Trilogies - 10 - The Adventures of Indiana Jones by Steven Spielberg

I find it a tragedy that this wonderful set of films (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade) has to be so low down on the list, but there a couple of reasons for that. Mainly, I had to rush this out to the blog as to have it still be a trilogy and not a saga. Steven Spielberg's 1982 film Raiders of the Lost Ark is quite possibly the definitive picture in the Action/Adventure genre, if not the film that should be credited with its creation.

The first film in the now legendary trilogy created one of the most lovable characters ever presented on film, and while most of us will never be able to relate to Indy and his adventures that does not mean that we cannot identify with the fun and fear that he experiences along the way. Spielberg shows us that even Biblical history can be cool in the context of a man in a hat that he cannot loose and artifacts worth more money than any of us can possibly imagine.

The strongest film in the trilogy is easily the first, Raiders of the Lost Ark shows us the character and the theme music by John Williams. It is the most action packed and it has special effects that hold up to this day; but while Ark is the best The Last Crusade is a close second. In the final film (until later this summer) we get to see some of the things that made Indy who he was as well as get a good dosage of mythology involved in the legend of the Holy Grail. Temple of Doom is the weakest film in the trilogy as it is incredibly linear and when its not break neck it is slow paced and almost boring at points. This is not to say that Doom is a poor film, it is just the weakest branch of an incredibly entertaining series of films that will live on forever.