Indiana Jones (film series)

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (PG)

D: Steven Spielberg

Paramount/Lucasfilm (Frank Marshall)

US 1981

115 mins

Action/Adventure

W: Lawrence Kasdan, Philip Kaufman & George Lucas

DP: Douglas Slocombe

Ed: Michael Kahn

Mus: John Williams

PD: Norman Reynolds

Cos: Deborah Nadoolman

Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones), Karen Allen (Marion Ravenwood), Paul Freeman (Belloq), Ronald Lacey (Toht), John Rhys-Davies (Sallah), Denholm Elliott (Marcus Brody), Alfred Molina (Satipo)

The film which introduced cinema to Indiana Jones, an archaologist and explorer who must find the fabled Ark of the Covenant, an ancient artefact of great power, before the Nazi's do, who believe that possession of the relic will make their army unstoppable.

This hugely successful collaboration between director Steven Spielberg and writer George Lucas brought the style and excitement from Saturday morning TV adventure serials from the previous generation to a brand new audience and revitalised the adventure genre in the same way Star Wars reinvigorated science fiction.

The film is generally a series of intrepid set pieces, with a bit of exposition in-between, and though it could be seen as nonsensical gibberish, the craft put into the production design, visual effects and other technical aspects of the film make the story feel incredibly convincing.

Harrison Ford is the perfect choice for the film's hero, bringing coolness and charm to the rugged physical appearance of the character. Other characters are underwritten, but when a film is this much fun, who cares?

Raiders Of The Lost Ark was amongst the most successful films of the 1980's, generating three sequels and a huge number of spinoffs and ripoffs.

A personal favourite of mine, as it should be for anyone who grew up during the 1980's.

10/10

Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark

INDIANA JONES & THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (PG)

D: Steven Spielberg

Paramount/Lucasfilm (Robert Watts)

US 1984

118 mins

Adventure

W: Gloria Katz & Willard Huyck [based on characters created by George Lucas & Philip Kaufman]

DP: Douglas Slocombe

Ed: Michael Kahn

Mus: John Williams

PD: Elliot Scott

Cos: Anthony Powell

Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones), Kate Capshaw (Willie Scott), Ke Huy Quan (Short Round), Amrish Puri (Mola Ram), Roshan Seth (Chattar Lai), Philip Stone (Capt. Blumburtt), Roy Chiao (Lao Che), David Yip (Wu Han)

Preceding the events in Raiders Of The Lost Ark (qv), this prequel sends intrepid archaeologist Indiana Jones to a remote Indian village after he narrowly escapes with his life in Shanghai, his young companion, Short Round, and a prissy showgirl in tow.

The villagers, living in poverty, blame their misfortunes on a satanic Thugee cult living in the catacombs of an ancient palace, stealing the village's magical stones as well as all their children.

The adventure from the previous film is turned up a notch, including some excessive horror for a PG-rated film (the infamous heart-ripping scene a prime example). Like Raiders, it's a fantastic tribute to Saturday afternoon adventure serials but unfortunately it does come with it's share of irritants, Kate Capshaw's odious performance one of them, and how Steven Spielberg got away with the casual racism remains a mystery (the filming actually had to take place in Sri Lanka after Indian authorities refused to approve of the script).

Watch out for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo from Dan Aykroyd.

7/10

Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom

INDIANA JONES & THE LAST CRUSADE (PG)

D: Steven Spielberg

Paramount/Lucasfilm (Robert Watts)

US 1989

127 mins

Adventure

W: Jeffrey Boam [based on characters created by George Lucas & Philip Kaufman]

DP: Douglas Slocombe

Ed: Michael Kahn

Mus: John Williams

PD: Elliot Scott

Cos: Anthony Powell & Joanna Johnston

Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones), Sean Connery (Dr. Henry Jones), Denholm Elliott (Marcus Brody), Allison Doody (Dr. Elsa Schneider), John Rhys-Davies (Sallah), Julian Glover (Walter Donovan), River Phoenix (Young Indy)

Littered with mistakes, geographical errors, anachronisms and goofs, but still enormous fun. This third adventure of the globe-trotting archaeologist, this time pairing the title character with his dad as they elude the Nazis in search of another ancient treasure.

Indiana Jones rescues his father (Sean Connery) from the clutches of the Nazi bad guys and the two go on an adventure to locate the whereabouts of Holy Grail before the Third Reich get their mitts on it.

Moving away from the occult fantasy of The Temple Of Doom in favour of religious artefacts makes for more family-orientated viewing much more in the spirit of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, even bringing back a few characters from the original film (Sallah, Marcus Brody).

