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Rank The Indiana Jones Films — Page 9

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My new ranking:

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

Project creator and film enthusiast.

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  1. Raiders
  2. Crusade
  3. Skull
  4. Temple
  5. Dial
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 (Edited)

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

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I’ll spare you guys my in-depth of Dial Of Destiny for now, but I’ll say this; That’s the most fun I’ve had at an Indy film since Raiders. I really enjoyed it. Lots to chew on but after pondering it for a few days, I liked it even more. Once more in the theater and then a physical copy.

Side note; I think Helena’s Theme may be the most moving and beautiful piece of music John Williams has ever written, Listening to the soundtrack as we speak.
https://youtu.be/hLa3a4tQhag

Forum Moderator
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Updated:

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

DOD’s plot was absolutely ridicilous if you stop to think about it to the point it doesn’t even make sense. But it was fine as an entertainment piece and not very boring, in many ways better than Doom. But yeah, Indy’s just too old and the film was 30min too long.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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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.

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 (Edited)

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.

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

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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.

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 (Edited)

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

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

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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.

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I rewatched them again a few months ago and my ranking changed slightly:

  1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
  2. Last Crusade
  3. Temple of Doom
  4. Dial of Destiny
  5. Crystal Skull
    Last Crusade and Temple of Doom seem to switch places for me.

All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph!

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Crusade
Raiders
Dial
Temple
Skull

Found Dial of Destiny to be a fun film overall - nothing to be taken too seriously, much like the other films in the franchise. One of the few franchises I’ll actually stop and watch for a while when flicking through the channels for something to watch.

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

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How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com - includes info on how to ask for a fan project and how to search for projects and threads on OT•com.

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

Take your time to look around this site before posting… Do NOT just lazily make yet another ‘link request’ post - or a new thread asking for projects.

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

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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.