The theory goes that, when reconstructed, Archimedes Dial could be used to locate fissures in time, thereby allowing for time travel. That is why Voller, now a physicist working in the U.S. space program and not bashful about mistakes he feels Nazi leader Adolf Hitler made during World War II, also is desperate to get his hands on it.
Making time a key element to this story helps lean into the inescapable fact that Indiana Jones is no young man. All credit to Ford, now 80, for being able to pull off this seemingly physically demanding performance — it’s somehow believable when Indy mounts a police horse to escape pursuers in the middle of a New York City parade — but this is not the hero at his most compelling.
All the ingredients should add up to a more flavorful film, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” tasting a little too bland a little too often.