Beyond critics and box office.

Rating: 10/10 (3 August 2009)

These days I tried to re-watch the first Indy trilogy, and found the first one--Raiders of the Lost Ark most technically advancing even though it's made in 1981. It had won multiple Oscars and was even nominated for the Best Picture, showing how much impact it had on the whole industry or even the whole world. Among the 3 movies, Indianna Jones and the Last Crusades is unfortunately, the most dated.
The fact it is dated is not hard to see. Look at the CGIs and you will notice they are so obvious that, even Temple of Doom was a better case of effects-driven movie. ROLA pretty much invented this genre, and brought the CG into a new decade; TOD advanced the actions especially the tunnel roller-coaster scenes; Last Crusade had also got so many memorable action scenes relying mostly on stunt-men and CGI, but the former is always covering the latter. Anyway, the final result is not optimal.
However, Last Crusade is still the best among its brothers. Its recognition as a plot/characters-driven story is so often ignored based on the fact that it's an Indy movie. The chemistry between Harrison Ford and Sean Connery is priceless in every scene, especially when they interact with the female Nazi. For audiences above 30, it's even better to see their dysfunctional relationship being fixed during the search of the holy grail. Even they delete most of the action sequences, the movie would still be a very good dramedy about father-son relationship.
Beyond all these values, Last Crusade inherited the New Age blood from the creators that main characters are portrayed as Renaisance Men who dwelled in reason and science. This was more obvious in the first two movies, but like a miracle, Last Crusade introduced Henry Jones into the franchise, who brought back the voice of the old-school believers. Many disputes between him and Indy were initiated upon their different beliefs. But with the experience of Holy Grail, they were able to accept each other, and delivered an important message that faith in the divine power would live longer than immortality. No wonder I heard a lot western audiences see it as a "holy" movie. Anyway, Last Crusade will impress with some core values of Christiannity, yet it's not a gospel movie.
In short, Last Crusade is a minor disappointment in technology, but a superb character story and help delivered a good message. It will last longer than all the others in its genre.