Indiana Jones

[Shadow Master]

Wonder if there's any Indy fans here. It's one of my very favorite film series and I'm in the minority of loving all of the films, even the much-maligned Crystal Skull (which was initially a disappointment but it's grown on me a LOT since the first watch). My ranking is sure to raise some eyebrows but for me the films go: Temple Of Doom Raiders Of The Lost Ark Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull The Last Crusade I think Raiders in many ways is truly the best one but Temple Of Doom is the one I find to be the most entertaining and is a huge sentimental favorite. I love it's much darker tone and creepier vibe compared to the rest and unlike some I actually really like how it's got non-Nazi villains and mythology; IMO going back to the Nazis and biblical relics again for The Last Crusade was stale. Last Crusade and Crystal Skull are close but I find I marginally prefer Skull, though I know that's immensely unpopular. While Crusade is good I find it's more comical and lighthearted than I'd prefer and it feels so much like a Raiders retread much of the time, and it just doesn't excite me as much as the rest. I'd welcome a fifth one but they better get on it right now, Harrison Ford sadly isn't getting any younger and with his recent plane crash injuries I wonder if that's affected his ability to reprise the role a final time.

[bassman]

Crusade Raiders Skull Doom I too thoroughly enjoy Crystal Skull and would love for them to give Ford one more round in the fedora before passing the role onto another actor for the inevitable reboot.

[EvilNed]

Raiders Doom The others... I really, really hate the Last Crusade. It's so damn silly.

[shootemindehead]

Yeh, for me there's only the first two films. The wretched attempts at comedy in the third one killed the whole thing for me. It wasn't funny, it was just stupid.

[Shadow Master]

I like The Last Crusade but it's definitely overrated. Way too jokey for me.

[rongravy]

I tried every which way to wrap my head around rating these, but I discovered it all depends on which one I'm in the mood for... Today it's Doom, Raiders, Crusade, and Skull. That, however, could change at a moments notice. I'm just glad I was lucky to see all of them in the theater. The Last Crusade will always be special to me, though. What I did in the parking lot of that theater before the show will forever be stuff of legend. Le sigh...

[MinionZombie]

Raiders Crusade Skull Doom Although Raiders and Crusade are constantly switching places in my mind ... in many ways I actually dig Crusade the most ... but I'll go for Raiders as top dog on this occasion with Crusade running a close second. Yes, there are stupid moments of cringiness in Crystal Skull, but a lot of the rabid complainers across the interwebtubes seem to forget all the daft stuff that happened in Last Crusade and Temple of Doom (remember the bit where they leap out of a crashing plane - in a life raft - slide their way down a snowy mountainside, go over a cliff, float down inside the fully inflated raft, crash into river rapids, then go over a huge waterfall and survive? - nothing in Crystal Skull, even the monkies, was more silly than that) ... ... besides, the basis of Indiana Jones was the old school serials they used to show in cinemas way back when in which lots of daft stuff like that would happen. They're movies, not documentaries. Skull has a different vibe to the other three, of course, but the first three were set in the 1930s and made in the 1980s ... Skull was a fifties-set flick made in the 2000s (with a much older Harrison Ford) ... it was going to be a bit different, and yet the maintained the tone. Temple of Doom on the other hand, I never really got into that one as much as the others. It's good in that it's an Indiana Jones movie, but it's the least of the series in my personal view. The rabid hatred of Skull, supposedly 'widespread', felt more like a fashionable thing to moan about. Yes, some legitimiately hate it and fair enough, but it does also seem like it was a target of a lot of 'fashionable fan rage' that completely ignored the fact that much of what was being complained about was the sort of stuff that was in the first three movies!

[Mike70]

Yeh, for me there's only the first two films. The wretched attempts at comedy in the third one killed the whole thing for me. It wasn't funny, it was just stupid. Indeed. I also.acknowledge the existence of only two Indy movies. "Temple of Doom" I have always found to be a fun ride and nothing more. The presence of Short Round damn near sinks that film too. "Crusade" is insipid and "Crystal Skulls" is absurd, ridiculous, and a complete waste of time.

