Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade [Blu-ray] [Region Free]

After the really darker and violent second entry The Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade returned the series back to it's former glory and in doing so produced the best entry in the series. The film serves both as a prequel and a sequel to the previous entries with the opening showing a Young Indy played by the late River Phoenix and explaining how Indy got his facial scar, fear of snakes and the inspiration behind his trademark outfit. It is a solid performance by Phoenix, who in his brief onscreen time manages to capture Ford's mannerisms perfectly. Ford himself recommended Phoenix to Spielberg, having worked with him on The Mosquito Coast 3 years earlier. The film then moves into the present where Indy is hired by American Walter Donovan (played with relish by Julian Glover) to find the Holy Grail and in turn his father who was the project leader who has gone missing. The late Sean Connery, who received a BAFTA nomination for his turn Henry Jones Snr, steals the film as Indy's dad. His chemistry with Ford, who in real life he is only 10 years older, is truly infectious providing the film with it's very best moments. There is plenty of action to please the Die Hard Indy fans but it is the dynamic between these 2 that holds the glue for this film. It is also to date still the longest of all the films clocking in at 126 minutes. The summer of 1989 was chockful of blockbusters and Sequels (I think something like 32 sequels were released that year) and while Batman was domestically Number 1 in the states The Last Crusade was Number 1 Internationally worldwide and with good reason as it was the better film. The film also reunited John Rhys Davies (Sallah) & Denham Elliott (Marcus Brody) from the first movie, having been absent from the second movie. This was at the time supposed to be the last part in a 3 picture trilogy that started with 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark before they revisited it 20 years later with the atrocious Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I read somewhere, upon his passing last year, that Connery had been offered to reprise his role but didn't like the script which involved aliens and he was enjoying his retirement. The Indiana Jones series was born out of Spielberg desire to direct a Bond film that when it came to casting Indy's dad Connery was a no brainer and this is still one of his best film roles. Highly Recommended 5/5🥰🥰🥰

The story is not as strong as past Indie films, and the hero characters not as endearing as in the other films. However the special effects of how they made an 80 year old actor look half his age is totally amazing. For the first 30 minutes the movie has a flash back to WW2 and indie looks how we all remember him. The plot moves on to present day and Harrison Ford looks his real age 81. There are some familiar faces returning to the Indie Saga , which is a nice touch and helps to remind you how good the old movies where. The real problem with this movie is the special visual effects don't look that great for 2023, the plot is a bit farfetched, even by Indie standards, and Indie doesn't come over as the man going to save the world from the bad guys. Is the movie worth seeing? Yes but don't expect it to be as good as the others. Maybe it has been so long since the last Jones movie the producers and writers have forgotten how to do it.

Great film

I love the Indiana Jones films. I saw The Temple of Doom dozens of times in my teens when I worked in my local cinema and have enjoyed the original trilogy many, many times over the years. But, this final film - although it ties up some long term loose threads very satisfyingly - should have ben made 20 years ago.My problem with the film is that to make VFX of de-aging Harrison Ford work and not look 'uncanny valley', VFX had to be applied so thoroughly throughout the film, that nothing looks real - so the real heart and soul of an Indie adventure is lost as we're distracted throughout as an audience by everyone, and everything looking just a 'a bit weird'. Don't get me wrong, the VFX are astonishing and the de-aging of Harrison Ford is an incredible leap forward in technology - and its a pretty rip roaring adventure film, with Phoebe Waller Bridge making a super addition to the Indie films canon of characters - and it's Indie fighting the evil Nazi's again - but.....I would never say an actor can be too old - I'm one - its my job!!! But I did spent a fair amount of this film thinking 'Oh, careful Harrison - you're not as young as you used to be mate!' and that distracted me from my immersion in the narrative. It's just a shame it wasn't in the works and made a handful of years after the Last Crusade (and instead of Crystal Skull).I'm glad they made Dial of Destiny, It's great to see Indie one last time, I really appreciated the tear jerking ending and I'll end up getting a physical copy to add to my film library - but I'm not sure I'll be rushing to watch it again any time soon.

This film is and should of been an excellent 'end of' Indiana Jones. I can watch this again and again, unlike the very latest film, which completely ruined. This films got it all, great actors, humour, action, comedy - how could it be topped ! They never should of made any films after this one, it was the pinnicle, with a very rapid descent after...