Third Indiana Jones Adventure Is An Excellent Adventure But The Weakest Of The Three

Rating: 7/10 (18 June 2005)

Archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by a businessman named Donovan to search for Jones' missing father, whom Donovan had in turn hired to search for two key artefacts rumoured to show the resting place of the Holy Grail of Christian and Arthurian legend. Indy uncovers part of the secret in a catacomb in Venice, then rescues his father from a Nazi fortress in Austria, only to discover Donovan is working for the Nazis. The race is on to reach the Grail before Donovan and his henchmen.
The third Indiana Jones movie for me is not quite in the same league as the first two, but is still a tremendously entertaining action-packed adventure film. The problem for me is twofold. Firstly, the father-son relationship, which is made the prime focus of the action and drama. I like my mythic heroes pure, uncluttered with pasts, commitments and families. I don't want to see them trying to rationalise their imperfect childhood with their absent father. Who gives a good goddamn about that ? Secondly, the villains - villains in escapist entertainment should be evil through-and-through. Glover is too bland and Doody's character is all over the place - one minute she's a villainous femme-fatale Nazi and the next she's having moral dilemmas ? However, there is much to enjoy here - the opening sequence featuring Phoenix as a young boy-scout Indy is fun, as is the rat-filled catacombs speedboat chase scene, and the brilliantly-staged finale in the tomb of the Grail. There are also some very nice comic touches, like the scene where Hitler unwittingly autographs the diary the characters spend most of the movie fighting over, or the moment where the Joneses are in a biplane being chased by Messerschmitts and Indy yells, "Dad, eleven o'clock !!", to which Dad replies, "What happens then ?". Connery is a bit hard to swallow as Indy's Dad (too young and not remotely American), but his performance is surprisingly subtle and effective. This is a Steven Spielberg movie, and so of course is hugely enjoyable and visually brilliant, but I'm afraid for me it's not nearly a patch on Raiders Of The Lost Ark. A rollicking good flick nonetheless though.