That Man in the Hat is Back...

Rating: 10/10 (21 December 2013)

This last installment in the Indiana Jones Trilogy is... eh, where the series should've ended. This great adventure is just as good, if not better than Raiders of the Lost Ark. This time, the creators bring in Indy's father, played by Sean Connery, which is how to movie gets it's heart. The best moments of this picture are all about the father and son bonding in the face a danger. The sequence in which they are tied up in the castle while it burns to the ground, is one of the most suspenseful yet hilarious scenes in a movie.
Of course, I have to mention it, that it's no coincidence that the first James Bond was played by Sean Connery. Besides those other classic films mention in my Raiders Review, the James Bond films were the true predecessors to Indiana Jones. Sean Connery was always Steven Spielberg's first choice to play Indiana Jones's dad, as an inside joke to say that James Bond is the father of Indiana Jones. If that had failed, Gregory Peck and Jon Pertwee were back-up choices for the role. With that aside, Bond would always find himself in a ridiculous situation where no human being could possibly escape alive. It's all about setting a trap and seeing how the hero escapes.
It's interesting to hear how when George Lucas met with Steven Spielberg to discuss a third Indiana Jones movie, he wanted to have it set in a haunted mansion. Spielberg had just finished Poltergeist and decided that he wanted to do something different. Lucas then came up with the idea of the Holy Grail and Spielberg added the whole father & son story. Lots of fascinating trivia exists about how the script was developed; Harrison Ford cut his chin in a car accident in Northern California when he was about 20. In the movie, this cut is explained by young Indiana Jones cutting his chin with a whip.
Now... you're probably wondering what I thought of the actual film. Well, to simply put, it's great fun adventure film, just like the other two movies, but is enhanced by the all the father and son interactions. One of the more famous names in the business is what Henry Jones would call Indiana Jones: "Junior!" and the response from Indy: "Don't call me Junior!"
I could go on and on, but seriously, just go watch. It really is a great movie that gives a little background about Indy near the start of the movie, it brings the curtain down on the franchise with a great sunset shot, and, best of all, has incredible action scenes. What are you still doing here reading this? Go watch it!