Though the Indiana Jones franchise is mostly inspired by classic pulp action adventure serials, all four previous movies also feature significant supernatural/sci-fi elements.
In Raiders of the Lost Ark, it was the face-melting spirits, in Temple of Doom we met the heart-ripping, Kali-worshipping Thuggee cult. Then, The Last Crusade sent Indy and his father after the life-giving Holy Grail, before Kingdom of the Crystal Skull introduced aliens.
So, it probably won't surprise you to learn that the fifth instalment, The Dial of Destiny follows suit - but we have a feeling this movie's fantastical twist may prove to be the most divisive yet.
Major spoilers from this point on.
Archimedes' dial, aka the Antikythera, is believed to be able to predict "fissures in time," and sure enough, Mads Mikkelsen’s villainous Jürgen Voller manages to fly a plane right into the past. Unfortunately, the continental drift throws off his calculations, and the dial brings our main characters back two thousand years to the Siege of Syracuse.
A badly wounded Indy and Helena use a parachute to escape the plane before it crashes, as the bad guys perish. Shaw begs her godfather to return to their timeline in the plane piloted by her sidekick Teddy, but he tells her wants to stay and witness history unfold. Concerned that Jones will perish and likely alter the events of the past while he's at it, Helena knocks the legendary adventurer unconscious with a right hook and drags him onto the plane.
Indy wakes up back in his own bed, before being reunited with his estranged wife, Marion (Karen Allen).
Honestly, the time-travel stuff works pretty well, all things considered, and is really no more far-fetched than anything we've seen in the previous films when you think about it.
Do you plan on seeing The Dial of Destiny this weekend? Let us know in the comments.
The movie also stars Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory), John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Shaunette Renee Wilson (Black Panther), Thomas Kretschmann (Das Boot), Toby Jones (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Boyd Holbrook (Logan), Oliver Richters (Black Widow), and Ethann Isidore (Mortel).
Directed by James Mangold, the film is produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Simon Emanuel, with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas serving as executive producers. John Williams, who has worked on each Indy adventure since the original Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, once again composed the score.