Nic

Rating: 9/10 (12 May 2005)

The Indiana Jones trilogy has proved to be one of the most watched movies throughout the years. The third and final movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, proves to be the best. It has stood the tests of time and come out on top in the movie world. It plays a crucial role, in that it is the final movie. It holds the shoulders of the other two movies and is very pivotal in putting the final ending on a great series of movies.
We had to watch this movie, so we could do a movie critique at the end. After watching the movie, listening to a critique and reviewing a critique worksheet, I have received a different understanding of movies altogether. I realized how much more information and how many different aspects of a movie there really are. Indiana Jones, is know different, it is full with all of this interesting information, sitting there waiting to be plucked out.
The whole movie is shot from a third person point of view. The director, Steven Spielberg, uses the camera as the narrator. He does this to show the audience what he wants them to see. In this way, the film becomes different than the original book. The setting of the story, takes place in a few different places. They start off in Utah in the nineteen hundreds, and then we slowly progressive to multiple different locations, until we arrive at are final destination, the Holy Grail. The whole purpose of the quest was to find the grail and put it into a museum where everyone could enjoy it. To figure out the time period of the movie, you could use different clues such as clothing style. You notice that the clothes the characters are wearing resemble that of someone from the 1920's. That is exactly what Spielberg wanted to do, show you the date, not tell it to you directly. Towards the end of the film, you could use clues to figure out there location. You can easily tell this, when you see lots of camels, and vast amounts of dessert surrounding them.
The two main characters of the film, are Henry Jones (Sean Connery), is the father of Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and they are both on the quest to find the grail. The whole journey starts, when Indiana finds out his dad was kidnapped because his diary contained the clues to find the grail. Throughout the movie, the plot becomes ever present. Indiana Jones, or Jr. as he is commonly referred to, has spent his whole life trying to live up to his fathers expectations. Henry, his father, seems to think that his son has never accomplished anything big enough, or important enough. Indiana is constantly striving for attention, and this leads to numerous arguments between the two. By the end of the movie, they have reached a climax with their fighting, and finally end it, when Henry is trying to save his son from falling in a crevice.
Many technical elements were used to help enhance the viewing of the movie. Even though this movie was shot some fifteen to twenty years ago, the way they splice the scenes and add special effects is amazing. Towards the end of the movie, Spielberg uses a camera technique called juxtaposistion. This technique involves showing one character doing one thing, then switching over to show another character doing the same thing. When Indiana is trying to reach the grail, and is reciting the clues to get in, the shot will switch, and show his father saying the same things. It really gives you a different viewing experience, and adds a little extra something to the movie. The sound also plays a huge role, since every time something big and important comes up, or Indiana gets into trouble, his theme song plays. This helps the viewer realize what's going on, and draws you in and keeps you hanging on. This was truly one of the greatest movies ever, and by critiquing it, it opened my eyes to a whole new world of movie viewing.