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I don't understand the fondness for 3. It's actually my least favorite. The entire tone of the movie is more Tales of the Gold Monkey than Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The bold truth is that Raiders is a motherfreakin' classic and the next three movies aren't a patch on it. They've not been able to rebottle that lightning. Crystal Skull was the worst attempt yet.
I like it a lot more know than I did when it originally came out. For me the order is 1, 3, 2, 4.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark S.
I don't understand the fondness for 3. It's actually my least favorite. The entire tone of the movie is more Tales of the Gold Monkey than Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I pretend the 4th movie doesn't exist.
It's tough for me to rank the 3 movies of the Indiana Jones series. Temple of Doom and Last Crusade have more memorable lines and action sequences ("No ticket!" and "For dessert, chilled monkey brains!"). The strength of Raiders of the Lost Ark, imo, is Marion Ravenwood. The other female leads simply couldn't hold a candle to her.
But putting a gun to my head and forcing me to rank them, I'd order them as follows:
Temple of Doom: This is one big adventure ride from the bridge scene to the guy's heart getting ripped out with black magic to the mining cart, etc. It feels the most fun of the Indy movies. Willie and Shorty were also great though Willie was a distant second to Marion IMO.
Last Crusade: What isn't there to love here? Indy makes it to the heart of Berlin and comes face to face with Hitler. Sean Connery is absolutely hilarious. There were so many memorable scenes from this movie. I suppose the downside to this movie is that it feels more campy/slapstick-y than the other two.
Raiders of the Lost Ark: I'm sure this is a minority opinion, but Raiders never stood out to me the way the latter two films did. It's been a while since I've seen Raiders, so perhaps my opinion could change, but it's also been a while since I've seen any of these films. Other than being the first in the series, I don't think there's much that makes this movie memorable compared to Temple and Last Crusade.
Raiders has the best plot, and the best artifact (though the cup from the Last Supper does give the Ark a run for its money).
Raiders is expertly paced. It has the best opening. Its structural integrity has no weaknesses. There isn't a slow (read: boring) moment in that film from beginning to end. It flows naturally, with properly placed lulls to space out the action.
Raiders has the best plot, and the best artifact (though the cup from the Last Supper does give the Ark a run for its money).
Raiders is expertly paced. It has the best opening. Its structural integrity has no weaknesses. There isn't a slow (read: boring) moment in that film from beginning to end. It flows naturally, with properly placed lulls to space out the action.
For a lot of the younger Gen X/older Millennial generation, Temple of Doom was our introduction to the franchise, so I think that may be a reason why I'm partial to it.
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