Few characters have the passionate fan base that Indiana Jones has. And that's based on four movies, three of which were actually good. It's hard not to love a ruggedly handsome adventurer whose charms get him into and out of trouble. But that doesn't mean everything is perfect.
The Indiana Jones films have more than a few plot holes in them that long-time fans have definitely picked up on. And while they will always be there, that doesn't mean that fans can't still enjoy the films. Honestly, some of these plot holes just make the movies even better.
10 Doesn't Believe In Magic But Saw It A Year Earlier
Fans first met Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. When asked to track down the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis find it, Dr. Jones accepts the challenge. At the same time, he made it crystal clear that he did not believe in the mystical aspects of the artifact.
But Indiana ran face-first into magic in Temple of Doom. While that movie came out three years after Raiders, it's set a year before it. His declaration that he did not believe in magic seems a little odd since he had recently run into the mystical Sankara Stones.
9 Indy Saves Himself Using Letters That Shouldn't Have Supported Him
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade sent the heroic archaeologist to save his father and stop the Nazis from getting the Holy Grail. Ultimately, he successfully achieved both goals but not before having to solve a few riddles combined with some deadly traps.
One of them was The Word of God. He had to step on the letters that spelled the word Jehovah to get across but got it wrong and fell through the tiles. The problem with that moment was he saved himself by grabbing onto tiles that should not have been able to support him. Indy probably should have died.
8 The Map Room Scene Doesn't Work
In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones sneaks into a hidden map room. His goal was to use Marion's medallion to find the correct location of the Ark which was buried in one of the sand-logged buildings. The Nazis beat him there but got the location wrong because they were missing half of the intel.
The Staff of Ra that holds the medallion was supposed to be five feet tall. The problem was that the staff was significantly taller than Harrison Ford, who is slightly over six feet tall. Indy's staff was most definitely not the stated length unless Ford has been lying about his height for the past few decades.
7 Traps That Are Built To Last
The Word of God wasn't the only trap Indy had to navigate to find his way to the Holy Grail. He also had to get past the Breath of God and the Path of God. Technically, there was a fourth trial as he had to select the right Grail from a room of fakes. And using the wrong one had serious consequences.
These traps had all been in place for several centuries and worked without a single problem. The Path of God was pretty straight forward but there were a lot of moving parts in it. It has never added up that all of these traps worked like they were just installed.
6 Minecarts Are Apparently Not Subject To The Laws Of Physics
Temple of Doom pitted Indiana Jones against a dangerous Thuggee cult in India. He ended up there completely by accident but was happy to take on a mission to help a local village. The goal was to rescue the missing children and the stolen Shankara Stone, and Indy was successful on both counts.
At one point, Indy and his friends were engaged in a minecart chase. While it was energetic and exciting, it also defied the laws of physics. Anything in motion across a surface will slow down due to the friction acting on it. These minecarts did not slow down and maintained their speed no matter what.
5 Indy Closes His Eyes
As Indy chased the Ark, the Nazis, and Marion around the world, he ended up in some absurd situations. But throughout that time, he maintained his disbelief in the mystical and arcane aspects of the artifact he was looking for. As such, it made his response to the climax of the film rather odd.
He and Marion were tied together while the Nazis opened the Ark. Despite his disbelief, Indy told Marion to close her eyes. This saved their lives. But if he didn't believe in the power of the Ark, it doesn't make sense that he was worried about this at all.
4 The Crystal Skull Was A Choosy Magnet
Fans of the overall Indiana Jones franchise do not spend a lot of time thinking about The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. There are a lot of reasons that people aren't fans of this film, and the artifact he was searching for sure didn't help. Specifically, it was the crystal skull of an alien.
While there were a lot of things that didn't add up in this film, the crystal skull itself created issues. A big one was the fact that it was kind of magnetic, some of the time. In some scenes, it's a powerful magnet that bends lamps. Yet, it doesn't affect cars or guns in other scenes. This made next to no sense.
3 Riding On The Outside Of A Submarine
After Indy and Marion made their escape with the Ark, they were tracked down on the high seas by the Nazis. The ship's captain and crew did what they could but the Nazis loaded Marion and the Ark onto a German U-Boat. That's not the problem with this scene, though.
The problem is that Indiana Jones secretly climbs on the outside of the sub and rides it all the way to the destination. Holding onto a U-Boat that long is virtually impossible, particularly if it is submerged. This scene has never made sense to even the most die-hard fans.
2 Indiana Jones Has No Impact On Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Fans have been debating this one for years, particularly after it was popularized in an episode of The Big Bang Theory. Essentially, Indiana Jones can be removed from Raiders of the Lost Ark and the movie would turn out the same way. The Nazis would still go to the island, open the Ark, and all die.
While that's certainly true, Marion might not have survived the film without Dr. Jones's intervention. And the Ark probably wouldn't have ended up in an American warehouse. But his lack of impact on the Nazis' overall plans, outside of delaying them, cannot be denied.
1 The Whole Fridge Incident
This is a rough one for a lot of fans to come to terms with. Indy was dealing with bad guys on American soil and ended up in a nuclear bomb testing site. The infamous Jones luck kicked in as a test was about to happen. So, he hid from the nuclear explosion in a fridge.
Yes, the explosion and/or the radiation should have killed him. But the worst part might have been the fridge being launched through the air and slamming into the ground miles away. The impact should have turned Indy into some sort of goo that oozed out of the fridge's seams.