[Kang]

I saw all of the Indy movies in the theater when they first came out, I would say the perception that Temple of Doom was the least well received is right. I think it goes a little beyond the "darkness" that's commonly attributed to it, though no doubt it was noticeably harsh in contrast to what had come before. As is well documented, Lucas and Spielberg were having issues in their personal lives at the time, and the added intensity of the content even ended up helping drive the creation of the PG-13 rating.

I think another key consideration is Raiders just set the bar massively high. Take the iconic opening scene...it's like a mini movie in itself, lovingly referenced, spoofed/parodied, countless times over the years. The opening scene to Temple of Doom wasn't "bad", but just not nearly as memorable to many.

I also think cast chemistry for Raiders was lightning in a bottle. It wasn't just Ford still riding the high of his most classic Star Wars performances, but Karen Allen absolutely killing it as Marion, the perfect arch-nemesis in Belloq, the ever charistmatic John Rhys-Davies. In Temple, I think Kate Capshaw did perfectly fine, but again, how are you really going to top Marion?

Last Crusade didn't really approach the level of the first one either, but it just brought back a little more fun and honestly, I give a lot of credit to Sean Connery for that one, who else could give Indy a run for his money as an even larger than life "dad"?