An Indiana Jones Education

I remember watching Raiders of the Lost Ark on my 10th birthday - my Mom rented a VCR player and my friends and I were held rapt. We particularly enjoyed rewinding the part where that dude's head blows up, much to the shock of my Mom who thought it was all a little bit questionable. It's remained one of my all-time favourite films - as it is for many geeks out there - which is why is why I was so shocked when my girlfriend T said that she had never seen an Indiana Jones movie. At first I nearly yelled "Whaaaaaat?" but then I remembered where in the world I was - Thailand - and also remembered that she spent her youth running around barefoot on the banks of the Mekong River on the border of Laos - not exactly a huge market for Hollywood blockbusters from 25 years ago.

So, in preparation for the upcoming release of the fourth Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, (and also because I just can't say no to an Indiana Jones-a-thon), I decided to educate her in all things Indy and watch the three existing movies. Here's what I thought after having not seen any of them for five or six years.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

Awesome - nearly a perfect movie, and one of my all-time favourites. It's funny to see how young Harrison Ford looked back then... I guess it wouldn't be too big of a shock if I'd seen any of the original Star Wars movies in the last 6 or 8 years, but I haven't (any geek with any geek-cred whatsoever can recite each of those movies backwards and upside down, so watching them these days has become kind of redundant... although I guess I should probably throw them on sometime soon). Fantastic action, an awesome supporting cast and an outstanding score by John Williams round things out nicely. I wish all action movies were made with this much heart.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

I remember Spielberg reacting angrily once to the somewhat-negative critical reaction on this one (too dark, too violent; in fact, it was partly responsible for the evil MPAA creating the PG-13 rating), by saying 'It's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, not Indiana Jones and the Temple of Roses." Good point. However, the critics had a good point too - this doesn't really feel like an Indy movie. The opening twenty minutes are great, and the final 20 are sure fun and action packed, but the whole 'ripping the heart out of live humans, black magic, child slave' angle is a bit grim; his heroine (Spielberg's wife Kate Capshaw) is also way too whiny. It also suffers from some shockingly bad and amateur-looking direction. Back then, it kicked ass, but it's aged the least-well of the Indy movies.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Definitely funnier than the other two, and regains some of the lost magic and wonder that was lost in Temple of Doom. The idea of adding Connery as Indy's father was a stroke of genius (although he's only a decade older; check this link out to see how he's aged since then) and the returning characters of Sala and Marcus Brody were a breath of fresh air (although Marcus was more of a bumbling dolt than he was in Raiders). The stunts were great too, and special effects had progressed to the point that, save for a few sequences, it still holds up remarkably well. It definitely ended things on a high note... I just hope that Crystal Skull continues with the same formula. If the trailer is any indication, it looks like we're in for a treat on May 22, 2008.

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