The best of the trilogy

Rating: Null/10 (7 July 2017)

Once again Dr. Indiana Jones, tomb raider extraordinaire, has to fight back against the rising Nazi threat. This time the stakes are even higher for the Axis of Darkness is after the Holy Grail, a fountain of eternal youth, and they have also taken his father, who has quested after the Grail his entire life.
In many ways this is very similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark. We have Nazis, a Judeo-Christian artifact to save, mostly European and Middle-Eastern locations, tough as nails love interest, and so on. And yet it is different enough and even better enough that these small similarities don't drag the movie down. It's one of those few sequels where it's strengths are both its similarities and its differences from the original classic.
And there are more than a few good reasons for it. First of all, there's Sean Connery playing the role of Henry Jones Sr. and he is fantastic. Charismatic, wise, a bit kooky in an academic manner and a clear template for what would be Indiana Jones. What's more, his chemistry with Harrison Ford allows us to see a new side of Indy. There's bitterness between the two, but also respect, dependence and love. Ford has always been the shining star of these movies, and here even more so.
Second of all, Spielberg keeps on improving upon his craft. Watching these movies back to back, you can see that Raiders has a few bumps here and there as they were still learning the character and even the very genre. Nothing major, it's still a fantastic movie, but in my opinion The Last Crusade is the superior film. It is a nigh flawless adventure film no matter how you want to look at it. The only way to make it better would have been to bring back Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and make her even more of a badass than she was before.
But even without her we have chases, fist fights, libraries, tombs, ancient mysteries and even something mythical lurking just over the horizon. One of my favourite movies of all time and a great watch no matter how many times you've already seen it.