September 30, 2012

Film Review: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade


“The quest for the Grail is not archaeology; it's a race against evil!” – Sean Connery

In his third film, Indiana Jones continues to hunt down artifacts and fight bad guys. This flick easily has as much action as the last outings, with plenty of fights and chases to entertain. The setpieces are quite ambitious as Indy outruns villains on a moving train, infiltrates a castle, and takes on a tank on horseback, among other brilliant sequences. And the comedy is probably the best in this film; the dialogue and interplay between characters are often quite witty.

The story for this is strong and ambitious as Indy goes out to find the holiest artifact of them all: the Holy Grail. The story is tightly-paced and well planned-out as mysteries unravel and turncoats are revealed as the adventure presses on. But what really propels this story to greatness are the characters; they receive their strongest treatment here as Indy struggles to reconcile things with his dad (not to mention, the opening flashback reveals a lot about their characters).

The film is still competently made, with quality photography. Acting is great; Harrison Ford is still perfect as the main hero, Sean Connery is perfectly cast as Indy’s father, Alison Doody is appealing, John Rhys-Davies is still the man, Julian Glover is decent as the villain, and River Phoenix was perfect in his role. Writing is good, production value is high, and the music is awesome.

Recommended!

5/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Story: Perfect | Film: Perfect)

This film appears on my Top 100 Favorite Films list at #12.

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