Nope, Doom and Crusade are good movies and highly enjoyable. Indy is Harrison Ford's best character. He's great all the way, can't say that about Return of the Jedi...
The first one wipes the floor with the other three, objectively and subjectively. I never understood why Pauline Kael dissed Raiders yet loved Temple of Doom...
Raiders Doom Crusade Walking in on your parents having sex being stabbed with a spoon crawling naked across broken glass being kicked in the junk Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
This implies that Spielberg cast Capshaw in "Temple" because they were an item, but I think that's incorrect. From what I've read, they became an item during the production, so Capshaw got the role on her own merits...
raiders is the best, but temple is my favorite. it's almost everything i loved about raiders, but seems more drug-fueled and batsh*t crazy.
my first question was, who voted for Crystal Skull? i was really glad they brought back Karen Allen, who looked great. It's not my favorite, but I enjoyed it, don't think it's as bad as people say.
Temple of Doom. It's just so damn entertaining. Some of the action sequences are suspenseful, scary and heart-racing. It really doesn't let up. It reminds of Aliens in that they're both fast-paced and breathless when it comes to action. I agree Capshaw is irritating and mostly terrible but the action is worth it.
Raiders by miles and miles. It still feels completely inspired from beginning to end, with loads of actors doing memorable work -- Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies (Sallah), Paul Freeman (Belloq), Ronald Lacey (Toht), Denholm Elliott (Marcus), even bit parts like Sapito (Alfred Molina) and the boat captain, Katanga (George Harris). It reminds me of Casablanca in that sense, just a bunch of solid actors doing their thing. It has so much atmosphere, so many great set pieces, a brilliant score, and it barely ever stops moving. One of the best action adventure movies ever made. I would argue that Temple of Doom has the best opening of any of the films, not just because it's such a curveball from what you'd expect, but also because it's just beautifully done. It unfortunately gets dodgy from there, and while it doesn't cohere, there are lots of individual elements that are still fun. Kate Capshaw's shrieking nearly ruins it though. What a letdown of a heroine after Marion/Karen Allen. The Last Crusade benefits from Connery's presence and the interplay between him, Indy and Marcus, and it should have been clear after this that Indy + Nazis = Gold. Second best of the series but still way behind the original. Crystal Skull feels completely uninspired and whatever interest there may have been in the script, it's lost amid the soulless and ridiculous CGI. Whereas the first film shows all of Spielberg's strengths, this one shows his weaknesses. Not exactly poorly made, but poorly conceived, both overall and on a scene-by-scene basis. Also done much too late, well after the moment had passed.
And it's not over yet. At the very least, I hope that Spielberg recognizes that there are some films that do benefit from CGI. Indy films are old-school-style, Saturday-matinee-inspired adventure films that do not mix well with CGI. I'm hoping that Spielberg keeps that in mind when directing Indy 5. Go old-school, Steven. Please, go old-school on this one.
It's not that Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a bad film as such - I watched it for the first time on DVD with my nephews a few years ago and surprisingly enjoyed it - it's just that it could have been better if a) Lucas hadn't outright vetoed Frank Darabont's screenplay (which both Spielberg and Harrison Ford loved!), and b) they had made that film the old-school way with only CGI when absolutely necessary. Spielberg didn't really want to do a fourth Indy film, and he really didn't want to have aliens in it to boot... but he deferred to his good friend George on those matters for the sake of their long friendship, alas...
I think 38 years has diluted how amazing the opening of "Raiders" was. We've all seen it so much - and seen it parodied or "homaged" - that it's easy to forget how mind-blowing it was in 1981. No, it doesn't have the impact now it did back then - how could it? - but I don't think any of the other openings can touch it. They tried to up the ante and become bigger/more insane but the original still wins!
A touch of genius (by whoever came up with it) would be the ship cabin scene in Raiders when Marion catches Indy under the chin with the revolving mirror.
RAIDERS is best. I liked TEMPLE when I was young, but now that I am 63 years old, Kate Capshaw is soooooo annoying.
Raiders is the best, though Last Crusade might be my favorite. Instead of a Martian ship, it would have been cooler if Indy found the Milenium Falcon. I'm a little disappointed that Indy never did an Egyptian themed movie. Not that the Mummy was bad, but it couldn't have been any worsen in fact, Fraser and Ford could have teamed up together.
