Ford and Connery, Nazis, quite the adventure movie

Rating: 10/10 (14 April 2006)

While not my favorite in the Indiana Jones trilogy, The Last Crusade is a significant improvement over Temple of Doom (one might almost say you need Doom to get to Crusade, to go back to the greatness of Raiders), and it acts as as much a matinée-serial style action picture while also having a bit akin with a James Bond picture. This is actually as much to do with how Steven Spielberg and George Lucas craft the story, villains (including sexy femme fatale), and the action set pieces as it does with the casting of Sean Connery as Harrison Ford's father.
There are of course some amazing set pieces of chases, fights, and all encompassing with a nice fast pace. This time, however, there is a bit more mystery and intensity I'd put more with one of Connery's films than the 1930's serials. This is also not at all a crutch to the film- if anything, Ford and Connery are what really make the film work a lot better then in would without, for they work so well off of each other, with enough comedy sometimes just based on a glance or a look from the older icon to the younger star.
Starting with an swift and over-the-top beginning with a young Indiana Jones (with a good River Phoenix in the role), the story shifts gears and goes into, well, the religious. One may remember an ark of the covenant as the set piece in the first film, so this time we're given the holy grail itself, giving immortality to anyone who drinks from the cup. At this point in the story, and other points, it could be easy for the filmmakers to dip into some religious ballyhoo. Luckily, it doesn't go too deep into that, as the side of the antagonists- the Nazi's (watch for a funny moment involving, of all people in a Spielberg picture, Hitler) and an American entrepreneur- and in the adventure that ensues through the desert.
Capped off with one of the very best action pieces in the series, a chase involving a tank and the usual cliffhanger style, the movie does start to take a breather as it comes to a close, there are at least a few surprises (i.e. a certain death scene) in store - and, most impressive on repeat viewings, the 'Three Challenges' that Indiana Jones must face in this Biblical quest for the Grail. Boasting a sharp script and a gaining momentum that differs from the other films' non-stop action, it's definitely one of the more entertaining works of the power duo in the 80's.