[MoonSylver]

Raiders Crusade Skull Doom Although Raiders and Crusade are constantly switching places in my mind ... in many ways I actually dig Crusade the most ... but I'll go for Raiders as top dog on this occasion with Crusade running a close second. Yes, there are stupid moments of cringiness in Crystal Skull, but a lot of the rabid complainers across the interwebtubes seem to forget all the daft stuff that happened in Last Crusade and Temple of Doom (remember the bit where they leap out of a crashing plane - in a life raft - slide their way down a snowy mountainside, go over a cliff, float down inside the fully inflated raft, crash into river rapids, then go over a huge waterfall and survive? - nothing in Crystal Skull, even the monkies, was more silly than that) ... ... besides, the basis of Indiana Jones was the old school serials they used to show in cinemas way back when in which lots of daft stuff like that would happen. They're movies, not documentaries. Skull has a different vibe to the other three, of course, but the first three were set in the 1930s and made in the 1980s ... Skull was a fifties-set flick made in the 2000s (with a much older Harrison Ford) ... it was going to be a bit different, and yet the maintained the tone. Temple of Doom on the other hand, I never really got into that one as much as the others. It's good in that it's an Indiana Jones movie, but it's the least of the series in my personal view. The rabid hatred of Skull, supposedly 'widespread', felt more like a fashionable thing to moan about. Yes, some legitimiately hate it and fair enough, but it does also seem like it was a target of a lot of 'fashionable fan rage' that completely ignored the fact that much of what was being complained about was the sort of stuff that was in the first three movies! MZ is wise. Had to quote the whole post because there isn't one part of it I don't agree with, right down to the order. I never see so much uptightediness surface as when the Indy films are discussed. Of course I get that way too, just over different things...

[EvilNed]

MZ is wise. Had to quote the whole post because there isn't one part of it I don't agree with, right down to the order. I never see so much uptightediness surface as when the Indy films are discussed. Of course I get that way too, just over different things... i guess it boils down as to wether you like them more silly or not. personally, i love the dry humour of the first film, but I can't help but cringe every ten minutes in Last Crusade. I can't remember Skulls at all, tbh, which is probably not a very good sign. I know enough to realize that I don't think they'd hold up today. So i'm not gonna rewatch them for awhile. this is coming from a person who thinks even Return of the Jedi is pretty shit

[Shadow Master]

Last Crusade has just as much goofy and silly stuff in it as the others, if not moreso arguably. TOD may have the raft used as a parachute and Crystal Skull the fridge, but in Last Crusade you get the revolving fireplace, the burning plane in the tunnel beside Indy and his dad in their car, a centuries-old knight guarding the Holy Grail (which for me is the single biggest WTF? moment of the series), pen ink squirting in a guy's eye and let's not forget the opening sequence with young Indy where he gets his fedora, whip, chin scar, fear of snakes and love of relic-hunting all in one swoop.

[shootemindehead]

The biggest FFS for me is the scene where Indy and hot bird are smashing their way through the floor of a library (or whatever) and there's a guy stamping books or forms, who thinks he's making the noise. Oh the hilarity.

[MinionZombie]

And the scene where Indy's Dad takes down a plane with an umbrella and a flock of seagulls. I still love Last Crusade.

[EvilNed]

And the scene where Indy's Dad takes down a plane with an umbrella and a flock of seagulls. I still love Last Crusade. It was at this point I turned it off last time I saw it.

[MoonSylver]

The biggest FFS for me is the scene where Indy and hot bird are smashing their way through the floor of a library (or whatever) and there's a guy stamping books or forms, who thinks he's making the noise. Oh the hilarity. It was at this point I turned it off last time I saw it. Remember that time where that one guy accused these other guys of uptightedyness...