Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Unholy Edition

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.

having a indy fanedit marathon and so i started with this edit of the last crusade, out of the original trilogy i've always felt this was the weakest of the three though it's still a very enjoyable film. i must admit in that i don't mind the opening as it was, however the removal with this edit is done really well. both audio and visual editing is perfectly executed though you do feel certain scenes have been removed especially during the desert fight scenes. overall i really enjoyed this edit and would highly recommend it.

just got done watching this one.
i had to have the cut list beside me because (other than classic lines/moments) i didn't notice anything missing. no jump cuts, no weird audio pops or fades.
there was only one way to quick moment of Connery at the end just before he whispers the name of God spelling bee trial. otherwise, all the cuts were terrific.
i really didn't notice either the continuity errors pointed out in other reviews.
i HATE silly one liners and vaudeville bits in movies, so this version of my favorite Indy film makes it even better.
i'm giving this a 10 across the board because i'm comparing it to the source and it's utterly solid from start to finish. the credits made are really nice and the end credit character montage is fun too. nice little addition there.
it would be nice if Droid would revisit this treatment in HD and maybe throw in some special features like some editing artists do now. but given it's release date, i understand why it's pretty bare, so i didn't let that effect my rating.
this edit accomplished exactly what was intended and it's appreciated.
poor Marcus.

December 14, 2009

can’t add much in the way of comments, but to echo all the positive reviews before me. A definite must for any Indiana Jones fan. This is my preferred version o fthe movie now.

October 24, 2009

I thorougly enjoyed this edit. The execution was pretty much flawless and the overall story was really fun. Definitely one I’d recommend to others. :)