Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – Monday 26th January 2026

I watched this in the cinema when it first came out, back in 1989 (such a good year!), and had no idea that films of this calibre were a rarity that must be savoured. As a kid, you just took it for granted that movies were good!

Having not seen this film in decades, I forgot how damn good it is! It’s the funniest of the Indiana Jones movies, and the one with the most heart. The relationship between Indy and his father is brilliantly realised, with the former subtly vying for his father’s approval throughout, and the latter clearly impressed by his son’s exploits, but never actually telling him. The opening sequence with River Phoenix also deserves mentioning, as it was such a novel way of giving us the backstory in an entertaining way, without relying on exposition.

Sean Connery is superb as Dr. Henry Jones Snr. At times conveying a child-like wonder at what’s happening, and at other times giving that look of disapproval that only parents know how to give, saying more than words ever could!

Harrison Ford, Denholm Elliott and Jonathan Rhys Davies are all great, as ever, and it’s so good seeing them again after ‘Raiders’. In fact, this is the only Indy movie that successfully captures the flavour that made ‘Raiders’ such a masterpiece!

The pace and non-stop set-pieces are more impressive because not only do they provide ‘thrills’, but they simultaneously provide character and plot progression! That’s so hard to do! It’s also the reason why so many action movies are so bad, because they don’t even attempt to do that.

It’s also the key to why ‘Last Crusade’ and ‘Raiders’ stand head and shoulders above most action movies; the characters take centre stage as much as the set-pieces; in fact, the set-pieces are meaningless unless you’re invested in the characters.

The female lead did the job, and was better than a standard ‘damsel in distress’; the running gag with her having slept with both father and son was pretty funny too.

I watched the film on a 4k blu-ray, and similar to Back to the Future, I felt the colours were warmer than what I was used to; maybe I should just adjust the settings on my TV (I had it on ‘Filmmaker mode’). 4K blu-rays are so good, you want to watch every movie in that format, but it’s expensive, so I doubt I’ll be replacing my entire collection anytime soon. Still, it is tempting!

Anyway, absolutely brilliant film, and although we all wanted more, it was the best ending for the franchise...