adminLOS ANGELES. – There’s often speculation when an artist announces a “last” project that it won’t be – which is why Harrison Ford is still being asked whether this really will be his last outing wearing the battered hat of legendary adventurer Indiana Jones.
But the actor is unequivocal in his reply to BBC News.
“It is my final film,” he says. “And I was always ambitious with this final film.”
It could be argued the movie, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the first for the franchise since 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, wasn’t even necessary to conclude the series, since Ford is now 80 years old.
But the actor says he wanted to give this beloved character “an emotional ending” while acknowledging the passing of time.
“We’ve been making these films for 40 years, we can’t deny the effect of age on the character, and I wanted to see that developed into a complex story,” he says.
The film makes a virtue of the character’s age, showing the professor of archaeology complaining as he’s performing action stunts with his god-daughter Helena, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, as the pair chase an ancient dial that can alter the course of history.
The film is packed with in-jokes about the character as well as featuring Indiana Jones’s greatest enemies, the Nazis, led in this film by Danish actor and former Bond villain Mads Mikkelsen.
But Ford insists he won’t be tempted back: “I was not so much interested in doing the same thing over and over again, I wanted to have an emotional ending to this character.
“And I’m so grateful for the audience that we’ve had, I just wanted to make sure that they would be satisfied and happy with the final iteration.”
That’s not guaranteed – the film’s world première at the Cannes Film Festival drew lukewarm reviews from critics.
The BBC review at the time said that the film was “a depressing reminder of how much livelier his past adventures were”.
It’s also the first film in the series that’s not directed by Steven Spielberg, although he remains an executive producer.
At one point, Dial of Destiny ranked at only 52 percent on American review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, although it’s since risen.
But the nostalgia factor could still be a powerful lure for audiences. – BBC.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter