Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

What can I say? If you liked the original, you'll like this. If you hated number 2, you'll like this. If you like Sean Connery, you'll like this. If you like Harrison Ford, you'll like this. If you retain any affinity for the movies as a form of sheer escapism and the simpler conventions of heroes, villains, and thrills, chills, spills, you'll like this. Never mind that the picture retreads the original a bit, it also opens up and expands the Indiana myth. The opening sequence, with River Phoenix as the young Indy, is wonderful, plus we get to learn about the origin of certain Jonesian trademarks, etc., etc. But the coup here is Connery, who is just getting so good. It was a stroke of genius to cast him as Prof. Henry, and Ford and he play off each other like a seasoned vaudeville act. Connery just about walks away with every scene he is in. Though the action scenes, while still magnificently produced, are losing the thrill of novelty, this picture has other, subtler pleasures that more than make up for it.