Indiana Jones is one of the greatest action-adventure franchises of all time, partly because it knows how to pace itself. From Raiders of the Lost Ark to The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, big chases and set pieces are balanced with moments of planning and pathos. These two elements work together to create a well-crafted series of films that never feel too long or too short.
But now that we know how long Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is, that pattern looks like it will change.
Dial of Destiny is premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, where the movie is listed at a hefty runtime of 2 hours and 34 minutes in the festival’s program.
It’s not the longest movie at Cannes, an honor that goes to Steve McQueen’s 4.5-hour documentary Occupied City. It’s not even the longest work of fiction; Martin Scorsese’s opus Killers of the Flower Moon clocks in at 3.5 hours. But it is the longest Indiana Jones movie by a large margin, as the franchise had previously leveled out at around two hours. Just compare Dial of Destiny’s 154-minute runtime to its peers:
- Raiders of the Lost Ark - 115 minutes
- Temple of Doom - 118 minutes
- The Last Crusade - 128 minutes
- Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 122 minutes
Maybe you see that as a positive. More movie means more action, right? But considering the efficient structure of previous Indy adventures, this runtime could be indicative of poor pacing. It’s a trend we’ve seen in blockbusters for years: the bigger the legacy, the more bloated the closing chapter.
Maybe Dial of Destiny just needs a little extra time to wrap up Indiana Jones as both a character and a franchise, but even that can be done in a brisk two hours. Creating a movie that truly needs and deserves two and a half hours is a difficult feat. Soon, we’ll see if this movie achieves it.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny premieres in theaters June 30.
