Rank the Indiana Jones Films

[Shadow Master]

My recent topic about The Last Crusade got me thinking about a related yet different topic. I'm sure this has been done before so feel free to merge if it has. How would you rank all four Indiana Jones movies in order of preference? My ranking I'm sure is highly controversial and unconventional but it goes:


Temple Of Doom
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
The Last Crusade


I love them all before you start coming at me with pitchforks and torches for having TLC at the bottom I feel in many ways Raiders is the best but I find TOD the most entertaining, and both TLC and KOTCS are actually pretty even for me but these days I tend to prefer KOTCS, which has grown on me tremendously since my first viewing of it.

[Todd Tomorrow]

I rank them in the order they were made. However for me there is a large gap between Temple of Doom and Crusade. Love the first two films, while I think the last two are so-so.

[chris_sc77]

3
1/2
4

[Thomas Guycott]

Mine's probably the same as most:

Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Last Crusade
Temple of Doom
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

[cudzndrips]

Mine is:

Raiders
Last Crusade
Crystal Skull
Temple of Doom

Probably in the minority but I really liked Crystal Skull. Then again 2 of my fav films is Waterworld and Lady in the Wate!

[Kryptonic]

Temple
Raiders
Skull
Crusade

[tigertron]

Crusade
Raiders
Temple
Skull

[Foggy]

1/2/3
4

Yes, I know the obvious ranking, but I enjoy the first three films equally as much, and I like them because they're all a bit different tonally. Raiders is the well rounded action adventure film that's taken it to classic status.

Temple of Doom is the slightly darker and slightly campy film out of the bunch, a complete thrill ride, although Willie is heavily annoying, it has the most memorable scenes in the whole franchise (I'd argue Temple of Doom definitely lingers in the mind more than Last Crusade).

Last Crusade is the most lightweight out of the three, being a buddy comedy, it's extremely funny. But like I said, you just don't remember it quite as vividly as Temple of Doom for some reason, despite being probably better than it.

And I don't hate Crystal Skull, granted it has become harder to look back out due to the sheer amount of cringe worthy scenes (quicksand scene and Shia LeBeouf swinging with monkeys...pretty much the majority of the middle act) but when it gets it right (mainly most the set up and the final third of the movie when they get to the temple) it really works, plus I think the move to 50's Alien Conspiracy works well, if not quite fully realised.

[chaopolis]

Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Last Crusade
The Temple of Doom

and...

Yep... that's all of them.

[thenexus6]

Raiders / Crusade
Temple
Crystal Skull

[L.J.]

Originally Posted by Thomas Guycott

Mine's probably the same as most:

Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Last Crusade
Temple of Doom
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Same here, these movies never get old.

[toddly6666]

1. Temple of Doom
2. Raiders
3. Crusade
18. Crystal Skull

[Brother_Dobby]

For me, it's:

Last Crusade
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Temple of Doom
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I actually think Last Crusade has all of the best elements in the films. I love Sean Connery as Indy's dad, I think Elsa is the best written love interest and is more interesting from a story point of view than the other love interests, I like the John Williams soundtrack in this one the best, we get to see Indy's origins, we get to see more of Marcus in action, and last but not least, the Hitler scene. Need I say more. I'm sure there's more elements too, so for all these reasons and more, to me, this is the ideal Indiana Jones film. And not only that, Last Crusade works perfectly well as a standalone film too. I know most people like Raiders the best, but for me, it's Last Crusade that stands out the most.

[aiman04]

1. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
2. The Last Crusade, The Temple Of Doom, The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

Raiders and Empire ties in my list of the best movies of all time. I love all the sequels equally.

[Bucky]

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

[Trigger89]

Originally Posted by Brother_Dobby

For me, it's:

Last Crusade
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Temple of Doom
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I actually think Last Crusade has all of the best elements in the films. I love Sean Connery as Indy's dad, I think Elsa is the best written love interest and is more interesting from a story point of view than the other love interests, I like the John Williams soundtrack in this one the best, we get to see Indy's origins, we get to see more of Marcus in action, and last but not least, the Hitler scene. Need I say more. I'm sure there's more elements too, so for all these reasons and more, to me, this is the ideal Indiana Jones film. And not only that, Last Crusade works perfectly well as a standalone film too. I know most people like Raiders the best, but for me, it's Last Crusade that stands out the most.

My ranking exactly! Good evaluation btw!

[amoergosum]

1. Last Crusade
2. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
3. Temple Of Doom

[Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull shouldn't even be mentioned]

[SIWilson]

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (will always be the best one of the 4, the others dont come close, but Im also biased, saw it 7 times in the theater in 81.)
2. Temple of Doom (mainly because of the opening sequence, even though the subject matter was less interesting, the concept still seemed fresh)
3. Last Crusade (I rank it 3rd because it seemed more tired than the first two, loved the addition of Sean Connery, but hated how Sallah and Brody seemed to have their characterizations altered to now be clownish and bafoonish - especially Brody's - his seemed almost childlike. However I did like the scenes in the Bavarian castle and in the blimp.)
4. Crystal Skull (The only one of the 4 that I didnt see in the theater, but I was 13 when Raiders came out, and I had already stopped going to the theater by the time Crystal Skull came out.. Ive only seen it twice, and I didnt hate it as much as others, while not as good as the other films, its not that horrible either. What I did like about it, is that the characters have aged as I have aged. None of us are the same as we were 30+ years ago. Nor should the characters in this film be. But also the mistake was made of adding a younger sidekick... that never works in an established film series..)

[The Great Owl]

I rank these films in order of their release dates.

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

[Race Bannon]

I'm dumbfounded to see Raiders as not #1 on so many lists. I consider it one of the most perfect films ever made.