, the film is the first and only ''Indiana Jones'' film to be released by Creator/{{Disney}} instead of Creator/{{Paramount}} (though the latter still gets an "in association with" label credit).

* GenreShift: Where the previous three films and this GrandFinale's ActionPrologue were heavily based on the pulp adventure serials of the '30s and '40s and the latest last one based on the pulp sci-fi of the '50s, this one is derived in part from the action thrillers and {{Conspiracy Thriller}}s of the 60's and 70's including SpyFiction such as Franchise/JamesBond (which inspired the creation of the franchise in the first place and shared its cast members in both franchises) and its [[FollowTheLeader many imitators]][[invoked]] during the decades and post war-Nazi conspiracy thrillers such as ''Film/MarathonMan'', ''Film/TheOdessaFile'' and ''Film/TheBoysFromBrazil'' (which featured Creator/WolfKahler, who played Colonel Dietrich from the first film).

* GrandFinale: Of the ''Indiana Jones'' movies, as the fifth out of a planned five film deal with Paramount Pictures. The movie shows Indy retiring from academia, and Helena trying to gain his aid by offering him "one last triumph". Excluding the future FlashForward moments in ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'' (where he's retired), this is also chronologically the final adventure in Indy's life.

** [[Creator/ThomasKretschmann Colonel Weber]] isn't exaggerating when he yells at Voller for suggesting that showing the incomplete Antikythera would lessen the terrible situation that they're delivering a fake Lance of Longinus to the Führer, asking if Voller even ''met'' [[BadBoss Hitler]] in person. After all, he's been on receiving end of Hitler's wrath [[Film/Downfall2004 many]] [[Film/{{Valkyrie}} times]] before.

*** Also, this isn't the first (or second time for that matter) that Harrison Ford has to [[spoiler: separate from his wife because something happened to [[Film/StarWarsTheForceAwakens one of]] [[Film/BladeRunner2049 their children.]]]]

** This isn't [[Film/TheReturnOfTheKing the first time]] Creator/JohnRhysDavies enters the room to find [[spoiler: the protagonist just regaining his consciousness after the big showdown]].

* AmbiguousSituation: When Helena meets up with Indy at the start, is she lying about studying for her doctorate? While she quickly establishes herself to be highly knowledgeable about archaeology in general and the Dial in particular, she [[spoiler: steals the half of it that was in Indy's possession and is very quick to try to sell it to the highest bidder (although she could well have been planning to double-cross said highest bidder before Indy and then Voller showed up)]]. The doctorate story could be a ruse to gain Indy's trust, as he's her (estranged) godfather who has been a university lecturer for decades and would surely respect any young person looking to continue their studies in his chosen subject.

** Weber and [[spoiler:Voller]] are ultimately done in the same way: [[spoiler: shot in the chest by a Shaw.]]

* DenserAndWackier: It's not obvious at first - and the film takes itself very seriously for the most part - but the plot concludes with [[spoiler: a time travel to ancient times, where neo-Nazis (dressed up as the real deal) are fighting Romans for no reason other than ''being there'']], which is the sort of a twist you could only expect from a FilmSerial. Even ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]'' was open from the get-go it was going to involve TheGreys.

* DwindlingParty: Villainous example. Voller starts off with a huge crew and massive amounts of resources in his hunt for the Antikythera but once Indiana Jones gets involved,[[spoiler: he starts losing both manpower and resources until he's left with only a handful of loyal men and just enough equipment to get his plan off the ground once he finally has the artifact in his hands - and it still manages to get worse from there]].

* GodhoodSeeker: At the beginning of the film, Voller claims that whoever possesses the full Dial wouldn’t be a king, an emperor, or the Führer; they would be God. [[spoiler: Near the end of the film, Voller reveals that he intends to use the Dial to travel back in time and replace Hitler in order to [[InTheirOwnImage make history turn out the way he wants it to]].]]

