Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade is the final part (as it stands at this time) of the Indiana Jones trilogy of films. Unfortunately, while the film remains a good fun ride, it is still by far the weakest film in the trilogy. After making the second Indiana Jones feature, Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, Spielberg proceeded to mature as a film maker, to leave behind the adolescent mind that took so much joy in creating the adventures of a fearless archaeologist and to make films such as The Colour Purple and Empire Of The Sun. However there was an obligation to his old friend George Lucas, as well as a desire to make up for the critical flop that was Temple Of Doom, that caused Spielberg to return to his old treading ground after spending 5 years away. However watching the film you can never quite shake the feeling that Spielberg would rather be somewhere else, that he would rather be making a serious drama rather than an all boys adventure. Unfortunately this feeling seriously depletes the sense of adolescent fun that made the first 2 films the classics that they are today.

This occurs right from the films opening where Spielberg attempts to add a little depth to the series by explaining all of Indy's little idiosyncrasies in one all to brief scene. We see a teenage Indiana Jones, complete in boy scout uniform, catching a group of Tomb Raiders taking some old cross that they have found in a cave. Indy manages to get the cross away from them and in the ensuing chase he finds his way onto a circus train. He then falls into a box of snakes (that explains his phobia), runs into the next car where he's trapped by a lion and has to try and keep the lion at Bay, which explains the whip. (He even hits himself with the whip as a way of explaining Ford's scar) Then when he eventually escapes, the group show up at his home and take the cross, but the leader of the group leaves Indy with his cowboy hat, which explains the outfit and general demeanour of the character that we've all come to love.

Unfortunately despite Spielberg's noblest of intentions this scene fails to work. Though River Phoenix makes an amazing young Indiana Jones, such a shame that he died before he could reprise the role for a few of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. However the fact is that this scene remains all to brief to satisfyingly explain everything about a character like Indiana Jones, and in fact achieves the opposite effect. Putting forth an explanation to every one of Indy's characteristics takes away all of the mystery that they carried and as such they lose their cool factor. Suddenly Indy's no longer a man who's scared of Snakes, but just some guy who was traumatized by snakes in his teenage years and as a result what once succeeded at giving the character a human edge now becomes nothing more than a fondly remembered trait from the old days. The main film doesn't even feature a single snake, which made this explanation even more pointless.

After that opening scene though Spielberg gets down to business of making a proper Indiana Jones film. This time around the enigmatic archaeologist is once again racing with the Nazi's, now trying to find the Holy Grail, a cup that grants the drinker eternal life.

The unfortunate thing is, that unlike the previous entries into the series, The Last Crusade doesn't offer anything new in terms of action. The film is full of action scenes that are worryingly similar to the action scenes of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, just not nearly as deftly handled. For example there's one moment where Indy is fighting a Nazi on the top of a tank until he succeeds at throwing him onto the tracks and crushing him in a scene that's oddly reminiscent of the technician in the plane Propeller's from Raiders. However the difference is that Spielberg has toned it down to a level more suitable for family viewing and as a result it doesn't carry the same sense of sadistic glee, it's just a standard action scene.

That's what you should expect from The Last Crusade though, a lot of standard action scenes that lack the sheer edge the older films. The Last Crusade is the lightest Indiana Jones film to date, but also the least fun. It spends too much time pausing the action, that used to be so unrelenting, and trying to develop a relationship between Indiana Jones and his father Henry. To be honest, the character of Henry is genuinely funny in the places where he's alone with Indy. Played by former James Bond Sean Connery (The Rock) Henry Jones is the very definition of repressed pride. He does care for his son, but never shows it and covers his pride with a sharp wit and an unassuming manner. There are some genuine laughs to come from this new sidekick, especially when he gets them out of scrapes that Indy's brawn can't manage. However when he teams up with the museum currier Marcus Brody the pair become insufferable with their use of such bad lines as "The Pen is mightier than the sword."

To be fair though, he does share a lot of on screen chemistry with Ford and I would like to see them work together again. They could easily rank among the greatest double acts in history, OK I'm exaggerating, but they are definitely the best partnership of the late 80's to early 90's. They do succeed at making the film fun and it's largely them that giving the film a recommendation, it's just a shame that Spielberg was just going through the motions because the film could have been so much more. Harrison Ford still does as well as ever, former Bond girl Alison Doody's (A view To A Kill) Dr. Elsa Schneider is a much better love interest than Willy Scott, being quiet, intelligent and emotional, as opposed to annoying, and John Rhys-Davies returns as Sallah, giving a performance as lively as ever.

It's just that Spielberg hasn't approached the formula with his usual flair and the writers have been too lazy to introduce a real villain. There is a semi villain in the form of Walter Donovan, played by Julian Glover (The Empire Strikes Back) it's just that the character has no personality and the actor doesn't camp up his performance nearly enough. As a result he doesn't negate an emotional reaction from the audience beyond pure ambivalence. One hopes that with Indiana Jones 4 on the way they will have regained their lost passion for the material, because otherwise they should just let the old series die while it still has a scrap of dignity left.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older