Lost ‘Crusade’--A Chance to Be Classic : Lucas-Spielberg team turns ageless myth into another mindless roller-coaster ride

Venerated New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael was probably the only person on the planet--at least the only one not on the Paramount Pictures payroll--who preferred “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” to the original “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

So my guess is that when Pauline reviews “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” she won’t pine about the missed opportunity that left me a bit disappointed with the otherwise-praiseworthy latest, and reportedly final, chapter in the Indy saga.

Kael’s justification for picking “Temple of Doom” over “Raiders” was that the original idea behind I. Jones was to give us a cinematic roller-coaster ride, and she felt that the second film delivered its high-pitched thrills without the lofty mystical and spiritual overtones that, in her opinion, slowed “Raiders” way down.

Millions of moviegoers would disagree. While waiting for the curtain to go up at the Orange Cinedome last week, I heard numerous would-be critics offering analyses that were near carbon copies of each other. (“The second one was OK, but ‘Raiders’ is still my favorite.”)

I include myself among those unconvinced by Kael’s thesis, though I must admit that I enjoyed “Temple of Doom” a whole lot more when I rented the video and watched it a second time, free of the stratospherically high expectations I’d carried because of “Raiders.”

My keen anticipation of “Last Crusade,” however, was not self-generated. It was prompted by the film makers and their efforts to explore perhaps the most resonant and symbolic story in all of Western culture: the Holy Grail.

To begin with, I’m a sucker for art, dance, music, books or movies that use classic myths as their foundation. What’s more, in their “Star Wars,” “Raiders” and other films, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have proven themselves masters at adapting and reshaping such myths for contemporary audiences.

The legend of the Holy Grail--a hunt for the secrets of the universe in the face of forces of darkness that stand in the way--has a wealth of contemporary applications and symbolic relevance to modern man. Richard Wagner turned it into one of the world’s great operas (“Parsifal”) and T.S. Eliot relied heavily on its themes in his poetic masterpiece, “The Wasteland.”

Lucas and Spielberg obviously understand the magnitude of what they are dealing with in “Last Crusade”: Indy’s boss, Marcus Brody, reminds the audience that “the quest for the Grail is the search for the divine in each of us.”

But in the end, that theme, which could have made this episode a film for the ages, is brushed aside like so much dust off an ancient urn and we are left with an adventure, albeit a tremendously entertaining and well-executed one. Much like Indy and his estranged father in their quest for the Grail, Lucas and Spielberg had success at their fingertips, but couldn’t quite bring it within their grasp.

In religious terms, the Grail (generally defined as the cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper), represents the Christ in each individual. It is a treasure (innocence?) that inevitably gets “lost,” and one that most people spend the rest of their lives seeking to regain. It is the search for the Kingdom of Heaven, our unity with God.

Psychologically speaking, the Grail is the receptacle of psychic and spiritual wholeness, the conduit through which the conscious and the unconscious minds may be reconciled.

Powerful stuff. Too bad it all takes a back seat to millions of dollars’ worth of Industrial Light and Magic-fueled action sequences. Not that I would gripe about a flat-out, well-made adventure flick--as Kael pointed out in her review of “Temple of Doom,” those can be a lot of brainless fun.

But hey, it was Lucas and Spielberg, not me, who brought up the Holy Grail.

We certainly could use an inspiring, updated treatment of this legend, in which Parsifal (or any of the other Arthurian knights who starred in the numerous Grail myths that sprouted in the Middle Ages) goes off in search of this mysterious vessel that holds divine secrets in abundance.

There are those who will argue that ours is the most alienated generation in history--and it’s hard to disagree, considering the deep-rooted unhappiness underlying epidemic crime, domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse.

As technology makes us increasingly worldly and knowledgeable, the notion and value of “innocence” is being rendered obsolete; the only Grail worth seeking is the golden parachute waiting at the top of the corporate ladder.

Lucas and Spielberg might have taken the truly bold step and let Indy discover that the Holy Grail is not a physical object after all. Or, if they feared that would shortchange those in the leave-nothing-to-the-imagination school of moviegoers, they could have simply stuck with the myth, in which a “guileless fool” is the only one worthy to receive the Grail.

Indy, with his childlike wonder and enthusiasm about such treasures, easily could be that special knight who, the legend tells us, “can look directly into the Grail and behold its divine mysteries that cannot be described by the human tongue.”

Rather than building the power around the object of the quest (as was done so effectively in “Raiders,” less spectacularly here), turn the camera on Indy. Harrison Ford clearly has grown enough as an actor that he could summon up the expression that might overcome one who had gazed upon the Grail. But the movie’s climax is simply an earthshaking--and earthbound--battle over possession of a chalice, instead of the celestial revelation it might have been.

Maybe Pauline was on the right track about “Temple of Doom” after all--if Lucas and Spielberg couldn’t get Indy all the way up the Stairway to Heaven in his last fling, they should have let him go out in one whale of a roller-coaster ride.

After all he’s been through, Indy’s earned it.