* ImprobableAimingSkills: [[spoiler: The Roman ballista crewmen at the Siege of Syracuse deserve credit for successfully bringing down a [=WW2=]-era bomber ''AND'' taking out individual crew-members on it with the bolts]].
* InTheirOwnImage: [[spoiler: Voller essentially plans to [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight do this to modern history]]. Upon assembling the [[MacGuffin Antikythera Mechanism]], he and his followers fly a bomber plane through a time portal with the intent to travel back to 1939 in order to [[KillAndReplace kill and replace Hitler]], and then lead Nazi Germany to win UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and eventually [[TakeOverTheWorld conquer the world]].]]

* MissingStepsPlan: A villainous example. [[spoiler: Voller plans to go back to 1939, right before the invasion of Poland, assassinate Hitler and either take over or at least help his younger self with that task. Even ignoring how his plan is doomed to fail from the start due to the Antikythera being rigged - which Voller isn't aware of - he apparently wants to take over Nazi Germany with a mere handful of hoodlooms. How he plans to achieve that or why anyone should follow him in [[WeAreStrugglingTogether the notoriously fractuated Nazi leadership]] is anyone's guess]].

** The protagonists, knowing the danger the Antikythera poses, nevertheless assiduously try to recover it instead of destroying it or leaving it alone, in obscurity. They even [[spoiler: use the Graphikos to go find the second half of the Antikythera, even after having successfully fooled the Nazis regarding the latter's whereabouts, instead of just destroying the Graphikos, thereby giving the Nazis the opportunity to follow them and steal the second half of the Antikythera.]]

* PushyGunTotingVillain: What Voller is reduced into after [[spoiler: ending up in the middle of the siege of Syracuse, rather than 1939]]. It doesn't end well for him.

* RockBeatsLaser: [[spoiler:The Roman fleet attacking Syracuse is able to bring down a large WWII era plane using nothing more than ballistae bolts]]. Justified, since [[spoiler: the plane was already experiencing difficulties and wasn't expecting combat, while the Roman soldiers are very much combat-minded. Noticeably, the first few bolts hit the plane while the whole crew is confused about what to do, and when they start reacting Voller is mostly acting erraticly. The crew also has only handguns to respond, and the plane can't maneuver. Noticeably, the second plane actually gets away without a scratch by mere virtue of being able to keep enough altitude that it's not even spotted by the fleet.]]

* SadlyMythtaken: [[spoiler: Both Greeks and Romans imagined dragons as giant, constricting, venomous snakes - and not fiery, flying beasts, as depicted in the Middle Ages and beyond]].

* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler: When his plane emerges in ancient Syracuse, and it becomes clear that escape is no longer an option, Voller tries to take Indy and Helena’s parachute from them at gunpoint to ensure their deaths.]]

* TrappedInThePast: [[spoiler: Attempted by Indy in the climax, who ''wants to'' strand himself in Ancient Syracuse to live out his final days. Helena has other ideas. Voller meanwhile has [[VillainousBreakdown completely lost it]], first realising his master plan completely failed and then that he faces a far worse possibility of being stranded some 22 centuries away from his goal]].

* UnexplainedRecovery: Voller is last seen in the prologue getting clipped by a low-hanging pipe and knocked off a speeding train, something that could easily be fatal or at least crippling. There is no sign of any lasting harm from this when he returns in 1969. Him being [[spoiler: a vital cog in a StableTimeLoop]] might have spared him from any harm [[spoiler: until his role in it came to an end upon completing it.]] That, and the fact that he exists in a world where you can survive an atomic blast by hiding in a fridge.
* VillainBall: There is absolutely ''zero'' reason to fly at such low altitude in the climax, other than [[spoiler: to allow the plane to be in range of the Roman and Greek siege weapons, not to mention opening fire on the people below, which leads to the only possible result — the Romans start firing back and, since it is flying so low, they easily score enough hits to bring it down]].

