Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989

This is escapist entertainment at its peak. The film features the same daring architect we’ve come to know and love and finally pairs him up with a worthy partner—his daddy. I’m not a big fan of the first two films in the franchise, but I do appreciate them as fun cinematic achievements. In this final film, it seems as if Lucas and Spielberg have finally nailed the tone of the series, delivering a lighthearted father-son adventure filled with illogical battles (seriously, why do none of the chase scenes involve guns until they are almost over?) and exaggerated action. But it works. The true strength of the film comes from the relationship between Jones and his newly found father Dr. Jones Senior, played by the wonderful Sean Connery. Through their relationship, you find an entirely new side of Indiana, one which is filled with bitter resentment towards the father that neglected his wife and child for a world of artifacts and adventure. But the film never takes on an overly melodramatic mood. Instead, it handles this relationship beautifully by giving them great character development moments during intense action sequences. Handled incorrectly, this could have come off as annoying and unnecessary (see the sidekicks in The Temple of Doom). Instead, their conversations take on just the right balance of being heartfelt but also genuinely funny, providing welcome comic relief after every other explosion. The main plot of the film involves a search for the Holy Grail and is standard Indiana Jones fare. It is his growing relationship with his father however, that truly stands this film above the others in the franchise.

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