Far-fetched but highly entertaining, this was the perfect conclusion to a trilogy of adventures.

The saga really should have ended here.

7/10

Sean Connery & Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade

INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (12)

D: Steven Spielberg

Paramount/Lucasfilm (Frank Marshall)

US 2008

117 mins

Adventure

W: David Koepp; George Lucas & Jeff Nathanson [based on characters created by George Lucas & Philip Kaufman]

DP: Janusz Kaminski

Ed: Michael Kahn

Mus: John Williams

PD: Guy Hendrix Dyas

Cos: Mary Zophres

Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones), Cate Blanchett (Irina Spalko), Karen Allen (Marion Williams), Ray Winstone (George McHale), John Hurt (Harold Oxley), Jim Broadbent (Charles Stanforth), Shia LaBeouf (Mutt Williams)

A sequel 20 years too late and feeling uncomfortably like an attempt to usurp the ageing Ford with Steven Spielberg's love-child Shia LaBeouf as the fedora-wearing archaeologist explorer.

After escaping from an atomic blast outside Area 51, Indiana Jones and his young companion travel to Peru on a hunt for an Incan crystal skull, pursued all the time by Russkies.

There's a handful of entertaining moments as it attempts to recreate the excitement from the 1980's trilogy of films, but the final result is incredibly disappointing, proving that, not only is Harrison Ford too old for these shenanigans, but so is George Lucas, who not only wrote the story to this mess, but had passionate plans for it to be titled "Indiana Jones & The Saucer Men".

Steven Spielberg also proves that his filmmaking product has matured since 1989.

There's a fan theory that the majority of the film is a nuclear-dream which all takes place in Indiana Jones' head as he's dying of radiation poisoning while trapped in a fridge, which is far more feasible than all the alien bullshit.

4/10

Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

INDIANA JONES & THE DIAL OF DESTINY (12)

D: James Mangold

Disney / Paramount / Lucasfilm (Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall & Simon Emanuel)

US 🇺🇸 2023

154 mins

Adventure

W: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp & James Mangold [based on characters created by George Lucas & Philip Kaufman]

DP: Phedon Papamichael

Ed: Michael McCusker, Andrew Buckland & Dirk Westervelt

Mus: John Williams

Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Helena Shaw), Mads Mikkelsen (Jürgen Voller), Antonio Banderas (Renaldo), Toby Jones (Basil Shaw), Boyd Holbrook (Klaber), Ethann Isidore (Teddy), John Rhys-Davies (Sallah)

One of my criticisms for the previous Indiana Jones films (Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull) was that Harrison Ford was just too long in the tooth for the role, so how is he to fare in this fifth instalment, 15 years later?

This is a rhetorical question. The fact remains that the film’s star is too old for further adventures, but this fifth film does start quite promisingly, utilising de-ageing visual effects which took up a huge chunk of the film’s £300m budget.

The opening act begins at the end of World War II, where Nazi soldiers ransack the treasures of a castle, culminating in a chase on a train which trigger all the right nostalgic memories of the original trilogy, and though the de-ageing effects can sometimes be a little ropey in a handful of scenes, it’s a cracking start to a new adventure.

Unfortunately, the rest of a film is a bait & switch, as we’re introduced to the smugly insufferable Helena Shaw, Jones’ goddaughter who also has an interest in historical artefacts & trinkets, though more for her personal gain than unearthing a mysterious relic from the past.

The McGuffin in question here is the dial of Archimedes, fabled to open a portal that makes time travel possible. Jones & Shaw want the device for their own reasons, whilst Nazi professor Jürgen Voller is also on the hunt for it, so he can use it to succeed where Adolf Hitler failed.

James Mangold takes over directorial duties from Steven Spielberg, and does a decent job helming the action sequences and retaining the Spielberg spirit of the previous movies, but the film’s shortcomings just come with the plot, which rushes from set piece to set pieces with exposition laced between, as well as the performances of the supporting characters, which are grating far beyond the point of annoyance, especially when it comes to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Helena Shaw, who was clearly there to usurp the title character and keep further adventures going (for the love of God, No!).

Harrison Ford looks too tired for it all as he pushes 80 years of age, whilst Mads Mikkelsen could have made for an excellent villain if the screenplay gave him better material to work with.

John Williams ever-dependable music is the real star of the show, but like the previous film, this really is a sequel too many. In my opinion, Indiana Jones should have been left to end with the eponymous hero riding into the sunset with his father and his friends at the end of the third movie. It really is just overkill at this point.

4/10