The films Text copyright Filmverdict 2006-2007. Any film stills are copyright of their respective owners. Used without permission, sorry!
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders is rightfully renowned as the quintessential action adventure and basically defines the genre. After more than a quarter of a century, the film still holds up magnificently. The action is still impressive and thrilling, and the plot is hugely compelling. Helping the film, of course, is an iconic performance by Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, which I would label his greatest role. Han Solo may have made his name but it is Indy that cemented his star status and sent him shooting into the stratosphere. Possibly the film's greatest asset is its immaculate pacing; it opens with the legendary teaser sequence (the one with the giant boulder), pauses for breath to establish the plot, and then launches into a globe-trotting adventure which barely puts a foot wrong.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
The Temple of Doom is a blip in the series, and is nowhere near the brilliance of its predecessor, but it is still an entertaining sequel (technically prequel) to Raiders. It seems that George Lucas wanted to depart from the child-friendly formula of Return of the Jedi, released the year before, as he devised a dark tale with some surprisingly extreme moments (indeed, the film had to be cut slightly to receive a PG in the UK). Credit has to be given to Spielberg, who injects many scenes with a much-needed playful tone. There are some excellent sequences in the film, and the first hour is generally very entertaining. It is in the actual Temple of Doom section that the film gets bogged down, but this is followed by more great action set-pieces and a very well-staged finale.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Admittedly, The Last Crusade is pretty much a rehash of Raiders - quest for a famous religious artefact, Nazis as villains - but spices up the formula enough to get away with it. In fact I love it probably as much as the original; it may be slightly more bloated but the story has more twists and is more complex. Elevating the film to the realm of classic is the genius introduction of Sean Connery as Indy's dad, who displays a wonderful comedic chemistry with Ford. The father-son dynamic carries the film and makes for a touching, and satisfying, finale. Indiana Jones 4 is now officially in the works but The Last Crusade serves as a brilliant conclusion to the presently existing trilogy, allowing the characters to (literally) ride off into the sunset in style.
The extras
The box set contains the now-traditional three discs for the films and one for extras. I'd like to see a whole disc dedicated to each film, but quantity doesn't necessarily equal quality. What you do get here is all, predictably, very good. The main feature is an over-two-hour documentary split into sections on each film (Raiders: 50 minutes, Temple: 45, Crusade: 40). It's extremely well made, featuring revealing archived on-set footage and new interviews with all the stars. As good as it is, I did feel that it could be more warts-and-all, but I can't really complain. Accompanying it are four shorter featurettes of around 12 minutes each, detailing stunts, sound, music and visual effects. All in all, very enlightening. Spielberg commentaries remain rare, however, and regrettably, none are present here.
The summary
The Indiana Jones series remains the pinnacle to which all subsequent action adventure films aspire. It's not really a trilogy in the traditional sense - the films very much stand alone - but this box set is pretty much a necessity in anyone's collection.
