Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Eh, you should know all of the details.

This is a short entry from me tonight. I do not have much time to write as I went out earlier and I am about to watch something. The Letterboxd review is below and I will return tomorrow night with something I am expecting will be pretty interesting.

Last night via the Amstar/The Grand Theatre chain located in the American Southeast I was able to see this 80's action-adventure classic on the big screen again; I distinctly remember being taken to it by a parent when it first debuted in the summer of '89. I know I watched it on VHS after the fact but I have no clue when the last full viewing before last night was, except that it was years ago. Thus, I figured the best way of seeing it again was in a theatre with a small but enthusiastic crowd.

While this follows the template of Raiders of the Lost Ark rather closely at times, this is still a grand adventure where after you see Indy as a teen (he isn't too different from his adult days) the crux of the plot is that his father (a great Sean Connery) is missing while working on trying to discover The Holy Grail; he made a breakthrough but that damned Nazi Party are also interested in this.

From there you have double-crosses, tremendous action scenes (which actually aren't cut to hell by editing or have needless shaky-cam garbage; you can make out what's going on at all times, and that sadly is considered rare in today's action cinema), humorous moments, intrigue, and the dynamic of father & son where there's years of resentment due to dad's obsession over his quest and now I wish I would have revisited this far sooner, but alas...

It should be no surprise that with the great talent involved and the period of time this was filmed (meaning those individuals had not dipped in quality yet), that this would be tremendous and it is. I am glad I got to see these movies as a kid; eventually I need to give longer reviews to Raiders and Temple, and I need to see Crystal Skull again. I don't hate it like many others do-those that would like to ignore it was ever made, I do understand-but I may be generous in saying it's an average movie, and another viewing will help clear that up. I'll just say that this is the second best of the Indiana Jones motion pictures.