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The pulpy action-adventure classics of the Indiana Jones series rank among the most iconic movies ever made. The old-school style and kinetic set-pieces of the Indiana Jones movies have made them truly unique and mesmerizing. But they’re not the only great action movies that these actors have appeared in.
Sean Connery played James Bond in Goldfinger, Ke Huy Quan played Waymond Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Harrison Ford has starred in beloved action movies ranging from Star Wars to The Fugitive to Air Force One.
10/10 Air Force One (1997) – Starring Harrison Ford
Between performances as Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford starred in Air Force One as the most badass fictional U.S. President in movie history. Dubbed “Die Hard on the President’s plane,” the movie revolves around Air Force One being hijacked by terrorists who are promptly thwarted by gun-toting P.O.T.U.S. James Marshall.
Thanks to Ford’s typically captivating performance, Wolfgang Petersen’s taut direction, and Michael Ballhaus’ slick cinematography, Air Force One is an action movie masterpiece. Plus, Gary Oldman made an unforgettable villain out of Egor Korshunov.
9/10 Thor: Ragnarok (2017) – Starring Cate Blanchett
Just under a decade after playing one of the most memorable villains in the Indiana Jones series, Cate Blanchett played one of the most memorable villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a franchise often criticized for its “villain problem.”
Blanchett had a ton of fun playing Hela, the God of Thunder’s evil long-lost sister, as a hammed-up Disney-style villain in Taika Waititi’s zany, comedic MCU entry Thor: Ragnarok.
8/10 Hot Fuzz (2007) – Starring Jim Broadbent
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reunited with director Edgar Wright for Hot Fuzz, switching out zombies for cloaked murderers in a spot-on satire of the well-worn “buddy cop” genre. Hot Fuzz transplants the visceral “gun fu” thrills of a John Woo movie into a sleepy English village.
A year before he played Indy’s boss Dean Stanforth in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Jim Broadbent played villainous rogue Inspector Frank Butterman in Hot Fuzz.
7/10 The Fugitive (1993) – Starring Harrison Ford
Andrew Davis’ The Fugitive is one of the few TV-to-movie adaptations to actually improve on the original series. The story of a wrongfully accused man on the run from the law arguably works better as a three-act thriller movie than an episodic TV show.
Ford anchors this cat-and-mouse thriller with his turn as everyman Dr. Richard Kimble opposite an Oscar-winning Tommy Lee Jones as Deputy U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard.
6/10 The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (2002) – Starring John Rhys-Davies & Cate Blanchett
Peter Jackson cast two Indiana Jones actors in the sprawling ensemble of his groundbreaking Lord of the Rings trilogy. John Rhys-Davies, better known as Sallah, plays dwarf warrior Gimli, while Cate Blanchett, better known as Irina Spalko, plays the Elven-Queen of Lothlórien, Galadriel.
The middle chapter of the trilogy, The Two Towers, is by far its most action-packed entry. It’s not burdened with setting up plot threads like the first movie or tying up loose ends like the third one, so it can focus on the spectacle. Plus, the second movie has the trilogy’s greatest action set-piece: the Battle of Helm’s Deep.
5/10 Hellboy (2004) – Starring John Hurt
The late, great John Hurt gave a memorable supporting turn as an eccentric academic and old friend of Indy’s in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. This wasn’t Hurt’s first foray into the big-budget action-adventure genre. He previously played Trevor Bruttenholm alongside Ron Perlman in Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy movies. Nicknamed “Broom,” Trevor is a paranormal scientist who takes a young, orphaned Hellboy under his wing and raises him as his own son.
In keeping with del Toro’s signature storytelling style, Hellboy is about an outsider who just wants to belong. The tragedy of Hellboy is that, no matter how many times he saves humanity, they will always see him as a monster.
4/10 Blade Runner (1982) – Starring Harrison Ford
Between the first and second Indiana Jones movies, Ford swapped out his fedora for a trenchcoat with the role of Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner. Deckard is the titular “blade runner” tasked with hunting down the androids that have assimilated themselves into human society in a dystopian futuristic Los Angeles.
While Blade Runner isn’t as action-packed as the Indiana Jones films, there are more than enough stunning visuals and thought-provoking monologues in between the action sequences to make up for it.
3/10 Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) – Starring Ke Huy Quan
In the past couple of years, former child actor Ke Huy Quan has made a major comeback. Decades after he burst onto the big screen in the role of Indiana Jones’ wisecracking sidekick Short Round, Quan starred opposite Michelle Yeoh in the Daniels’ mind-blowing multiverse epic Everything Everywhere All at Once.
With Everything Everywhere All at Once, the Daniels managed to have their cake and eat it, too. It’s both an intimate, moving family drama and an explosive, wildly entertaining sci-fi actioner.
2/10 Goldfinger (1964) – Starring Sean Connery
Since Indiana Jones was conceived as American cinema’s answer to the James Bond franchise, when it came time to cast Indy’s dad, Steven Spielberg chose the original 007, Sean Connery, to play the part. Connery played Bond in six official movies (and one unofficial one).
Almost all of Connery’s Bond films are classics, but the greatest of the bunch is 1964’s Goldfinger, which perfected the series’ formula. It has a delightfully offbeat titular villain, a thrilling climactic showdown at Fort Knox, and one of the greatest car chases ever put on film.
1/10 Star Wars (1977) – Starring Harrison Ford
Indiana Jones isn’t the only pulpy action hero role that George Lucas created for Harrison Ford. A few years before casting Ford to play his gunslinging, bullwhipping archeologist adventurer, Lucas cast the actor to play ice-cool space pirate Han Solo in his groundbreaking science fantasy epic Star Wars.
Lucas’ space opera is really about the battle between good and evil – the Jedi versus the Sith; the Rebels versus the Empire – but Han, on the fringes of these conflicts, steals the show.
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