An action-packed rollercoaster ride like no other!
Throughout the franchise, audiences have been captured by compelling action sequences and tension-building moments. There’s the escape from the spike-ridden closing room in Temple of Doom, there’s the horse-to-tank-to-horse chase in The Last Crusade, there’s the quick end for a show-off swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark… and so many more.
What’s clever about the pacing of these movies is that they never let up – Spielberg expertly takes you from the high-octane chase to the slow-burn tension in such a way that you can never take your eyes off the screen.
The unlikely hero in the hat!
The perception of an archaeologist is someone who reads books and dusts artefacts. Boring! For Indiana Jones, archaeology means traveling the world in rickety old planes, escaping the deadliest of booby traps in ancient temples, chasing enemies to retrieve important antiquities and living a life that anyone would be envious of.
When Indiana Jones arrived in the 1980s, other action leads tended to be muscle-bound, machine-gun-wielding anti-heroes who would punch or shoot their way out of any situation. Indy is a totally different proposition, combining qualities that you don’t normally associate with an action hero.
Because the first three films are set in the 1930s, Indy also harks back to some of the leading characters of that era played by Hollywood legends like Humphrey Bogart; the easy charm, quick wit and romantic streak are all key ingredients in making Dr. Jones feel very much like a person of his time. He isn’t a modern action hero – he’s a throwback.
Perhaps Indy’s most compelling aspect is what frustrates his enemies the most – his character never, ever gives up. He chases his goals without thinking things through and frequently has to improvise, making it up as he goes. Things go wrong for him as often as they go right, which makes him very easy to relate to.