* VillainousLegacy: Hitler and the Third Reich. While Nazi Germany and its Führer are long gone by 1969 (when the film is set), their legacy continues to cast a shadow over history and the lives of those who both championed and opposed their evil. It's what drives Voller's agenda [[spoiler: to use the Dial to travel back in time and ensure Germany doesn't lose World War II. However, Voller is also more interested in honoring and saving the legacy itself rather than its architect, as he blames Hitler and his mistakes for the loss rather than the Allies.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: After Helena's BondOneLiner, given while escaping from Voller and his men, Indy despondently laments that [[spoiler: they just murdered Renaldo]]. To her credit, Helena apologizes.

* WriteBackToTheFuture: [[spoiler: An interesting variant as it isn't the time travellers but an inhabitant of the past who creates a time machine and puzzle to keep it hidden to specifically make sure that someone comes back in time from a future that is sufficiently technologically advanced to decisively interfere with the battle.]]

** A variation with Creator/RayWinstone. While George [=McHale=] (apparently) died at Akator so his absence during the main 1969 portion is justified, the previous film's backstory had established Mac and Indy were partnered together during the Second World War. According to Indy, they did 20-30 missions together in the European and Pacific theatres. However, there's no sign of the younger Mac at all in the 1944 Prologue and Basil Shaw takes his place (though this could easily be explained away as Mac simply being busy on another mission elsewhere on the European front).

*** The film's prologue chapter ending on a quiet scene with the main character and the {{Leitmotif}} score playing, then switching to a nondescript setting with a jarring change to a [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] song playing and the same character now shown to be elderly, is like the jump in decades early in ''Film/OnceUponATimeInAmerica''.

** A FreezeFrameBonus shows a scene that looks like the cabin of the ''[[Franchise/StarWars Millennium Falcon]]'' while going through hyperspace.
** Indy tells Voller that he should have retired him years ago. In ''Film/BladeRunner'', "retire" was the euphemism used to describe the killing of rogue replicants.

*** The film's prologue chapter ending on a quiet scene with the main character and the {{Leitmotif}} score playing, then switching to a nondescript setting with a jarring change to a [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] song playing and the same character now shown to be elderly, is like the jump in decades done in ''Film/OnceUponATimeInAmerica''.

** Indy being saved from getting hanged due to war ordinance conveniently striking the location and wrecking the floor underneath, is like how [[Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly "Blondie" once escaped from Tuco]].

* StableTimeLoop: The climax of the film is foreshadowed and depicted [[spoiler:in ancient carvings depicting a winged creature with propeller-like structures, and Archimedes' skeleton wearing Voller's watch. Sure enough, Voller's plane ends up in the time of Archimedes and is mistaken for a dragon, while Voller ends up dying and his watch is taken by Archimedes when he discovers his corpse.]]
** However, it is actually averted as it turns out that there is no real loop involved: [[spoiler: Archimedes was working on the dial before Voller and Indy travelled to the past, so it doesn't get the idea from the future, Voller never sees the future items on the corpses in the tomb, and is that ignorance that ends up being his undoing, while Indy only realizes the significance of what he saw when it's too late to act on it. Indy even prevents Archimedes from seeing the finished dial stating that he needs to finish it on his own, and is dragged back not to interfere with the past. The timelines curve, but they don't loop.]]

* RiddleForTheAges: Anything related to the nature and actual functioning of the time rifts, since the dial only controls them, but doesn't study them. Justified, as the main characters are archaelogists, not physicists, and while the villain is a physicist he is more interested in exploiting the rifts rather than understanding them.

* MeaninglessVillainVictory: As with previous ''Indiana Jones'' movies, an antagonist gets what they want, but in the worst way possible. [[spoiler:Voller successfully acquires and uses the Dial to travel back in time. However, the plan ultimately fails both because he didn't take continental drift into account and because he had no way of knowing Archimedes had rigged the Antikythera to only return its users to Ancient Syracuse. So he gets to change history just as he wanted, but in a way that ensures he won't be remembered and that nobody will mourn.]]

* RockBeatsLaser: [[spoiler:The Roman fleet attacking Syracuse is able to bring down a large WWII era plane using nothing more than ballistae bolts]].