Steven Spielberg’s mechanical, soulless 1989 follow-up to Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The fast pace and force-fed wisecracks are as seamless as ever, but rarely has audience laughter sounded as hollow. Jeffrey Boam wrote the script, based on an original story by executive producer George Lucas and Menno Meyjes, which concentrates on the relationship between Indiana (Harrison Ford) and his medievalist father (Sean Connery) as they search for the Holy Grail. (The action occurs both before and after the events of the two earlier Indiana Jones pictures.) Christianity, Nazism, Arthurian legend, antiquity, the third world, and women in general all serve as ballast and backdrop to the uneasy affection between a grown boy and his neglectful dad. Also on hand are River Phoenix as the young Indy, John Rhys-Davies, Alison Doody, Julian Glover, Denholm Elliott, and a lot of actors dressed up as Nazis. 127 min. (JR)