Before I get into my ranking of this series, I would just like to preface by saying I am a huge fan of these films. I grew up on Indiana Jones and I can honestly say there isn’t a single movie in the entire series that I find “bad”. They are all really enjoyable and well told, exciting, action-packed adventures. Outside of like Star Wars, this may be my 2nd favorite film franchise of all time and Indiana Jones himself is one of my absolute favorite movie characters of all time as well. I recently rewatched through this entire series to get a very recent and fresh perspective and just went and saw ‘The Last Crusade’ with a group of buddies during its re-release into theaters, so I figured now is a good a time as any to give my personal ranking of this great series. Let’s get into it!
#5: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull- Kicking things off in last place for me is the 4th film in the franchise, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. This isn’t a very hot take I know, I see most people put this or Dial of Destiny in last place on their lists when ranking the series, but I think I actually like this movie more than most. I think it’s still (mostly) a thrilling Indy adventure story with some fun and action-packed chases and sequences. I liked the setting being in the 50s as well, it was a change of pace for the series and offered something a bit different and it was sweet to see the rekindling between Indy and Marion as well. I wasn’t huge on Shia LeBeouf’s character though, I thought the greaser act was a little bit over the top and annoying at times and we spent so much time in this movie developing him as like “the next Indiana Jones” just to end up scrapping that idea down the line anyways. I also thought the aliens/interdimensional beings aspect was a bit of an odd choice for an Indiana Jones movie, it was probably my least favorite ‘MacGuffin’ used throughout the series. Indy surviving a nuclear blast at the point of impact by stepping inside of a lead lined fridge and being launched miles through the desert was also the most far-fetched thing that happened in this entire series, and that’s saying something because there’s a lot of far-fetched things in this series. So, although I still enjoyed this movie quite a bit for what it was, it’s coming in last.
#4: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade- Now, let the controversy and hot takes begin! Let me just say, I still really like this film and have a lot of fun with it. I mean like I said, I went to see it in its re-release in theaters with friends and had a blast! I’m just a big fan of this series in general so, some sacrifices and hard choices have to be made. I think Sean Connery’s addition in this film as Indy’s dad was perfect, he added so much comedy and wit and the 2 of them interacting on screen was gold. River Phoenix as the young Indiana Jones in the opening scene of the movie was great as well and gave us a bit of a backstory as to what created this adventure hero that we all came to love. I think this one overall has one of the best openings of any in the series, behind maybe only Raiders. Speaking of Raiders, that’s where this movie maybe loses some points with me and sends it further down the list. This movie feels in many ways like a rehashing of the first film in its plot, Indy is in a race against the Nazis to recover a religious artifact that they’re trying to get their hands on for world domination. They just added in some Sean Connery humor and a father/son side plot and sent it out. Not saying this movie has nothing to offer either, I know this is many people’s favorite in the series and I can still see how you could have that perspective. I just enjoy the Raiders more than this one overall and it’s one of the least different feeling films in the entire series.
#3: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny- Coming in with another piping hot take here, Dial of Destiny is coming in at third for me. I honestly don’t really understand the hate that this movie got, it’s like Indiana Jones fans just cannot accept anything outside of the first 3 movies. I’ll be honest and say I initially didn’t think the highest of this movie when I went to see it in theaters, but upon rewatch of the series I retained a lot more of this one and gained much more appreciation for it. Just the fact that we got a movie with an old, grizzled, beat down by life Indiana Jones was a cool perspective. Seeing the carefree, fight the power adventurer turn into the out of touch, crabby old man was a fresh and interesting take for the series after spending time with a badass action/adventure hero for the majority of the franchise. The fact that Harrison Ford agreed to step back into the role and don the fedora and whip one final time in his late 70s-early 80s is nothing to scoff at either and I think that was a little underappreciated here. We don’t often get to see the perspective of our heroes aging on film, but they don’t shy away from that at all in this movie because they can’t. Indy is past his golden years, but he’s still chasing clues and searching for answers. Probably my least favorite aspect of the film was the use of de-aging technology in the flashback scenes with Indy because you could easily tell it was still 80-year-old Harrison Ford with a CGI’d younger face over his face and that wasn’t great. The time-travel aspect and Archimede’s Dial was a super cool and different feeling MacGuffin for the series though and I liked the overall storyline quite a lot so it’s coming in at #3.
