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Since Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is out soon and will be the (allegedly) final entry in the Indiana Jones series, I took some time this week to rewatch the four previous movies. I started to say "authentic" movies, since Dial only features one of the three driving forces of the series, but I didn't want to be pre-emptively churlish. Certainly, the trailers for the new movie look fine and I'm sure it'll have its own charms. But, like Star Wars, Indiana Jones is such a creator-driven series that any new entries can only be a coda, an homage. These are the four authentic Jones movies, featuring Spielberg and Lucas working behind the camera and Harrison Ford in front of it. And they're great. Let me be clear before I begin: even the worst Indiana Jones movie is better than any of the series' imitators. So this ranking--wholly objective and correct as it may be--should be taken in that spirit. My own choice for "worst" features inventive action, memorable jokes, and a reasonably brisk pace. That is to say, it's top-tier action-adventure and would be the best entry in almost any other franchise. That said, there can be only one best Indiana Jones movie, and the answer to that is clear. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) All of the other Jones movies are great, but this one is a masterpiece. Indiana Jones emerges fully-formed as a character in the opening sequence: the mixture of seeming competence and profound incompetence, the iconic profile, the whip.... It's all there in the first fifteen minutes. Ford is splendid in the role, turning in a comedic performance that never becomes too broad. And as the movie progresses (relentlessly--this is one of the least-flabby action movies imaginable), layers build up. His relationship with Marion, his relationship with Belloq, with Sullah, all of these feel lived-in and authentic. Really, I can't say much about this movie without gushing. It's an absolute masterpiece and belongs in the Olympus where we keep the truly great movies. No other movie in the series comes close; at best, they're all about on a level--very, very good. But not eternal. So, in that spirit.... Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) Spare me the gripes about aliens and vine-swinging bikers. This movie's more fun than you can legally have in some states on a Saturday night. Ford ages up his character, giving him heft and gravitas while keeping the hapless core. Mutt Williams is a great addition to the series, reflecting the father-son dynamic from Last Crusade but doing it better. And Marion's back, which counts for a lot. The central trick here is that Indiana Jones exists in movie-land (incidentally, that's why sight-gags like the invisible bridge in Last Crusade and the magically-appearing baddies in both this film and Temple of Doom work; no one in the Indiana Jones films has binocular vision). The original three were homages to serials of the 1930s, but this one--because it takes place in the 1950s--has to engage with a later decade of pop culture. So we get Soviets, the Bomb, and aliens (interdimensional beings, in point of fact). The look is accordingly updated; it feels, often, like a technicolor adventure flick from the 1950s rather than a grittier affair. This is all very wise and pushes the series forward rather than wallowing in nostalgia. Where the movie falls flat isn't the setting or the aliens or the vine-swinging. It's the climax. Crystal Skull--like Last Crusade--learned all the wrong lessons from the first movie. Both films think that a central draw of Indiana Jones is the puzzle-solving, figuring out the ancient traps, and so on. And, yeah, that's part of it; Raiders works so well because it grabs viewers with that initial set of preposterous traps and then drags them along. But central to Raiders is the fact that, ultimately, everything that happens is out of Indiana's control. The more he tries to control things, the worse they get. It's only when he closes his eyes and lets things happen that the situation resolves itself. Last Crusade and Crystal Skull both drop the ball; they do equally focus on the idea of letting go (literally, in the case of Last Crusade), but they clutter up the climax with the kind of puzzle-solving and decoding that Raiders wisely kept to the beginning and middle of the story. The climax is also too cluttered with characters. As much as I enjoy every individual one of them, having Indiana, Marion, Mutt, Ox, and Mac all standing around for the big scene means that no one of them gets the chance to really shine. Still and all, this is a fantastic movie--a great ending to a great series. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) Hoo boy. I specialize in midcentury American literature, so having problematic faves goes with the territory. But this one's probably the most problematic favorite thing I have out of any media, ever. Because, to be frank, it's really, really racist. I don't think it's intentionally so, not that that matters so much; it's not Birth of a Nation or anything. But it regurgitates so many aspects of the serials it is aping, unthinkingly and without any attempt to subvert or interrogate them, that it winds up just playing straight such ideas as: colonized people can't govern themselves; colonized people are barbarians who need to be "civilized"; you can't trust a "civilized" person from a colonized nation; etc etc etc. If you've seen it you know what I mean; the British literally show up with a cavalry to save the day at the last moment. Kipling probably shed a single happy tear in whatever hell he's in. That is all--let me be very unambiguous about this--very bad. It's only marginally less bad if you take for granted that (again) the Indiana Jones movies take place in movie-world rather than our own world. And, no, deleted scenes where the Good British Man observes that real Indian people don't eat chilled monkey brains don't cut it. Neither does some kind of hand-waving about how this is really a bad cult and the good Indian people don't go along with it. Because, y'know, that's colonialist talk. So. Not fantastic. And the really unfortunate thing is that (unlike Birth of a Nation), this movie--in the midst of all that--is kind of great. The first two-thirds play like a screwball comedy, with Indiana sparring with Willie Scott. And then it veers, quite abruptly, into a horror-adventure, with heart-ripping and zombie juice and, frankly, all the things that make this kind of movie enjoyable. That's a bold swing; both of these aspects are either muted or wholly absent in Raiders. Temple of Doom does what every good second film in a series should do: it changes things up, explores new avenues, tries new things. And it mostly succeeds. Willie is no Marion, but Kate Capshaw is very funny in the role. Ke Huy Quan is great as Short Round, bringing us the best sidekick in the series. And Harrison Ford is in his prime as Indy; the sequence where he's drugged and shirtless have surely danced across countless dreaming eyelids over the past decades. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Sigh. I know, I know. "But it has Sean Connery!" Listen, I like this movie. It's probably the movie I quote the most with my friends. It's got Sean Connery. It's got Sullah back. It has Marcus Brody. I know, I know. It's just.... The whole affair is so tired. The movie's a retread of Raiders of the Lost Ark but without the nasty streak that makes that movie so entertaining. This is a safe Indiana Jones, a domesticated Indiana Jones (no wonder so many of us who love it have fond memories of watching it as children). The performances are entertaining but toothless; the climax is overburdened and underbaked just like Crystal Skull would be years later. Basically, you can tell that everyone involved just wanted to get the third contracted movie out of the way so they could move on with their lives. See? I sound like I hate it. And I don't. It's fine. It's better than any of its imitators. But next to the other two sequels to Raiders it's tame, unambitious. But let me say something nice about. The dialogue is great. Apparently Tom Stoppard did a polish on it and it really works very well. Like I say, of all the Indiana Jones movies, this is the one I quote the most, even if it's the one I revisit the least. So that's that. The absolutely and inarguably definitive ranking of the Indiana Jones movies. I've not watched all of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, so I'll not even touch on where they sit relative to the main line of movies.
Now that's sorted, we can figure out soon where Dial of Destiny fits. Initial reviews aren't great, but who knows. What we do know is that, with the original four, Spielberg, Lucas, and Ford are responsible for one masterpiece and three great sequels to it. And that's nothing to sneeze at.
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 Not much to say here; I'm in the middle of the last week of classes here, and it's hard to keep up with everything. But I wanted to update and say that here's a high resolution version of my book cover. I've also got bookmarks and flyers, and will try somehow to make those available soon. Meanwhile, if you want a copy just email me!
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AuthorNathanael T. Booth. All views are my own. Archives
April 2024
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