Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Director: Steven Spielberg. Cast: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott Alison Doody, John Rhys-Davies, Julian Glover, River Phoenix, Michael Byrne.

Let’s face it, they don’t make them like these anymore. This one of those last handsome adventure movie filmed all around the world on actual location, with an actual script and some great set-pieces before CGI came in and made them all look more like video-games.This is possibly my least favourite of the entire trilogy (what? A fourth one? I don’t know what you’re talking about), but that doesn’t mean that it’s less enjoyable.It may not have the memorable action from Raiders or the tension and the energy from from “Temple of Doom”, but it makes up for all that in charm and so much humour that my jaws still hurts from all the smiling.

The chemistry between Connery and Ford is pure gold: their comedic timing is impeccable, whether they’re tied up on a chair while a room is on fire around them, or flying on a plane or riding a motorbike, their expressions and banter make up for the fact that actually the action and stunts are not as impressive as one might remember.

Of course are great ideas here, like the introduction to young Indy, rats in the catacombs under Venice, the tank chase, the 3 final challenges and of course bringing back the Nazi as the big badies (including Hitler himself) and that final ride into sunset among many other things, but there are less successful ones too: for example bringing back Sallah felt more like fan-serving than anything (so much so that he’s left with very little to do), the ploddy scene full of exposition telling us everything we needed to know about Holy Grail, the rather cheap-looking scene on the boat at the start (that one annoys me even back in 1989) or the slightly wasted opportunity to have fun with boats and gondolas along the canals in Venice. Spielberg is so keen to make us laugh and to bring humour everywhere he can (after being criticised for all the darkness in the previous instalment) that he seems to forget the kind of action that made the other film so thrilling.

Don’t get me wrong: I still think this is a great film and I love it with all my heart (and I really adore its soundtrack too) and it’s a really great right, but I have to be honest I love the first two a bit more.

So, not quite a 5 stars… but pretty damn close.