Rent Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Great Adventure - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade review by GI

The third film in the Indiana Jones series vastly improves on the previous film and recalls the fun of Raiders of The Lost Ark (1981) and it was inspired to add the father/son dynamic and cast Sean Connery. This is a family film that captures the Saturday Serial style that George Lucas wanted and brilliantly achieved with the original but lost with ...Temple of Doom (1984). Like Raiders there's the biblical epic references, there's gritty, comic book style violence (a little toned down since Raiders, which is very bloody!) and a great story and of course you have the Nazis back as the villains. But ultimately it has Spielberg directing with a little restraint, something he lost in the fourth instalment. The film boasts a great prologue with a young Indiana Jones (River Pheonix) fleeing some grave robbers through a circus train. It sets the tone and introduces the relationship with Indy's father and the iconic whip and fedora. The main story pits Indy against the Nazis searching for another biblical trophy, the Holy Grail. There's plenty of chases, fistfights and shooting as well as the creepy animal horrors (rats in this case) and it's all tremendous fun especially when we get to the final, mystical climax. Alison Doody is the love interest and Denholm Elliott has a bigger part to play in the story as the hapless Marcus Brody. This is the epitome of the Boys Own Adventure and top class family film.