1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. The Last Crusade
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3. Temple of Doom
4. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Raiders and Crusade are really, really close, as are Temple and Kingdom. Here's why:
Raiders was the perfect action movie. It was Indy in all of his glory. He had the perfect anti-thesis for his rival, who had the Nazis backing him, and for a good portion of the movie, it was just Indy and his best leading lady, Marion. Sallah was used to good effect without being too silly or overused. And the action pieces are fantastic. The marketplace scene and the truck chase in particular are so well done, it hurts. And, of course, the simply stunning opener. The only problems I had with it were some slow pacing moments. The search of the Ark can be a little dull, as can the time on the ship. Some people say the ship was character development, but I felt we had gotten enough of that earlier in the film. The ending, though, is easily the best of the four films. Raiders is truly the Classic of the four films.
However, I find Last Crusade to be more fun. The dynamic between Ford and Connery is simply outstanding. And, again, we return to the Nazis. We get Indy's backstory. What hurts the film is the overabundence of characters. Marcus was funny, yes, but he worked better in his bit role. Sallah, too, became far too comical. However, out of Crusade's three big action sequences, two of them really worked and one fell flat. The tank scene and the motorbike scene were both great and hilarious. The boat scene, though, didn't work. The ending was a watered down throwback to Raiders, but the emotional resonance that you get from the end makes up for it. Unfortunately, LC suffers from having the worst villain. Donovan is supposed to be Henry Sr.'s answer to what Belloq was for Indy in Raiders, and he just came out as dull. Finally, Elza sits firmly as the second best Indy girl. Nowhere near as good as the incredibly fiesty and independent Marion, but her morally gray attitude and incredibly sultriness work for her and put her leagues ahead of Willie. Close to the perfection of Raiders, but not quite.
Next, we have Temple of Doom. Temple of Doom is a movie that I've had a love/hate relationship with for years, ever since I saw it when I was about 4. On one hand, Doom has, arguably, the most badass version of Indy in all four movies. He's increadibly machismo in this movie and it works to his advantage. Next, we have Short Round. Shorty is both a plus and a negative. On one hand, he's adorable, increadibly daring and hilarious. And the other hand, he's somewhat out of place and occasionally grating. But, overall, I have a soft spot for Shorty. Not so with Willie, though. Willie is easily the weakest of the three leading ladies and gets incredibly annoying incredibly quickly. The ONLY thing she has going for her is sex appeal, and honestly, Elza did it better. The plot is interesting, if ultimately forgettable. The Sankara Stones are probably the weakest of the four artifacts and it shows. But, you can sympathize with the village's plight of famine and the kidnapping of their children. However, the movie can be blindingly dark, especially during the Black Sleep of Kali segment, the disgusting dinner scene, and the sacrifice scene. Finally, the one thing that Temple definitely has above the others is the best villain. Mola Ram is so damn convincingly evil, that you really, really hate him and it's a triumph to see him die, even if it is the most pedestrian death of the main villain. Overall, a good movie riddled with flaws.
And next, I come to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I have to admit, I had to see this twice to get a good feel for it. It was so different from the previous movies that, when I first saw it, I had some incredibly conflicting feelings about it. But, I can say it works better on a subsequent viewing. The problems with KotCS are a number of things. First, as many point out, is the CG. It is littered with CG. And, honestly, I wouldn't have a problem with this if the CG was actually good, which much of it isn't. My guess is this has something to do with the way it was shot (Analog instead of Digital), as well as a different cinematographer than the last movie. Also, the movie has some jarring scenes. The monkey scene, of course, the gophers, and the finale, which is increadibly far out there, even for an Indy movie. If they had left the alien out and had the blatantly old school flying saucer be a little more abstract, I think it would have worked better. The monkeys and the gophers, though, were just cheese. Also, some of the dialog is very forced (Read Crusade>Raiders' critique for more info on that). However, some of the dialog, I felt, was quite good, especially a lot of the dialog between Indy and Mutt and the earlier dialog between Indy and Marion. The opening scene, although far fetched, was a perfect way to bring the movie into the 50s and was quite hilarious. Also, the two main action scenes were brilliant. Especially the bike chase, from the greaser versus preppy fight all the way into the library, was just amazing. The jungle chase, too, was well done. . .but again, the blatant use of blue screen hinders an otherwise great scene. Finally, the characters. One of the things I and a friend of mine noticed was the simply staggering amount of characters in this film. Indy has FOUR companions. It's just way too many. Hell, Last Crusade felt like too many. My friend actually coined the name "Indiana Jones and Friends" for KotCS. But, down to the nitty gritty. Spalko was an interesting character, but underutilized. She also dies in an uninteresting way. Mac was completely pointless, and although Winstone plays him well, he's just one character too many. Ox is. . .ok, but I feel he could have gotten more development without Mac there. Marion is awesome for the two scenes she has lines, but is totally underutilized after that. Mutt was a delight and probably the strongest character next to Indy himself. Finally, we have Indy, who does a great job of combining aspects of the Indy of yesteryear and an older, wiser, more tired Indy. Essentially becoming a mixture of Henry Jones Sr. and Indiana Jones. Overall, a decent movie, especially after a subsequent viewing to get over the shock factor of some of the more out-there and ridiculous scenes. It's very close to Temple of Doom's quality of clunkiness mixed with charm, but I still consider it the weakest of the four.
It's interesting, though. I'm curious if we now have an Indy curse. Although I know people's lists are different, the general consensus seems to be Raiders and Crusade having generally positive reviews, while Temple and Kingdom have more mixed reviews. An even number curse? I guess that depends on how well Indy 5 will be received, if it's ever made.