Rank The Indiana Jones Films — Page 9

1. Raiders
2. Crusade
3. Skull
4. Temple
5. Dial

1 last crusade
2 temple of doom
3 crystal skull
4 dial of destiny
5 raiders of the lost ark

although i find they are of similer quality

Mocata said:

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone rank TLC that low, never mind two of you in a row. What’s the problem, the re-hashed elements or all the ‘here’s where the whip came from’ stuff?

Sorry for being so late to reply, first time in a while I’ve logged in here. I honestly think TLC, KOTCS and DOD are pretty interchangable for me and that’s just how I’m feeling at the moment.

Raiders is obviously the best. But Last Crusade is probably the most fun to watch. Temple of Doom is also fun to watch, but the entire plot basically happens by accident, instead of Indy specifically searching for some artifact, which I always found to be kind of weak plotting.

Crystal Skull had some promising opening sequences with a fresh new 50s setting, (I actually like the ridiculous nuke fridge scene) but ultimately it devolved into a series of generic chase scenes in a boring jungle. I don’t mind sci-fi elements in an Indy flick, but the aliens and crystal skull mythology is just so shallow and uninteresting.

Dial of Destiny is just… kind of a big mess. It’s obviously the product of 2023 factory style film production, with heavy usage of CGI (e.g. the opening train sequence), instead of the old-school stunts and all that, and it just doesn’t feel like a real Indy movie to me.

Let’s be honest: Indiana Jones basically always sucks whenever it strays from Judeo-Christian mythology.

I need to see DOD a couple of more times to solidify it, but I’m confident it’ll remain my third favorite.

I loved the opening and i found it cathartic to have INDY punching Nazis again. Loved the line about the pied piper and blue eyed boys. Its the worst one but it was great to have INDY back. And he was INDY he wasn’t a new Disney version. A little gruff and older rough around the edges but INDY.

Best to worst

Raiders
Last Crusade
Temple of Doom
Dial of Destiny
Crystal Skull

It’s a shame that we couldn’t get a grown up Short Round and older Indiana movie. Ke Huy Quan seems so enthusiastic around Harrison, there’s a certain camaraderie between the two actors. It’s really nice to see that. I think there’s a movie there, if done right, or maybe a short series on Disney +

A limited series that isn’t too hard for Harrison.

Would be funny if Short Round asked about the pretty lady (Kate Capshaw) Indy was with in front of Marion.

Marion: What pretty lady?

Indy: (Looks at Short Round and waves his hands to stop)

SR: Nobody Mrs. Jones

But ToD is a prequel, so it happened before Indy knew Marion?

Z6PO said:

But ToD is a prequel, so it happened before Indy knew Marion?

Actually, he knew Marion when she was his student. They had an inappropriate teacher/ student relationship. Indy knew her father, so that caused a problem. Then he went off and had the Temple of Doom adventure.

When he saw Marion in Raiders, Marion was furious, because he took advantage of her when she was younger.

-Young Indy Vol. 1-3
-Young Marion events prior to Temple of Doom.
-Temple of Doom
-Raiders of the Lost Ark
-The Last Crusade
-Indy playing the sax scene
-The Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls
-The Dial of Destiny
-Old Indy scenes from Young Indy show

Would be cool if they reshot the old Indy scenes with Harrison Ford and added them to the old series.

I’ve seen some rank in The Great Circle game with the films. It looks impressive from what I’ve seen of it.

Raiders
Temple
Last Crusade
Crystal Skull
Dial of Destiny

The quality actually is by release order. The only change is I raised LC up one slot. I do like Skull more but it’s got too much cgi and it’s too goofy in places.

I still like Dial of Destiny and its still the weakest entry. Worst Maguffin. I disagree with all the complaints about INDY he was still Indy. I disagree with 90% of the reviews on the Waller Bridge character I thought she would be awful from the trailer, but she had a Marion esque spunk, and she brought energy and verve to otherwise dead movie that had none. INDY is not without his weaknesses remember when he almost went to oblivion with Elsa, it’s not unbelievable that he could give up. Indiana Indiana, let it go.

My biggest complaint was it was character piece and not a Raiders movie like the other features. INDY felt like a man out of time in 1969.

Raiders, Dial of Destiny, Last Crusade, Temple of Doom, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

camdudetenger2018 said:

for now lol

1 temple of doom
2 raiders of the lost ark
3 dial of destiny
4 crystal skull
5 lost crusade

My same ranking. Rare people rank the series this way with TLC at the bottom, though more must be out there.

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. The Last Crusade
3. Temple of Doom
4. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
5. Dial of Destiny

I always feel bad putting Temple of Doom at the bottom of the first three… I really love it but Raiders and Last Crusade are just so good, it’s hard for me to rank them honestly. Not crazy about either of Crystal Skull or Dial of Destiny but I don’t really strongly dislike them either, I’m mostly just indifferent to them. I wish they were more fun, Crystal Skull feels like it wants to be fun but always ends up too far in one direction or the other tonally.

I think tonality isn’t my problem with Skull is too much cgi and Aliens. Aliens doesn’t feel like an Indiana Jones story which should be about a religious object or the occult or some legend or mythology.

Even the trilogy for INDY that people act like is perfect, its 3 stand-alone movies. There is limited continuity between film 1 and 3. Sallah and Marcus and they are written like buffoons in film 3. The film goes way too slapstick. Even Indy being tricked by Elsa is ridiculous.

I get it the comedy is one of the things that works in The Last Crusade, but it does ruin suspense of disbelief for me, or the ability to believe in the secondary world of INDY being created. No real stakes or peril.

But we need to see Sean Connery set the floor on fire. shoot up a plane and accidentally save them with birds and an umbrella.

And the biggest laugh in the film lost in his own museum, you don’t get that without Marcus being a moron.

Fair points, but I don’t think I’ve ever been bothered by Elsa tricking Indy or Henry Sr.'s antics. Marcus and Sallah could definitely be shown to be more capable, though. I could be persuaded to put Temple over Crusade on any given day, but Raiders set a very high bar for both

1. The Last Crusade
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Temple of Doom
4. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I’ve not seen Dial of Destiny, so I can’t put it on here.