In what order do you rate the Indiana Jones Movies

[tbay]

I'm going to blow your minds away (and get some rotten tomatoes and eggs and stuff tossed at me), but Raiders is closer to the bottom of my list.

Last Crusade is the best in my humble opinion (IMHO). Can't beat having Indiana Jones and his father James Bond together.

But, as with Star Wars, I prefer to see them as part of a whole. A whole which I really enjoy. They're all great, fun films that I treasure. As a SAGA, I rate them right there at the top of cinema.

For me it goes:
Last Crusade
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Temple of Doom
The abomination that was Crystal Skull

Last crusade is best one to me

all the crusade lovers are coming out of the woodwork

Feel the same way about crusade. It was the first Indy movie I watched, so I was expecting a similar tone in the other films so they weren't as enjoyable for me. The relationship between Jr and sr is my favorite onscreen father son relationship of all time, really funny moments and a few touching moments.

I absolutely hated temple (data from goonies was annoying and spielberg's wife was terrible), but kingdom skull was the worst. It seems like Shia is by far one of the most hated actors, but he keeps getting high profile jobs. The guy is the biggest jackass in Hollywood and that's saying a lot, he's just not like able.

 

[Shadow Master]

Shia lately seems to be pretty low-profile and I think I read somewhere he won't be doing blockbuster movies, anymore.

 

[Shadow Master]

I think I may have asked this before in the thread but can't remember if I did (It's probably worthy of it's own thread, anyway), but what's everyone's favorite artifact in the series? I got to give it to the Ark, nothing beats an ancient ark that when opened unleased face-melting ghosts.

 

[Mad Old Lu]

Good question. The ark is fantastic because they treated it like a whole other character, as opposed to being a plain old MacGuffin. It had personality. I love the scene where they're on the boat and it cuts to the rats scampering around the crate and the swastika burns off while there's that creepy music sound.

But I've always had a soft spot for the fertility idol, so I'll have to go with that.

 

[Shadow Master]

Yeah, I like that the Ark in a way was like a character in it's own right and actually had something of a presence, too. It wasn's just a mere prop, in that sense.

 

[d_jedi1]

1: Raiders
2: Last Crusade
3: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
4: Temple of Doom

say what you will but with the prequel there (TOD) I just couldn't feel anything for it. I KNEW that Indy would survive and therefore was never in any danger.
I knew that Short Round and Willie weren't in Raiders so i didn't CARE if they survived.
I knew nothing of the thuggee when I first saw the film and only a little more now. With Nazis and Russians, they are familiar enemies that I kind of enjoy seeing get tortured (metaphorically speaking) by our hero but with the thuggee, I (again) didn't care.

 

[SAB]

If we're talking artifacts now!

1. Ark
2. Crystal Skull
3. Sankara stone
4. Holy Grail

I also love George's continued misuse of the Hitchcock term McGuffin in reference to his artifacts

 

[Kalmanitas]

Well, in my opinion:

1) Raiders (of course!!)
...then comes a large gap!!
....
....
02) Temple of Doom
03) Last Crusade (could have been much better if they would have left the slapstick out)
04) Crystal Skull (could have been excellent if they would have left the Aliens and spaceships out!)

Just my two cents...

 

[Shadow Master]

If we're talking artifacts now!

1. Ark
2. Crystal Skull
3. Sankara stone
4. Holy Grail

I also love George's continued misuse of the Hitchcock term McGuffin in reference to his artifacts

I always found McGuffin to be a funny term. I prefer to call the artifacts just that, artifacts.

 

[Dr Lexus]

I rank them

1.) Raiders/Last Crusade
2.) Temple of Doom
3.) Crystal Skull

The best Indy films have the Nazis as the villains IMO. Doom was good as well but not quite on the same level.

Crystal Skull was pretty bad, the UFO ****, good grief.

 

[Shadow Master]

I don't think the Nazis automatically made their respective Indy films good. They were a great threat in Raiders but IMO in Last Crusade it felt kinda same old same old having them back. I still feel the movie would've benefitted from a different enemy. I think a different enemy each movie would've been cool.

 

[IrishJedi]

I have several issues with KOTCS, but not a single one is the alien/UFO stuff or Harrison Ford's age.

 

[Mad Old Lu]

I couldn't find a better place for this, so...

 

[Shadow Master]

I have several issues with KOTCS, but not a single one is the alien/UFO stuff or Harrison Ford's age.

Same. As I said before, I've grown to dig the alien/UFO storyline, I thought it was something fresh and creative.

 

[facemaker]

Look man,...the issues with KOTCS are simple.
Non of the major stunt sequences in the first three used CGI

It made the action a lot more real, immediate and intense.

Stuntmen were actually taking major risks and getting injured or killed to complete the movies. This sense of 'realism' translated to the big screen.

The snakes in Raiders were real as were the tarantulas.
The insects in Temple were real as were the flying bats.
The Rats in Crusade were real.

