Spiderbite

Here is a fair and recent article that states a lot of the positives and negatives of Last Crusade.

‘Last Crusade’ Is Either the Best or Worst Film in the Original Indiana Jones Trilogy | Cracked.com

jjcool

Crusade
Raiders
Doom.
Skull

Have not seen the new one yet.

CristonCole

Putting “Crystal Skull” ahead of “Doom”? Oh, get the fuck out. No seriously… there’s the door. Get the fuck out. Go.

Runaway

My wife and I rewatched all movies last week and watched Dial of Destiny yesterday and my ranking changed more than a I thought it would.

1. The Last Crusade - it's by far the best one. The movie has the best dialogue and the characters are just fantastic, I liked young Indy in the cold open.
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark - the cold open is legendary, but shoutout in the bar is terrible, without any music the whole fight feels sterile and the choreography is pretty lame. Everything else is great though.
3. The Dial of Destiny - I was pleasantly surprised. The CGI isn't always the best and some action looks weird with an 80-year-old who can't walk down stairs really quick, but runs like a young god a second later. I think it was a good call to use chases for the action, since a tuk-tuk or horse can be handled by grandpa. I liked the story and I think it's a better farewell than Crystal Skull.
4. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - I only watched the movie twice and the last time when it was released on DVD. Everything I remembered I hated. The first hour is actually pretty good, yes the fridge is over the top, but I can live with it. Mutt is totally fine in the first hour. What I remembered was the fencing, Shia LaTarzan, the ants and the three waterfalls and how long this chain of action was. It's still terrible. It looks cheap, it's way to long and too much going on. Keep the car chase, cut the fancing, cut the lianas, cut the ants or use them later and just use one waterfall. Less is more. I didn't like the idea of aliens, since the other movies were more mystical or magical, but I could live with it.
5. The Temple of Doom - While the movie has a lot of entertaing parts and is strong for the most part, until they "land" in India. It goes down from there. I can ignore the white savior, but I can't ignore Willie. She is just annoying and ruins the movie for me. It doesn't help that there is no strong villain and the cult has weird motives

Daytripper

LOL. No, you can seriously get the fuck out Mr. 109 posts and member since March of 2023. Showing anyone the door around here indeed.

rocket1312

I assume all new members are previously banned members with new accounts, but it doesn't really matter. Either way, he's not wrong.

Daytripper

What a ridiculous thing to say. Where did I say anyone was banned? This new member told me to get the fuck out because I disagreed with him. And it's your personal opinion he's not wrong about the movie.

will travel

Raiders and Crusade are 1A and 1B.
Dial of Destiny is a very distance 3rd.
Temple of Doom and Kingdom of Skulls are way below middling.

rocket1312

Huh? I never said you said he was banned. You said he hasn't been here long and I said he's probably not a new member but rather an old one with a new account. It was a tongue in cheek thing to say on my part just like I assume telling you to get out because your opinion's wrong was said tongue in cheek. We're all just having fun.

GoldenJCJ

Not me. Ranking Indiana Jones movies is serious business!

Daytripper

Misread your post, I'm sorry. And I hope he was kidding. But all good. Happy movie watching!

CristonCole

I was. Kinda. Seriously though… Crystal Skull over Doom??

Edit: Mod removed an attempt to poke a bear.

Goldberg74

Okay, okay... Daytripper and CristonCole step back, take a deep breath, and shake hands.

We know how wild discussions can get here and that our movie tastes vary wildly, but there is no need for anyone to show anyone the door.

Thanks.

JeremyM

See, I love the sound effects taking over from the soundtrack in the bar fight. "Whiskey!"

jjcool

Well, considering the sheer volume of members that have been banned here, it does stand to reason that a new member to a dying board is a previous member returned. And, agreed, either way, he isn't wrong.

Goldberg74

You have no idea. I've seen behind the curtain.



So, back to the topic at hand.

I'll add my rankings for the franchise:

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark - Nothing can top the first one.
2. The Last Crusade - This one was just charming all the way around... and at the time I thought it was the perfect send off for Dr. Jones (both of them).
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3. The Temple of Doom - I was 10 when I saw this in the theater and I was freaked out and understand the reasoning that this lead to the creation of the PG-13 rating (I also saw Gremlins that year too). The heart removal, the chilled monkey brains, the snakes in the snake, the mine cart chase... it was all a little too exciting for young me. But I loved it.
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4. The Dial of Destiny - Much better than KoCS but still not as good as the others. I couldn't suspend my belief on an older Jones doing all of that. A good attempt, but not up to par with a the OT.
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5. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - I have removed this film from my memory. Do not care to ever revisit it.

Jason Bovberg

I'm pretty much in tune with this, but for me, Last Crusade and Temple of Doom are much closer to each other, both of them solid B films in my eyes. The over-the-top religious mumbo jumbo of Crusade's ending really turns me off.

Hulkabrgr

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

Temple of Doom and Crusade are both close to me, but I prefer the soundtrack to Doom, and I think it is one of Spielberg's best looking films. While Crystal Skull had some great scenes (the first half is really good), I found Destiny to be a more consistent film

Josh-da-man

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark 100/100
2. Temple of Doom 95/100
3. Last Crusade 90/100
4. Dial of Destiny (Haven't seen it, but I wholly suspect it will fall into fourth place)
5. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 45/100

I'm always baffled by the dislike for Temple of Doom. I thought it was a great follow-up to Raiders of the Lost Ark because it didn't try to remake the original. It told a very different kind of story with the same character, and wasn't afraid to go to even darker places.

I find myself in almost total agreement with this old review by Alexandra DuPont at AICN about the strengths of Temple of Doom and the weaknesses of Last Crusade.

Goldberg74

“Ain’t It Cool News?” “AICN”... Now, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time... A long time.

🤣

Toddarino

I think they go in release order. The first three are very close together, while 4 & 5 are quite obviously inferior. Especially when watched in succession.

When debating Skull & Dial I had to weigh the parts I liked and the parts I truly hated. As flawed as Kingdom Of the Crystal Skull is, it’s a hair better than Dial Of Destiny. Quite honestly I think the fact that it’s actually fun has something to do with it.

nickdawgy

Crusade
Raiders
Dial
Doom
Skull

IBJoel

The top 3 are all pretty close in quality to me.
Last Crusade
Raiders
Temple of Doom
A wide gulf
Crystal Skull
A wiiiiiide gulf
Dial (I seriously hated this movie)

mapasu

Raiders (don’t forget the toys and watching it on selectv over and over again)
Doom (summer of 84 beautiful memories as a 10yo)
Crusade (very well made, but too serious for my taste)
Skull (what a fucking mess, but still watch it from time to time)

Destiny I haven’t watched

GoldenJCJ

That’s strange because most of the retrospective reviews of Last Crusade criticize it for being too slap-stickey. Something that I noticed on my most recent viewing but never really noticed when I was younger.