Every film doesn’t have to be great art. Sometimes you just want to watch a film to have fun and the Indiana Jones films are just that – fun.
The first film of this four-film franchise is Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, directed by Steven Spielberg (along with the rest of the films) and released in 1981.
The film’s plot follows Indiana Jones (played by Harrison Ford in all the films), part-time archaeology professor and part-time glorified graverobber. In 1936, he is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can get their grubby hands on it and use its awesome power for evil.
This film (and the subsequent films) all are clear throwbacks to pulp fiction (not the movie) stories. What with the unflappable heroes going up against unforgettable villains, the clear love interest of Marion (Karen Allen), and the one-dimensional villains who wish to take over the world.
That’s not to say that the movie is bad or forgettable. It is great and holds up remarkably well.
The action is excellent. At no point does it feel like Indiana is invincible. In half the film’s fights he’s getting his butt handed to him, until he can think of a clever way to win or rely on help from his allies.
The effects, while a bit dated in certain areas of the film, also hold up very well.
The score, expertly done by John Williams, is iconic for a very good reason: Every musical track perfectly matches the tone of the scene, whether it’s triumphant, tense, or poop-your-pants scary.
The acting is all on point, with special mention going to Harrison Ford specifically. He does a very good job of being cool while at the same time also being vulnerable.
Something one might want to know is that this film was made in the ‘80s, so the rating standards were different than today. While the film may have a PG rating it might not be a good idea to leave your younger kids to watch it alone.
Nowadays PG might as well stand for “Practically G.” But back in the ‘80s PG meant “yeah, your kids will probably enjoy it, but there are some moments that might give them nightmares.”
After the mega hit that was the first film, the sequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,was released three years later in 1984.
The film takes place one year before the first film, in 1935. After an archeological trade goes wrong in China (I hate it when that happens) Indiana, Short Round (Ke Huy Quan, a kid he met on the street), and Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw, a lounge singer Indiana picked up while escaping) are forced to flee and end up making an emergency crash landing in India. The village’s magic stones, along with all of their children, have been stolen by a cult. Indiana and crew decide to investigate.
This film is wild compared to the original.
Raiders started off slowly (introducing the characters and setting up the plot), before eventually ramping up the action and getting into the more mystical subjects. This film starts off with a shootout and car chase in China, and later on it goes to people eating monkey brains, a cult that pulls beating hearts out of people, and straight up voodoo.
This film is incredibly over the top and stays there. The film doesn’t just jump over the shark. It does several tricks flips over the shark’s head while in Matrix bullet time and comes back for more until it gets bored.
Somehow they made villains more cartoonishly evil than the Nazis of Raiders.
How do you do that? When the leader of the cult Mola Ram (Amrish Puri) monologues that he plans to resurrect his god to take over the country and eventually the world, it was surprising a crackle of lightning didn’t strike behind him.
Speaking of characters, Willie is a character that quickly fell off The Giveacrapometer™. I get it, she’s supposed to be a caricature of the damsel in distress trope, with her constantly needing help from others and not taking life in the jungle very well.
But when my first reaction to her is “Ugh, I wish you would stop talking now,” it’s an uphill struggle.
Admittedly Short Round is pretty good, with him most of the time acting more adult than Willie, and being pretty humorous. And the fact that this random kid can somehow keep up with Indiana Jones’ antics is fairly comical.
The second film was of course a hit, so another sequel, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was released in 1989.
It’s 1938 and after another offscreen rip roaring adventure, Indiana is contacted by art collector Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) who asks him to acquire the Holy Grail. At first Indiana isn’t interested, then Donovan says he also hired Indiana’s father, Professor Henry Jones (played by the late, great Sean Connery), but now he’s gone missing. Indiana takes the job, partially to find the Holy Grail but mostly to find his father.
The relationship between Henry and Indiana makes this movie great. Despite the actors being merely 12 years apart in real life, both do a great job playing a father and son who have a hard time getting along. But both still clearly care for each other.
Add this dynamic along with great set pieces and humor that is still pretty funny, and you get the best Indiana Jones movie so far.
The movie goes a bit more into Indiana’s past as well; for instance we see how he learned to use a whip, why he’s so afraid of snakes, and where he got his hat.
The villains however have taken a notable dip in quality. The first two films’ villains weren’t deep by any means, but they had presence, which made a person want to watch them.
The villains in this film aren’t anything special, just some generic Nazis which we’ve already seen before. Not that I think Nazis can’t work as another villain in Indiana Jones, I just think they could have done something different with them.
However, because we can’t have something nice forever, in 2008 the fourth and final film of the Indiana Jones movies (not counting those Young Indiana Jones TV shows) was released, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
It’s now 1957 and an old Indiana Jones, along with some greaser named Mutt (played Shia LeBouf) are trying to find the crystal skull (no, not Dan Aykroyd’s vodka, though having some while watching this film would not be a bad idea) before those no-good commies can. While also trying to save Mutt’s mother.
This film commits the cardinal sin that no sequel should commit, in that it doesn’t feel like it should exist. The third film ended it perfectly, with our main cast literally walking off into the sunset.
The film tries to make social commentary about the McCarthy era, with the whole Red Scare and showing the U.S. as being overly paranoid.
I’m not sure why it was put in there. If they were trying to show that the U.S. is just as bad as the Soviet Union, it kind of fails because the Soviets straight up want to mind control everyone on the planet in this film.
And the worst we see America do in these films is safely put away and hide dangerous artifacts from the rest of the world.
They also tried to make Mutt the next Indiana Jones but (no offense to Shia LeBeouf, the man has suffered enough). I don’t buy it.
Indiana Jones is naturally cool, while Mutt feels like he’s trying to be cool. Which by definition is the most uncool thing a person can do.
The film doesn’t know whether it wants to be a more down to earth action film like 1 and 3, or super over-the-top stupid like 2. There are some moments in this film that make the shark jumping in the second film look like The Godfather.
At one point Indiana Jones survives a nuclear bomb explosion by hiding in a lead-lined fridge.
Skipping over the part where I doubt that the tiny fridge could really block out all that radiation, when the nuke goes off the fridge ends up flying and we see it hit the ground multiple times. I’m sorry, Indiana Jones would break every bone in his body.
The other major jump-the-shark moment appears when it is revealed that the crystal skull is not from a human but from an alien. That is ridiculous for an Indiana Jones film; the series has always dabbled with the spiritual and never the mystical syfy. So when aliens show up in this film, it sticks out like a sore thumb.
And that’s not just because it’s ridiculous, but because the CGI in this film has aged about as well as the archeological artifacts Indiana tends to find.
The film also has the problem of mentioning past adventures that sound way more interesting than the film itself. For instance, apparently not only did Indiana end up fighting in World War II but apparently did some spy work for the U.S. government. Both of those film ideas sound way more interesting than this film.
This Indiana Jones film is like getting that one D on a report card of A’s. It somehow feels even worse than if they were all D’s.
From best to worst it goes: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.