Musically, The Last Crusade is far
different from its ancestors. It possesses an almost comic tone and is highly constrained
in appearance of the Raiders theme. Only Williams
could’ve made it work, and he does so nicely. While The Last Crusade does have
its share of action cues, just like the previous two scores, overall it’s just a fun
score to listen to, full of light moments. Williams provides a whole shipload of new
themes for this one too, which only helps to liven it up even more.
Doubtless, those expecting another Raiders-type
score will be disappointed, mostly due to the fact that the now familiar excellent
Raiders theme music only appears about three times and then
only briefly. The theme is given a full playing in the end credits music, which like a lot
of Williams end credits music, consists of the main theme book-ended by the more developed
sub-themes and motifs. I prefer the Nazi motif in this score to the one in Raiders. Williams also manages to do a good job with the
actions music, even though he is almost totally refrained from introducing the
Raiders theme. The quieter tracks contain good theme usage,
but you’ll have to get used to all the new themes to truly enjoy them.
There is not mistaking that this is and Indiana Jones score, even
without the Raiders theme blaring away throughout.
It’s nice to see scores to sequel branch out in this manner, and I recommend this to
any Williams fan. *****
