Indiana Jones countdown: All 5 films ranked including new release The Dial Of Destiny (2024)

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Harrison Ford dons the fedora of Indiana Jones one last time in the fifth and final film of the series, Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny. Ford is 80, but is very much in whip-cracking form as he brings alive the adventurous archaeologist in the new film that is packed with signature escapades and a typical plot comprising a rare artefact, scheming Nazis and near-death experiences good enough to set off a whiff of nostalgia among the buffs.

When George Lucas shared the idea of Raiders Of The Lost Ark for the first time with Steven Spielberg, what instantly excited the duo was the quota of high-octane set pieces and stunts that the hero would engage in. Spielberg would eventually direct the first film, and Lucas would hire screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan to flesh out an adventure plot. Kasdan drew inspiration from adventure classics such as The Magnificent Seven (1960), Seven Samurai (1954) and Red River (1948), to visualise Dr Henry ‘Indiana’ Jones, or Indy, as a daredevil archaeologist who doesn’t desist from antihero antics to get what he wants.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark would emerge the biggest Hollywood hit of 1981 with a global intake of around $330.5 million, running in several theatres for over a year. The film won five Oscars and a BAFTA, but neither Lucas nor Spielberg nor Kasdan was prepared for the legacy it would set off over the next four decades, redefining the fantasy, action, sci-fi and adventure genres forever. The third film, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989) was followed by a television series titled The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which explores the protagonist’s childhood and youth. The series launched in 1992 ran for over a year. There have been comic books and video games, too.

The five feature films span over four decades, from 1981 to 2023, and it is indeed a challenge to maintain the essence of a character that has gained an iconic stature over such a long period, what with popular tastes constantly changing. Here, we rank all the films, in the form of a reverse countdown.

5 - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Long before Hollywood developed its newfound fetish for inclusivity and political correctness there wasIndiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, a film set in India of 1935 where Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and his buddies are served eyeball soup, insects, baby snakes, chilled monkey brains and roasted boar with its roasted suckling offspring during a feast at Maharaja Zalim Singh’s Pankot Palace. There’s more. Amrish Puri plays the villain Mola Ram, a thuggee priest and worshipper of Kali, who engages in human sacrifice besides kidnapping and enslaving children. Perhaps the idea was to portray an evil tantrik, but Puri’s caricaturistic get-up seems more like a cross between Aztec, African and Hawaiian styles and makes him look anything but Indian. India of the 1930s, the film suggests, was a place where human-sacrificing cults thrived. Not surprisingly, the Indian government wouldn’t allow shooting in the country after assessing the script, and the India portions were shot in Sri Lanka.

Legendary screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, who had scripted the iconic first film Raiders Of The Lost Ark, in fact, chose to distance himself from Temple Of Doom. “I just thought it was horrible. It’s so mean. There’s nothing pleasant about it. I think Temple Of Doom represents a chaotic period in both their (George Lucas and Steven Spielberg) lives, and the movie is very ugly and mean-spirited,” the website Slashfilm quotes Kasdan.

One hardly expects such irresponsible and ill-researched portrayal of a civilisation in a film that flaunts Steven Spielberg as director and George Lucas as writer. The fact is all the more damaging that an Indiana Jones film is a high-profile release watched the world over and not some C-grade movie most might ignore. Ironically, the film is loaded with action and adventure that fans would dig. Although Temple Of Doom is the second release of the franchise, it is actually a prequel toRaiders Of The Lost Ark. While many feel this was the most violent, shocking and dark film of the series, most Indians would find the film outright racist and offensive.

4 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

The fourth release of the five-film franchise met with a challenge that sequels often have to tackle: Hardcore fans loved it but most others felt it was formulaic fare that failed to scale the bar set by the earlier films. Released 19 years after the original trilogy,Crystal Skullwould be Steven Spielberg’s final directorial assignment for the franchise.

David Koepp’s screenplay dutifully reloaded signature vibes in a plot set in 1957, which pits Indiana Jones against Soviet agent Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) over the powerful crystal skull of Akator. The storyline involves Jones’ ex-lover Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and their son Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), and weaves sci-fi elements into the standard Indy movie template. Crystal Skull was let down by the film’s excessive reliance on CGI as well as the narrative’s erratic pace. The film opens on a high but fails to sustain the rush, especially towards the end. At best passable popcorn stuff, the film raked in over $790 million mainly cashing in on franchise brand power.

3 - Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

It isn’t fated to be a classic like Raiders Of The Lost Ark or The Last Crusade, but The Dial Of Destiny works just fine as a final bow that should keep franchise fans happy. For new-age viewers, the sequel serves to remind of an adventure film series that ruled global audience psyche for over 40 years since George Lucas and Steven Spielberg introduced Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Raiders Of The Lost Ark. This is a slice of Hollywood flamboyance as no other, one last time.

The James Mangold directorial presents Harrison Ford as an aged Indy struggling to fit into a world that’s rapidly changing around him. The plot is simple and set to template: There is the threat of an ancient and powerful artefact falling in destructive hands, so Indiana Jones must get into action and save the world one last time.

At 80, Ford is still in top form and reason enough to check out the film. His final act as Indy underlines it’ll be a challenge finding an apt replacement if the makers ever decide to reboot the franchise.

2 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

After the criticism that Temple Of Doom attracted upon release, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg opted to revert back to the lighthearted tone that made the original film, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, an instant winner, in the third film of the franchise, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.

Few sequels live up to hype as The Last Crusade did. The beauty of George Lucas and Menno Meyjes’ story lies in the fact that it invests in exploring the origins of Indy in a way it lets us fathom the mind of the macho hero. A brilliant action entertainer bearing the stamp of director Steven Spielberg’s imagination, the film is laced with humour and has one of the career-best scores of acclaimed composer John Williams.

Set mainly in 1938 with flashbacks taking us to 1912, the plot sees Jones set out to rescue his father, a professor of Medieval literature who is kidnapped by the Nazis during his mission to find the Holy Grail. The Last Crusade introduces Sean Connery in the franchise as the protagonist’s father, Henry Jones Sr., and the film finds an emotional core in the father-son chemistry that Connery and Ford share. The film earned $474.2 million globally and emerged the biggest Hollywood hit of 1989, besides winning an Oscar for Sound Effects Editing.

1- Raiders of the Lost Ark - (1981)

Few films have redefined on-screen adventure and action as totally as the first release of the Indiana Jones franchise. Lawrence Kasdan’s screenplay, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman, literally launches the Steven Spielberg directorial with a bang as the film opens with the iconic sequence of Indy running down a slope inside a cave, with a 12-foot boulder rolling right behind him (okay, it’s a fibreglass boulder but it’s still spectacular). Indy’s near-death experience in the sequence involves escaping with a golden idol from the cave as it comes crashing all around him, and it sets the tone of daredevilry for not just the film but also the franchise. It has been replicated in many films the world over.

Although the first release of the franchise, the film is set in 1936, a year after Temple Of Doom. Ford as archaeologist Henry ‘Indiana’ Jones Jr., or Indy, must beat the Nazis to finding the long-lost Ark of the Covenant that has power to make armies invincible.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark is a textbook for filmmakers on how to seamlessly blend action, drama, humour and thrills without compromising on characters or storytelling. For the audience, the triumph lies in the fact that even after over four decades, the film still seems fresh and appealing as ever. With superb performances by the cast, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, not surprisingly, continues to make it into almost all Greatest Ever lists of mainstream movies anywhere.

Vinayak Chakravorty is a critic, columnist and journalist who loves to write on popular culture.

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