Jon Monsarrat review: almost as great as the 1st one

Rating: 9/10 (30 November 2002)

"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" is a breathtaking deviation from the 2nd film in the serious, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". Doom was too formulaic, the action too over-the-top, too much gross stuff, etc. For the Last Crusade, Spielberg takes some risks and it really pays off.
The interaction between Indy and his father was just what was needed to breathe new life into the characters. I did feel that bringing back Marcus didn't really serve any purpose... there is plenty of comedy in the film already. And there's really no romantic foil for Jones this time around, something I hope they will correct in the 4th film. Additionally, some of the realism of "this might really happen" is broken in the Last Crusade.
All that aside, the action, adventure, music, camaraderie are all best-of-class. The scene with Der Furher did seem stuck on, however, and the Nazis do perhaps too much goosestepping and not enough being actually wiley adversaries (as the French archaeologist was in the first film).
Who should see this film:
-- action film buffs - a must-see!
-- everyone else -- well, see Raiders of the Last Ark first
-- arty types, wear a bag over your head and hope that nobody you know spots you enjoying this film. But see it anyway.
I couldn't quite bring myself to give Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade a 10 out of 10, for a little bit too much campy. So 9 out of 10 was what I gave it.