This time it really is his “last crusade”. 42 years after the release ofIndiana Jones Adventures of the Lost Ark, the famous archaeologist is back at the cinema for a final lap. Or rather dial, since this time it will explore the flaws of time and travel in the past. Quite a symbol for the stainless Harrison Ford, 80, still wearing the hat and whip that made him a world star. The American actor, long hailed by the Cannes public after the preview screening of the film, was rewarded with a surprise Palme d’Or on Thursday 18 May.
In this fifth installment, Professor Henry Jones retires after a life dedicated to archaeology. But the return of his goddaughter Helena Shaw will very quickly make him plunge back into the adventure, in search of the mysteries of Archimedes’ dial. This ancient artefact, of which Indy has one of the two parts, would, according to legend, have the power to detect temporal cracks. Cunning, the debt-ridden young woman steals the object and leaves for Morocco in order to sell to the highest bidder, thus forcing her old godfather to bring out his leather jacket to catch up with her.
Cure of youth
The spectacular intro scene features a remarkably digitally rejuvenated Indiana Jones at the top of his game battling the Nazis aboard a speeding train. A technological pirouette that has become a habit at Lucasfilm and Disney, who notably used this technique to rejuvenate Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars series The Mandalorian or even Nick Fury in Captain Marvel.
The fans of the first hour will appreciate finding a dashing Indy equipped with all the mischief that we know him. But the idea is not only aesthetic since it allows to put into perspective the influence of time on the most popular adventurer of the 7th art. Unlike the fourth film, where the arrival of his son played by Shia LaBeouf had tended to make the hero outdated, Indy’s age serves the narrative to offer him an exit worthy of his exploits.
> Our video interview with Harrison Ford in Cannes:
On the roof of a locomotive, in a tuktuk or on board a plane, the frenetic pace imposed on the main characters never drops in intensity. The young British actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge gives Harrison Ford the perfect change, and her complicity with the young “Frenchie” Ethann Isidore gives breath and a great energy to the adventure. Opposite, Mads Mikkelsen embodies a charismatic and chilling antagonist, ready to do anything to rewrite history and avoid the fall of Hitler’s totalitarian regime during the Second World War.
This latest epic doesn’t (almost) fall into the trap of stepping too far out of the franchise, as The Crystal Skull. And at the end of a final scene tinged with nostalgia and emotion, the emblematic credits by John Williams – who will have composed the original soundtrack for the five episodes – completes the loop of a saga that has definitively settled into cinema legend.
The sheet
Gender : action, adventure
Director: James Mangold
Actors: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen
Country : UNITED STATES
Duration : 2h34
Exit : June 28, 2023
Distributer : Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Summary: 1969. Indiana Jones is about to bow out. After spending more than ten years teaching at Hunter College in New York, the esteemed professor of archeology is about to retire and enjoy peaceful days in his modest apartment, where he now lives alone. Everything changes after the surprise visit of his goddaughter Helena Shaw, who is looking for a rare artifact that her father entrusted to Indy years ago: the famous Archimedes dial, a device that would have the power to locate cracks. temporal. As an accomplished con artist, Helena steals the object and leaves the country in a hurry to sell it to the highest bidder. Indy has no choice but to chase after him. He pulls out his fedora and his leather jacket for one last trip. Meanwhile, former Nazi Jürgen Voller – an old enemy of Indiana Jones who now works as a physicist in the US space program – has his own sights on the dial as well. And his horrific scheme could forever change the course of world history…