However the upcoming “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” turns out, one thing the film’s director James Mangold has no intention of doing is to try and change up the franchise’s tone.
Mangold certainly has experience in that field with “Logan,” a rather stern affair that took away the colorful visual effects and occasional superhero gag theatrics of the “X-Men” franchise in favor of a grim and dour sensibility befitting the film’s subject matter.
Speaking with EW recently, Mangold compared the films which do have one similarity – they feature an older version of an iconic character in what is being sold as their final adventure. Mangold says “Logan” was, by design, a “very purposefully and intentionally grim adventure, very dramatic, and very serious”.
The fifth Indiana Jones, however, is nothing like that. Harrison Ford, reprising his iconic role as the titular explorer, will still very much retain the laughs of previous outings:
“I am under no illusions that my job making an Indiana Jones film was to suddenly beat the humor out of it and turn it into some kind of dirge.
I think that what we’re trying to do is balance both an accurate and realistic appraisal of where this character would be at this time in his life and do that honestly.
At the same time, [we] try and carry forward what the very title of our movie promises, which is a romp and a wonderful adventure with action and chivalry and escapes by the skin of your nose and ingenious solutions to diabolical problems. This is an Indiana Jones film.”
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, and Shaunette Renée Wilson co-star in this final outing which Mangold directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with his “Ford v Ferrari” collaborators Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. Steven Spielberg produces the film, with John Williams returning to score.
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is set to be released in theaters on June 30th 2023.