'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' review: Fifth Indy movie offers respectable farewell to Harrison Ford's action hero

Money aside, there are a few reasons to make another Indiana Jones movie. One is that Harrison Ford, 80, probably doesn’t have many more left in him. Another is that it would be a shame to leave 2008’s wretched “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" as Ford’s last go-round in such an iconic role.

And one more reason: Don’t you pretty much always want another Indiana Jones movie?

George Lucas, creator of the 1981 original, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” was right when he promised director Steven Spielberg that it would be “better than Bond.” Set in the romantic 1930s and featuring Ford as an archaeologist who trades his university tweed for a bullwhip to fight Nazis in exotic locales, the movie wasn’t just escapist fun; it was absolute magic. The memory of that magic has been enough to keep an uneven franchise alive for more than 40 years.

Now we come to the fifth and (supposedly) final chapter: “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” It’s a movie with a lot of mandates. It sticks to formula, presenting us with another Nazi, Dr. Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), who is searching for another relic, Archimedes’ Dial. But it also moves forward a little — to 1969, about as far forward as Indy’s age will allow — and brings in new blood in the form of Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag”) as a wily antiques thief named Helena Shaw. And in keeping with “Raiders” tradition, it pushes plausibility: That dial might be the key to time travel.

This is the first installment neither written by Lucas nor directed by Spielberg, though both serve as executive producers. Director and co-writer James Mangold (“Logan”) channels his predecessors with plenty of complex action sequences, starting with a flashback of Indy (a subtly de-aged Ford) wreaking havoc on a Nazi train for 18 impressive minutes, then going on to include a horseback chase through an anti-Vietnam march and a freewheeling tuk-tuk chase through Tangier. This is the stuff we came for, and Mangold delivers. He also has help from John Williams, returning with his now famous, still stirring theme.

It's Ford, though, who carries this film. While Waller-Bridge’s Shaw is a bit too callous for us to care about, and her sidekick Teddy (Ethann Isidore) is only marginally endearing (he’s no Short Round), Ford digs into his familiar role with gusto. This Indy is less roguish, more world-weary, but still the earnest idealist. He’s also still a smartbmouth: Told by a gloating Vollmer that he should have stayed in New York, Indy growls, “You should have stayed out of Poland.”

Given its overtones of finality, “The Dial of Destiny” doesn’t feel like the landmark cultural moment it wants to be. Still, it’s a slick piece of entertainment that earns our goodwill by respecting the “Raiders” legacy and maintaining a high level of craft. If by some miracle Indiana Jones does return, we’ll be there.

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com@raferguzman