‘Indiana Jones' Is Big, Silly, Stupid, and Awe-Inspiring

The times, they are a-changin’. Way back in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Henry Jones’s archaeology students batted their lashes at him so that he could read the messages inked on their eyelids. In Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the undergrads can barely keep their eyes open during his lectures. The former heartthrob has become just another boring old academic, droning his notes into the void. The year is 1969, and, having parlayed his decades of death-defying adventures into a tenured position at a small New York City college, our hero seems resigned—if not content—to drift into retirement and, with it, obsolescence. To paraphrase the man himself: With this many miles on his odometer, Dr. Jones belongs in a museum. Or at least a nice, quiet place where he doesn’t have to listen to his downstairs neighbors blasting Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.