This is what critics never seem to get. How do you give The Temple of Doom a pass on its holy hell no way he survives that yet castigate Crystal Skull for the same?
I love all 4 of these movies (Raiders and The Last Crusade are the best) but each of them have some of those moments:
Raiders - Indy thrown out the front window of a moving truck, manages to grab the front grille then survive squirreling along the truck's underside in time to throw out the Nazi who had thrown him out, and that guy is crushed under the tires.
Raiders - U-boats, anyone? I know there was footage shot of Indy hanging onto the sub's periscope, which is all fine and dandy, but I have to wonder if anyone could really survive such a trip? Oh, and by the way, why the f(*** would the Nazi sub need to travel submerged? Movie was set in 1936 and no one was shooting at them yet.
Temple of Doom - in the night club, the son unloads on Indy with a machine gun; Indy survives while running behind a giant gong then jumping out a 6th floor window. He falls through window awnings, which I suppose slow him down sufficiently prior to him landing just fine in the back seat of the car that the annoying kid is driving?
Temple of Doom - "Nice try, Lao Che!" Yeah, Lao Che got the last laugh on that one. His pilots empty the fuel tanks then bail out while leaving no parachutes. This is a Ford Tri-Motor that is in full flight mode, rapidly descending, and the only thing to do in reality is to die, but in Hollywood is to take an inflatable raft and dive out the cargo door, inflating the raft as you fall, slam into the snow-covered mountainside, slalom down the side of the mountain and plunge over a cliff into a raging river. Alrighty then.
Temple of Doom - the mine car chase with a mine car jumping a huge missing section of the track. Next time you find yourself on a roller coaster, imagine trying that.
Last Crusade - Indy tracks the cross of Coronado back to the white panama hat wearing bad guy in 1938. After working his way through the bad guys to recover that artifact that belongs in a museum, Indy sees the big tank fall that causes a massive explosion that sinks the freaking ship. Of course, he dives into the water, with this big freighter sinking seemingly not causing him any problems such as sucking him down with it. (He couldn't have been far enough away after he jumped into the water).
Last Crusade - big tank fight. Tank plunges over a cliff. Indy is quick enough to manage to see some vines hanging over the cliff's edge and then jump off the falling tank and grab those vines.
Crystal Skull - nuclear refrigerator. I'm not sure what would happen to a human body inside a fridge sent airborne by a nuclear blast, but I imagine that if he somehow managed to keep the door closed while it tumbled through the air, he'd emerge from that a blob of goo.
Crystal Skull - three times it falls. I don't recall how high the first two waterfalls were, but that third was a big one. Doubtful they walk away from that.
