I find that mind-boggling and I'm one of the few people who thinks The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is actually good.
It's good in parts for me.
It's the weakest, but I like Crystal Skull. Love the Area 51 opening. Love the jungle chase. It works just on pure nostalgia. And I kinda liked Mutt Williams.
Most of the nostalgic moments are great, but there is a lot that is left to be desired, especially the payoff at the end. It falls flat after all the build up of psychic powers and the skull.
Ive always thought that after Raiders, which is a perfect action adventure romp, each Indy movie got weaker and weaker. I like Temple, as it was the first Indy film I saw but I agree that it is too dark and Willie is a poor replacement for Marian. However, the action is great, imho, and it rattles along at too great a pace to allow me to dwell on its flaws.
Crusade is, for me, played too much for laughs, the action sequences are less exciting than its predecessors and the plot too similar to Raiders (at the time, I wondered at the way that both George Lucas trilogies rehashed their respective first films in their respective third). And it makes far too little use of Indy's theme tune for my liking! But the Ford/Connery chemistry goes a long way.
I enjoyed KOTCS until roughly the time they got to South America, at which time it just began to feel like an Indiana Jones rip-off written and directed by people who'd heard of the character but never actually seen one of his films. Ford was the best thing about it, IMHO, giving his first not-phoned-in performance in years. But it fell apart by the end.
Yeah, that's pretty much were KOTCS falls apart for me as well. And it doesn't get any better.
For me it's…
RAIDERS: 5 (out of 5) The best action adventure movie ever made. Just perfect.
TEMPLE: 5 (out of 5) A literal roller coaster with just the right amount of darkness.
CRUSADE: 5 (out of 5) The original James Bond and Indiana Jones together. 'Nuff said.
KINGDOM: 0 (out of 5) Shia LaBeouf. CGI monkeys, ants, gophers and aliens. The franchise nuked the fridge (AKA jumped the shark).
AKA,
Fried the Coke.
Also, I cannot stand Temple of Doom. It starts out incredibly dark and over the top with its villains and begins to dig towards the bottom. It isn't fun, it's uncomfortable in all the ways, and I think that Indy's attitude just sucks.
I'll take Kingdom for the Area 51 bit, the mystery of what's going on with Oxley and Mutt's sword fighting over the Kali cult, Indy taking a hostage and child slavery.
For me:
Raiders (out of ten) 9: The tension of the race of the Nazis to get the Ark is somewhat hamstrung by the boat ride. Overall, a good piece.
Temple (out of ten) 2: Brief moments of adventure are completely overshadowed by a depressing, mean-spirited, tale. Even a brief Dan Aykroyd cameo and the bridge fight can't save this one.
Last Crusade (out of ten) 10: The right amount of mystery, banter, action and chemistry between the main characters. Probably the most fun one for me.
Kingdom (out of ten) 5: Some brief fun moments, especially at Area 51, stand out as genuine fun moments. The discovery at the South American ruins is a good fun bit of Indiana Jones humor and mystery work. However, the payoff is way too weak.
