Last Crusade (1989)

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For many, 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' is still the pinnacle of 'Indiana Jones.' And who can argue? 'Raiders' is an incredible adventure and IS the all-around classic of the series, setting the bar for adventure movies. But for me, 'Last Crusade' is everything an 'Indiana Jones film should be: taking everything good about 'Raiders' and just adding to it by bringing in new characters, bringing back old characters, and making it about the search for the Holy Grail - the ultimate find for any archaeologist.

I was introduced to this one through my brother, and it's one of the few movies that, to this day, we can both watch and have an equal amount of fun with. I consider this title a bonding experience for us, much like it was for my Dad and him when they caught it in theatres. I stayed home with Mom because, at age 6, it probably would have been a terrible idea. Regardless, when I finally saw it on the now stone-aged tech that is VHS, I had a lot of fun with it (save for the "rapid aging" scene), and eventually, it became MY 'Indiana Jones' film.

The film opens with a flashback, seeing everything that created the Indiana Jones character as we know him. One could almost consider it a fun pre-film short in which a young Indiana Jones (River Phoenix) gets chased by a few grave robbers, led by a man credited as "Fedora" (Richard Young). These robbers have found the golden cross of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado. Indy, afraid they'll take it for their own, underhanded purposes, intercepts it, arguing that it "BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!". Through this chase on horseback and a moving circus train, this young boy scout becomes Indiana Jones, all in one go.

Moving things along, we eventually reach 1938, where Indy (Harrison Ford) teaches a class of professor-crush-stricken girls. Eventually, he gets approached with an archeological "mission." Indy meets with a collector of rare artifacts, Walter Donovan (Julian Glover), who tells him he could be on the right track to finding the one and only Holy Grail. He needs a little help now that his lead expert is missing: Indy's Dad, Henry (Sean Connery). With that, Indy meets up with Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliot), and the pair head to Venice, Italy, to meet Henry's colleague, Dr. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody).

Indy is there to find and rescue his father, but he has still been tasked and financially backed by Donovan to locate the Grail, so Venice is where everything starts. Eventually, Indy finds himself up against a group of Nazis who are also interested in the Grail, along with others, like the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword - an order who has protected the Grail from being found all of these years. The film also portrays Indy's complex relationship with his father and gives us a little hint at what his childhood may have been like expanding his character that much more.

While Connery and Ford play very well off each other, and it's cool to see Marcus Brody get a bit more screen time than he did in 'Raiders,' another returning friendly face here is Sallah (John Rhys-Davies). Most of the film's comedic performances come from Brody and Sallah, but Indy and Henry also have some of the best exchanges in the movie. Things are a lot funnier here than they were with the previous two films, which is another way they took everything good about 'Raiders' (not quite as much 'Temple') and turned it up.

While everyone has their version of the best 'Indiana Jones' title, for yours truly, it goes to 'Last Crusade' with almost no competition. This is a movie that defines a movie that has "everything." There is action; there is drama; there is adventure; there is comedy; there is horror; there's even a tiny bit of romance or at least romantic charm. If you're looking for everything an 'Indiana Jones' movie should be, 'Last Crusade,' sets the bar even higher than it was originally set with 'Raiders.' I daresay, it's a damn near perfect movie.

5/5

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