Review Detail

This is a film, I have to admit, for which I have a lot of sentimental feelings -- it was always one of my dad's and my favourite movies to watch together, and the one that I found in his DVD player after he passed away. On the other hand, I've had a hard time bringing myself to watch it because, as Infodroid correctly points out, parts of it are unbearably cringey and corny as hell -- things that didn't bug me as a kid, but as an adult, I find it impossible to watch the original cut next to the brilliant, flawless Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Infodroid's edit remedies that and has let me watch this movie for the first time in years, and made it a much more enjoyable experience, sans slapstick and cornball jokes. I do think that, to a certain extent, there's a bit of editing overkill, with trimmed lines like "my soul is prepared -- how's yours?" that serve to underline the theme of how Indy's encounter with the Lost Ark has affected his spirituality (Last Crusade was always a much more direct sequel to Raiders, I think, than I previously gave it credit for), but erring on the side of subtlety, even in an action movie, is hardly the worst of crimes. Although, I'll admit, I missed "X Marks the Spot" in the library, but if getting rid of the librarian gag is the price, I'm happy to pay it.

In all, this version of the movie was immensely satisfying and successfully made Last Crusade a worthy, revelatory successor to Raiders. Especially with the "most important day in the life of Young Indiana Jones" garbage intro gone. Seriously, a public service, that.