#2: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom- Temple of Doom was probably my childhood favorite. I grew up watching Temple of Doom and Raiders of the Lost Ark quite often, but I think this one takes the cake as the one I rewatched the most in the first 15 years of my life. This film feels like its own standalone story and side quest mission more so than probably any other film in the series, but definitely within the original trilogy, and is also chronologically the first quest in Indiana Jones story even though it’s the second film in the series. It’s also the darkest and creepiest of the series as well as the villains aren’t as simply evil as Nazis trying to garner historical artifacts for world power. Instead, they were this creepy voodoo like cult abducting children, offering blood sacrifices to the goddess of death, and attempting to capture all the Sankara Stones to set up a reign of destruction on the land. Some pretty dark stuff if I do say so myself, guess I was always going to be a horror fan when I grew up with movies like this. The heart being ripped from that man’s chest lives rent free in my head to this day and has for about 20 years, “Kalimah!” anyone? Anyways, I’ve always really liked this movie for how different it feels from the others, from the settings the characters are placed in, to the actual mission itself. Short Round was a lot of fun and a great addition, and his and Indy’s bond was equal parts funny and touching, but Willie was so annoying to me personally so that’s mainly where this one loses at least some points on the scale. She was my least favorite female counterpart in the series I think, and that’s saying something considering Elsa from ‘The Last Crusade’ was a straight up Nazi. It’s still a very nostalgic film for me though, and a great action/adventure movie.
#1: Raiders of the Lost Ark- This is the definitive adventure film though. This is not only my favorite film in the series, but also one of my favorite films in general. Every one of the films in this series have serious rewatch value and hold a special place in my heart, but Raiders of the Lost Ark is an absolute cinema classic and to me at least, is the template for how to make a compelling adventure flick. There are so many iconic scenes and even stills from this film that live on in movie watchers’ minds to this day, over 40 years later. The rolling boulder, the snake pit, the golden Idol, the first and potentially most iconic car chase scene, the list goes on. Marion was the perfect sidekick to Indy throughout this movie and their chemistry was and still is great (later proven in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and momentarily in Dial of Destiny). She is THE female counterpart for this series and every film she’s a part of is elevated because of her presence, and that all started with her introduction and relationship with Indy in this film. The Nazis were the perfect foil to Indy as well, I mean no one wants to cheer on the Nazis (and if you do, there’s a problem there) and they helped serve as a good nod to classic adventure movies of old as the villains here. All in all, if you’re a movie fan and you haven’t seen the Indiana Jones franchise in general, but ESPECIALLY Raiders of the Lost Ark, then what are you doing? It’s one of the best action-adventure blockbusters ever released and offers Harrison Ford at some of his very best. This was what eventually led to the entire franchise being made and helped launch Harrison Ford into superstardom, and in my mind it’s still the best and most iconic film of the bunch.
That’ll do it for this list. This one has been a long time coming. As I’ve established earlier before I got into it, I’m a big fan of this franchise as a whole so I’ve been wanting to find a way to talk about it on the blog for a while. I love making rankings lists in general so if there’s anything you guys would specifically be interested in seeing me break down and rank then you can let me know, otherwise another one of these lists will come your way eventually, I’m sure. As I say with these rankings lists every time, this is just my personal ranking and has absolutely no bearing on yours. No reason to get bent out of shape about it, but I’d love to hear your ranking of the Indiana Jones films as well, so let me know what you guys think! Until next time, be good to each other and peace!
