"For the unrighteous, the cup of life holds everlasting damnation."

Rating: 10/10 (14 July 2011)

A+ The Indiana Jones original trilogy, before it became an anthology with its blundered fourth film, is one of the rare treats in cinema. Here you have a great setup, and it is followed thru for the vast majority of the sequels. In saying so I might as well mention that in my opinion the most perfect trilogies in all of movie history are the Toy Story films, the original Star Wars, and my beloved Evil Dead series. It's debatable whether one likes "Return of the Jedi", "Temple of Doom", or "Army of Darkness", but either way none of those films caused the respective series to crash and burn like "Batman Forever".
"The Last Crusade" is an epic success on so many levels it could very well be the best of all three. First off, you get to see Indiana Jones as a kid which was just an awesome sequence. Secondly, it's such an incredibly strong cast. Harrison ford and Sean Connery play off each other so well the father-son concept is both comedic yet emotional. I just never tire of their scenes together. Returning are both Denholm Elliott as Marcus Brody and John Rhys Davies as Sallah, contributing nicely. Alison Doody may be my favorite actress of the three. Karen Allen was pretty awesome, I never really cared for Kate Capshaw, but Doody has a sexy charm to her that appeals the most to me because she pulls of the role of the villainess so well. The joke of how promiscuous she is never gets old. Michael Byrne was pretty menacing, and I really liked the character played by Kevork Malikyan. After all the titular quote is uttered by him.
The story is well written, just like the others paying homage to the 30s serial heroes. It's often sophisticated yet always fun, and the awe-inspiring action scenes are some of the best out of frankly all four. The score by John Williams is amazing, adding to the mystic quite nicely. "The Last Crusade" is arguably one of Steven Spielberg's and George Lucas' best works.