Left: Harrison Ford and Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) © Lucasfilm/Walt Disney Studios
Right: Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) © Lucasfilm/Walt Disney Studios
Those: ReelBlend
Quentin Tarantino is the personification of the dream of many film nerds: although he never attended film school and acquired his knowledge of cinema as a passionate fan while working at a video store, he is considered one of the most interesting and influential filmmakers of our time. Awarded two screenwriting Oscars and the Golden Palm, Tarantino draws his inspiration from countless filmmakers before him and has nevertheless developed his own unmistakable style from it, which has been a trademark since Pulp Fiction are imitated sometimes better, sometimes worse by countless other directors.
Not only does Tarantino love making films (although he says his next film will be his last), he also loves watching them and talking about how, without mincing words of praise or criticism . Even if his opinion often coincides with that of the majority and he raves about films that are generally very popular – like recently Top Gun: Maverick – is likely to be his latest opinion on the best and worst Indiana Jones-Films met with little understanding from many Indy fans.
During a podcast, Tarantino referred to Spielbergs The White shark as the greatest mainstream/popcorn movie of all time. So far so good. As the second best Spielberg film, however, it made a surprising choice: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doomwhom he cherishes for his dark moments: (from English)
He (Spielberg) pushes the limits, he creates the PG-13 rating; the movie is so cool that it created a new age rating. As gruesome as the film is, there is a comedy aspect; there’s still humor, just not quite as much as in the first.
Not even Spielberg himself would go along, then The Temple of Death as worst Indiana Jones-Movie called. In fact, I can agree with Tarantino in this respect. It’s not the second best Spielberg film for me, but it’s the best Indy-Film, even if this opinion is not very widespread.
However, I absolutely cannot understand the following statement by the cult director, in which he announced the third film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade than just plain boring and worse than The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which is commonly considered the weakest Indy adventure: (from English)
I like crystal skulls more than the one with Sean Connery. I don’t like the one with Sean Connery. I don’t like it at all. It’s such a boring movie. He’s boring! And he’s not an interesting character. The joke is made immediately. It’s like stop! Or my mommy will shoot!
For many Indiana Jones-fans is The Last Crusade almost on par with the first film and even better for some. I don’t even think the fourth film is as bad as many others, but putting it above the third sounds absurd to me. But that’s the way it is with opinions. There is certainly a person somewhere on the planet who Die Hard – A good day to die better than the first four films.