KOTCS screwed the pooch in all those aspects that mattered and they did it even after Spielbergs endoresment that Kotcs would have little CGI. EVerybody is pissed about the monkeys (although shia fencing while straddling two moving vehicles on rough terrain is the most retarded scripted action sequence of all time) but i say that IF they managed to get real monkeys to swing on the vines, that may have been cool. They used cgi monkeys on cgi vines amongst all the other concurrent cgi in that sequence.
If the ants had actually been real (there are giant ant hills in south america which people have been consumed into) that sequence could have had great effect. After all, who wouldt squirm at the idea of being overtaken by fireants? Again though, they screw the pooch here with no apology. By making the ants oversized and cgi, they undermined the integrity of the scene and made the whole thing in general have a cartoon feel.
Karen Allen driving off the cliff and yelling "trust me" as she does it and the vehicle lands safely in a tree which gently drops it into the water??? After all those failing sequences, that was the final straw of incompetence and the fall from grace for a man once viewed as the creative king of all directors.

I was born in 76. I have tried very hard to accept kotcs in the jones cannon. Fact is, its a bad movie than can be watchable on a sleepy sunday afternoon. I mean, dude crawling out of the walls in some temple that feels like a studio back lot rather than immersive and authentic like the beginning of Raiders.

George is just done.....period.

I know its off topic....but to close i can also cite the phallacy with the star wars prequels. No LOTR type exposition at the beginning of phantom menace citing how the first jedi and sith came about and then became enemies. And, primarily, no spiritualism revolving around the Force. The Force was an actual character in the first trilogy...something to be mystified with.
George turned it into a side note and a bilogical defect.
What the hell george?????
The most profound dialogue in the orginal trilogy is primarily in reference to the force and how to free your mind to it.

So,...yeah....its unfortunate, but i dont even consider KOTCS when thinking about the Three best indy movies.

 

[IrishJedi]

Yeah, the monkeys and ants and that stuff was CGI and even some of the action, which is annoying. But I do hope people realize they actually did make some massive working sets for KOTCS, including almost everything you see in Akator. And there was a ton of location shooting. There's a lot of real-world stuff in the movie... pretty much as much as THE LAST CRUSADE (which had a lot more on set shooting). It just doesn't seem like it, mostly because of the tone the film takes once we get to the Russian camp in the jungle.

 

[Darkmatter]

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

 

[V8Falcon]

Pretty much the same order they came out is how I rank them. And I don't acknowledge KOTCS among the series.

 

[Shadow Master]

Look man,...the issues with KOTCS are simple.
Non of the major stunt sequences in the first three used CGI

It made the action a lot more real, immediate and intense.

Stuntmen were actually taking major risks and getting injured or killed to complete the movies. This sense of 'realism' translated to the big screen.

The snakes in Raiders were real as were the tarantulas.
The insects in Temple were real as were the flying bats.
The Rats in Crusade were real.

KOTCS screwed the pooch in all those aspects that mattered and they did it even after Spielbergs endoresment that Kotcs would have little CGI. EVerybody is pissed about the monkeys (although shia fencing while straddling two moving vehicles on rough terrain is the most retarded scripted action sequence of all time) but i say that IF they managed to get real monkeys to swing on the vines, that may have been cool. They used cgi monkeys on cgi vines amongst all the other concurrent cgi in that sequence.
If the ants had actually been real (there are giant ant hills in south america which people have been consumed into) that sequence could have had great effect. After all, who wouldt squirm at the idea of being overtaken by fireants? Again though, they screw the pooch here with no apology. By making the ants oversized and cgi, they undermined the integrity of the scene and made the whole thing in general have a cartoon feel.
Karen Allen driving off the cliff and yelling "trust me" as she does it and the vehicle lands safely in a tree which gently drops it into the water??? After all those failing sequences, that was the final straw of incompetence and the fall from grace for a man once viewed as the creative king of all directors.

I was born in 76. I have tried very hard to accept kotcs in the jones cannon. Fact is, its a bad movie than can be watchable on a sleepy sunday afternoon. I mean, dude crawling out of the walls in some temple that feels like a studio back lot rather than immersive and authentic like the beginning of Raiders.

George is just done.....period.

I know its off topic....but to close i can also cite the phallacy with the star wars prequels. No LOTR type exposition at the beginning of phantom menace citing how the first jedi and sith came about and then became enemies. And, primarily, no spiritualism revolving around the Force. The Force was an actual character in the first trilogy...something to be mystified with.
George turned it into a side note and a bilogical defect.
What the hell george?????
The most profound dialogue in the orginal trilogy is primarily in reference to the force and how to free your mind to it.

So,...yeah....its unfortunate, but i dont even consider KOTCS when thinking about the Three best indy movies.

I like KOTCS, but I do agree that the first three and mainly the first two Indy movies had a special organic quality to the filmmaking which gave them a very special feeling.

 

[Shadow Master]

Watching the saga again recently this weekend, my ranking is pretty final:


TOD
ROTLA
KOTCS
TLC


I love them all in their own special little way, though. Still hope we can get a fifth made soon while Harrison can still do it.