Overall Rating
  Awesome: 66.67%
Worth A Look: 30%
Average: 0%
Pretty Bad: 1.67%
Total Crap: 1.67%
4 reviews, 96 user ratings
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| Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade |
by Slyder
"A return to form"
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The only thing that hampered Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was that it was simply recovering lost territory thanks to the competent yet disappointing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Otherwise on its own it’s a damn fine action flick, not as great as the masterful Raiders Of the Lost Ark, but it damn sure comes close, thanks to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s rehash of the Raider’s formula and adding a more reasonable and more cooler twist in the form of Indy’s dad plus several other surprises along the way.One of the surprises is the always exciting opening act, only that this time it takes us to the beginning of the century where a young Indiana Jones (played perfectly by the late River Phoenix) fights off a band of cave looters whom have discovered a Spanish cross only to loose it in the end, not before gaining a couple of his soon-to-be trademarks while being chased on a circus train: His fear of snakes, his chin scar and his first encounter with a bull-whip, and last but not least (though at Indy’s house), his legendary fedora.
Flash forward to the 1930’s one year after the raiding of the lost ark, Indy finally after 26 years, gets the Spanish cross, and now is given a new mission thanks to a wealthy relics collector Walter Donovan (Julian Glover): to find the Holy Grail, and also to find his father, Dr. Henry Jones (Sean Connery) whom was a Grail fanatic since Indy’s early days and mysteriously disappeared off Venice, Italy. Oh, and his mentor and clueless friend Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliot) tags along with him for the ride.
What can be said that it hasn’t been said? Just as in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Last Crusade contains your required B-movie homage as well as a bunch of action scenes. The plot once again is a bit iffy (like it’s supposed to), but compared to Temple of Doom, it’s a hell of a lot better constructed, especially thanks to the opening sequence in which we see the late River Phoenix do battles as Indy. This is one of the two major highlights in the film with the second being of course, Indy’s no-nonsense-yet-totally-clueless-when-it-comes-to-adventure dad. Sean Connery in a way represents the glory days of action movies of yesteryear if you remember your James Bond films (until James Bond became a cinematic whoring of itself after that), and is also one of the coolest guys out there (or at least was). Jeffrey Boam’s screenplay from Lucas’s and Menno Meyjes’s original story balances both Indy and his dad allowing them to both have equally memorable moments instead of ripping each others lines out, and their unusual partnership and chemistry with each other also sparks endless amounts of fun and comedic moments (No ticket! Son, I’m sorry, they got us!). Ford himself as Indy will always kick ass, since no one does Indy better than Ford. Another highlight is Alison Doody as Dr. Elsa Schneider, this time another Jones’ babe gone bad, which is quite a twist when it comes to the other babes in the series. The action scenes this time are perfectly executed and while they may not be as instantly striking as they were back in Raiders, they’re ultimately spectacular and rewarding, and of course, fun.In the end, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a satisfying return to form for a franchise that got somewhat fucked with Temple of Doom. This film offers a fitting finale to the series, though there’s still the possibility of a fourth Indiana Jones movie (and I’m not holding my breath besides, Ford is like 62 years old for Christ sake), and a truly enjoyable movie on its own. 4.5-5
 del.icio.us 
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=902&reviewer=235
originally posted: 10/13/04 07:02:16
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USA
24-May-1989 (PG-13)
UK
N/A
Australia
N/A
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