A great end to a great trilogy

Rating: 9/10 (5 May 2016)

It sure is fun to kill Nazis and run into old friends, isn't it? The casting choices for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade are admittedly perfect, including River Phoenix as young Indy, Sean Connery as Henry Jones, Sr., the wonderfully hateful Julian Glover and Michael Byrne as the villains, Alison Doody as the German vixen who made a father and son Eskimo brothers, and the delightful return of John Rhys-Davies and Denholm Elliott (where was Karen Allen?).
Stephen Spielberg must have looked hard and long at Raiders of the Lost Ark to find out why Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was largely a critical failure. Was Temple of Doom too dark? Too quirky? Too gross and violent? Or is it just best to keep Nazis around as villains (I'm looking at you, Crystal Skull)?
The "origin" scene with young Indy in 1912 is a fun and fast way to give us insight into his childhood and passion for putting stuff into museums, even if it means punching, whipping, and shooting along the way. We get intrigue, rat spelunking, boat races, motorcycle chases, zeppelins, dogfights, an unbelievable moment with Hitler, and the ultimate conclusion that you shouldn't mess where you shouldn't be a-messin'.
The final scene begs several questions about what exactly are the boundaries of the holy grail's powers, and if the purpose of protecting the grail was to keep it from bad people, why not throw it down the deep chasm on day one?
But life isn't about the journey, man. It's about the process.