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User Reviews for: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

AndrewBloom
CONTAINS SPOILERS8/10  7 months ago
[7.6/10] *The Last Crusade* doesn’t have much in the way of new tricks up its sleeve. After its effort to go darker (and ultimately shallower) in [*Temple of Doom*](https://trakt.tv/comments/691787), the third Indiana Jones movie goes back to basics. The basic layout is remarkably similar to *Raiders of the Lost Ark*, with an exciting opening escapade, an outsider coming to Indy with a call to adventure, and an ensuing globe-trotting quest that's part treasure hunt and part rescue mission, with twists and turns and beaucoup action along the way.

But I’m not knocking it! [*Raiders of the Lost Ark*](https://trakt.tv/comments/686979) is a great movie with a solid blueprint. Following that formula again, with a new set of characters and a few different twists, still results in a good time at the cinema. Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and company haven't lost their touch, with a series of rousing set pieces, a bunch of comical character moments, and an atmosphere that is at once mystical, historical, and epic that adds up to some superb popcorn filmmaking.

In fairness, I might just be grading on a curve after the disappointment of *Temple of Doom*. Its successor brings back a slate of more colorful characters that help the movie feel more populated and winning than the flick that preceded it. Unscrupulous businessman Walter Donovan is no René Belloq, and the vicious S.S. officer Ernst Vogel is no Major Toht. But both baddies make an impression and have real personality, which helps bolster the bad guy contingent of the film.

Alas, if only the same could be said Dr. Elsa Schneider, the Austrian ally-turned-adversary who aids and then betrays our heroes. Actress Alison Doody played a Bond girl before *Last Crusade*, and it shows. She exists largely to be drooled over or to fawn over Indy. The character is as thin as the performer, and Doody’s acting tops out at “fine”. The writing does her no favors, though, with an approach to romance that's questionable at best and an uncomfortable running bit about how both father and son have slept with her.

She does have the benefit of getting a heel turn halfway through the picture, and an independent interest in the holy grail that makes her more than a Nazi sidekick. But it’s thin gruel given how little shading she gets as a character. It’s worth noting how badly the depiction of female characters suffered after *Raiders*. Marion Ravenwood was a self-possessed equal to Indy, and both of Dr. Jones’ love interests afterward vacillate between being useless appendages and being actively annoying. Dr. Schneider is at least better than Willie Scott, which is not a high bar, but still a good one to clear.

Still, what *The Last Crusade* lacks in having a fully-formed love interest, it makes up for in giving Indy an even more meaningful relationship to contend with -- the one with his father. Sean Connery is a coup for the production, bringing credibility to a role that plays against type, and the chops to hold his own as a bantering scene partner for Harrison Ford. Much of the film’s charms rest on the dynamic between the two, and Jones Senior as the disapproving dad with Indy as the frustrated son, with the barbs and breakthroughs that ensue, adds another human dimension to the archeological adventurer.

It also adds just the right amount of heft to the story. This is not a kitchen sink drama that delves deeply into a complex father-son relationship. But the contours of a complicated parent/child dynamic are recognizable enough to do the work, with the right hints of issues that are left admirably ambiguous and give Indy and Jones Sr. something meaningful to resolve.

The sense of past consternation is just enough to make Jones Senior’s lament when he thinks he’s lost his son, and giddiness when they’re reunited hit home. And it makes Indy risking his life to retrieve the grail, not for the glory but to save his father’s life, that much more heartening. The contours are broad, but there’s just enough there to make the father-son part of the story work, and the spritely performers do the rest.

The same goes for the rest of the good guy roster. The smartest move Spielberg and company make is to send not only the elder Dr. Jones, but also Indy’s university associate, Marcus Brody, and his scene-stealing comrade from the first movie, Sallah, out on the adventure.

The truth is that the set pieces in *The Last Crusade* are as good as ever but also, if you’ll pardon the expression, old hat. The opening sequence has the novelty of giving us young Indiana Jones, an uptempo Rosetta Stone for Indy’s interests and phobias that accomplishes in ten minutes what [*Solo: A Star Wars Story*](https://trakt.tv/comments/176728) struggles to do in more than two hours for another Harrison Ford character. Frankly, it’s the highpoint of the picture in terms of pure excitement and blockbuster filmmaking.

But the rest of the action is roundly good, with amusing-yet-tense Austrian castle escapes, kinetic horseback versus tank standoffs, and even some aerial explosions to sweeten the pot. As with the prior two films, some of these sequences wear out their welcome, and the green screen effects and animation are much more conspicuous this go-round for some reason. The talent and imagination are clearly there, even if we’ve pretty well already seen what’s in Indy’s, and Spielberg’s, back of tricks by this point.

Nevertheless, what elevates is making Indy and Sallah responsible for shepherding Jones Senior and Brody through all of the hectic goings-on. For one thing, the characters spark off one another well, with an almost buddy comedy vibe through many scenes that livens the proceedings when the eleventh explosion gets tiresome. For another, it changes the dynamic up a bit, to where not just Indiana Jones but *everybody* is improvising and muddling their way through these high-powered hijinks. The bread and butter of the film’s action is familiar, but throwing everyone together like this adds some new spice.

So does the ending. There’s a bit of a parable quality to *Last Crusade*. Donovan perishes by resorting to deceit and consorting with, as the elder Dr. Jones puts it, the slime of humanity, in his search for eternal youth. Dr. Schneider meets her end by prizing the find and the loot over anything else. But Indy survives through having listened to his father, sought out something humbler, and learned what’s more important than the treasure in the treasure hunt. All of that, coupled with the mysticism of the search for the Holy Grail and reveal of an ancient knight, gives the film the air of a four-color morality play, as befits its influences.

Regardless of [*Kingdom of the Crystal Skull*](https://trakt.tv/comments/698932), it’s probably for the best that Spielberg and company let this be the last chapter of the Indiana Jones’ saga for a good long while. The well was starting to run dry, and you can only bust out so many chases or escapes or scraps before you’ve pretty well emptied the toybox.

But *Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade* lets the character’s original trilogy of films go out on a high note. The beats are familiar, and the fireworks don’t seem as novel on the third go-round. And yet, with a little help from his friends, and a scolding-but-caring father to bounce off of, when Indy rides off into the sunset this time around, he’s riding high.
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