Third in more ways than one.

Rating: 6/10 (16 May 2010)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is my least favorite of the original three Indiana Jones movies. It's not bad by any means; it's still a better historical adventure than The DaVinci Code or any other recent entry in the genre. But it's lacking a bit of the bit of the old Indy magic that made the first two movies so fun.
For the first half of the movie, it almost seems more like a James Bond movie than Raiders of the Lost Ark. There's very little raiding to be had. And for the second half, it's almost TOO MUCH like Raiders. The reason I liked Temple of Doom so much is that it added a lot of new elements while keeping true to the spirit of the first movie. That's what I was expecting from Crusade as well, but the focus on Indy's dad just didn't do much for me.
What I did like was how funny the movie was. Every entry in the series has had some level of humor, but Last Crusade was absolutely hysterical at times. No painfully obvious, forced gags that would ruin the tone, just lots of quick little jokes that you'll miss if you're not paying attention.Â
I hate being so harsh on a movie that's not bad by any measure. But I was so pleased with how much more I like the second movie than the first, that it's really disappointing to find the third to be the least entertaining of the bunch.