The High Point of The Series

Rating: 10/10 (23 September 2017)

When I was a kid I was absolutely obsessed with Indiana Jones, it's one of the only franchises where my original impressions when I was young still Rings true to this day, when I first watch all the movies, this was my favourite of the 4 and to this day The Last Crusade is still my favourite entry in the series.
One thing I feel this movie does better than any other movie in the franchise is how it characterises Indiana Jones, we actually learn a lot about him in this movie, the opening Flashback was a great way to set up what we've been lead to believe about him and it does this without dialogue but with actions that lets you take it in more. I also adored the inclusion of his father in this movie, Sean Connery and Harrison Ford played of teach other perfectly, it was such a good way to humanise his character and give him some extra vulnerability that he didn't have in the first two films.
The set pieces in this film are still absolutely phenomenal, they still hold up to this day. The tank and motorcycle chases still look great, they had real stakes and tension to them because you realise that they were filmed to be practical and realistic and like the past two, Jones isn't a perfect fighter and only just manages to get out of it. But the best set piece in the film is the trials for the holy grail at the climax. It was so good to see Jones use his mind to accomplish his goal rather than with his physical abilities, because of this there was so much tension due to the fact that you didn't know how he was going to get through it.
The tone in this movie is perfect, it never feels muddled or conflicted. Large portions of The Last Crusade are hilarious, they integrate comedy into tense moments and it always feels consistent and just makes this film so much more enjoyable. Another thing I love about this movie is that it still has room more those more mature scenes, not necessarily dark but the tone can often shift to being a bit more sombre to suit more character building scenes and it's done so well.
The main quest in this movie is my favourite one in large part due to the personal connection they gave it. They set it up as something Sean Connery's character has been searching for over his life and it gets you more invested in where it's going because of that. They use the fact that it will fall into Nazi hands if they don't find it first but it's not as effective a motivator as the emotional connection they gave it to Indy and his father.
This has been and will always be one of my favourite movies, it's just Indiana Jones at his best. It's incredibly fun but still heartfelt, it takes lengths to develop the protagonist more and has a quest that the viewer can get more invested in. This (as well as the other 3 entries) is my childhood film that will always be with me.
10/10: A+ (Incredible)