Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade Review

MPAA Rating: PG-13
Released: 1989

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was the final entry in the Indiana Jones trilogy, as well as the weakest – though even at its weakest this series was far better than most action films of today. After being subjected to controversy and some rather heated criticism about the darker direction the previous film took, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas made it a point to duplicate the same formula as the original by pitting Indiana Jones against the Nazis in yet another race to obtain a holy Christian relic.

Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) is an antique collector that approaches Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) with a special request: seek out the Holy Grail, the famed chalice that Christ drank from at the Last Supper. It seems that Donovan had originally tasked Professor Henry Jones (Sean Connery), Indiana's father, to seek out the Grail, but his father has gone missing since.

Never one to refuse a quest for an invaluable artifact, Indiana readily agrees and sets off to Venice in search of clues to the Grail's location. While there he meets up with Dr. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody), a beautiful researcher that isn't all that she appears to be at first glance.

Along the way Indiana Jones also stumbles across his father, who was captured by Nazis due to his knowledge about the Holy Grail. We soon find out that the entire quest was a setup to attract Indiana Jones to Venice and help the Nazis discover the location of the prized chalice. Walter Donovan is no harmless antique collector – he is a Nazi.

Henry and Indiana Jones mount a daring escape and continue their quest for the Holy Grail, all the while being chased by the might of the Nazi army. Along the way two old friends, Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) and Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), help the father and son pair out.

Hmmm… Nazi enemies. Check. Quest for a holy Christian relic. Check. Must race to get there before the Nazis. Check. Much of the movie takes place in a desert. Check. Sounds an awful lot like the formula used for the original film, doesn't it? And that right there is my largest criticism of the film – in an attempt to quiet the critics, Spielberg and Lucas created a film that was too similar to the original.

While many hail this third movie as a smashing success and a return to the original Raiders of the Lost Ark formula, I suspect this was what Spielberg and Lucas was trying to avoid with the Temple of Doom. This is a great movie, no doubt, and highly essential for any Indiana Jones fan, but it's not terribly fresh or new. The addition of Sean Connery as Indiana's father was an extremely wise casting decision, but it's not enough to prevent some of the movie from feeling regurgitated.

Another weakness is that there's no truly compelling foe in the Last Crusade. The original had the dashing Rene Belloq and the creepy Major Toht, while the Temple of Doom had the ominous Mola Ram. Donovan is neither charismatic nor intimidating when compared to previous foes, giving the Nazis a faceless component.

But enough of the negative – let's talk about the positives. As with the two previous Indiana Jones films, the Last Crusade features a breathtaking adventure filled with unbelievable and frenetic action taking place across a variety of sets. In addition the acting is top notch all the way across the board.

There is a bit more of the human touch to this final entry thanks to the addition of Sean Connery as Henry Jones. Both father and son are obsessed artifact collectors, but their relationship has been strained since Indiana's childhood. Watching the two bicker back and forth throughout the film, all the while mending their relationship, was great fun.

Although I believe Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to be the weakest of the three films, it's heads and tails above standard action flicks and certainly does the series proud. A definite must for nearly all movie fans.

Movie rating: 9 stars

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