Directed by:
Steven SpielbergScreenplay:
Lawrence KasdanCinematography:
Douglas SlocombeComposer:
John WilliamsCast:
Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, Wolf Kahler, Alfred Molina, Denholm Elliott, Anthony Higgins, Frank Marshall (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Archeologist and university professor Indiana Jones must retrieve the mythic Lost Ark of the Covenant before it gets into the hands of Adolf Hitler who plans on using its power to guarantee his global conquest. (official distributor synopsis)
Videos (2)
Reviews (13)
My first great adventure film, and if it wasn't for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it would have remained the greatest. Spielberg has a rare talent for combining a thrilling story, a mystically chilling atmosphere, superbly rendered characters, and a narrative push-off into an explosive whole that is funny, haunting, thrilling and emotional. Dr. Jones, a man of two faces versus Hitler's evil realm in an environment of mysterious and ancient forces. Iconic from the first to the last second, fabulously filmed, the acting, the sound, the tricks... It's kind of a fairy tale, kind of a horror film, and every inch the adventure ride that turns grown men into little boys and little boys into big heroes... So, what do the ladies say?
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The film that forever changed the adventure genre and added more mystery to it than ever before in this first installment. However, even after many, many screenings, I still have a problem with its restrained pace and I will never include it in the group of the best films in history. Not that Harrison Ford's star doesn't shine like never before, but for me both Raiders of the Lost Ark and the later Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom will always be mostly warm-up acts for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. That doesn't change the fact that Indy is one of the most charismatic and likable movie heroes.
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I didn't get to the first Indy adventure until 42 long years after the film's premiere, and my average rating is based on that. I didn't grow up on Spielberg's film, nor do I have a nostalgic attachment to it, and now that I've seen it for the very first time, I have to say that the ravages of time are quite visible. It's most noticeable in the special effects scenes, which is understandable given the year it was made, but the same can't be said for the action and fight scenes, which look laughable (in the negative sense) to the point of being artificial. The scene with the snake's lair or the final confrontation with the Ark of the Covenant had a solid atmosphere, I don't deny that, but for most of the film I felt like I was watching some kind of still undeveloped Indiana Jones prototype.
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The two scenes that I consider essential for appreciating Raiders of the Lost Ark (though there are a number of others) are the sequences with the airplane and the submarine. The former is a masterclass in constructing action in space and narrative in the sense of layering information and details that will then be utilised for dramatic effect and causal scene development. In addition, this sequence also demonstrates Harrison Ford’s strengths as an actor, or rather how he is able to sell his charisma while concurrently enhancing the comic essence of the scene with his facial expressions and body language. I find the submarine sequence essential for understanding the entire Indiana Jones franchise and its self-conscious work with trash. It divides viewers into two camps. One will nonsensically debate how Indy could have gotten to the island with the submarine. The other camp will enjoy the genius of the editing ellipsis consisting in the fact that it doesn’t answer the question at all, because it simply doesn’t have to. Then, after a few episodes, the first group of viewers will disparage the refrigerator scene and the presence of aliens (even if they’re not bothered by the Biblical supernaturalism of the first and third instalments), while the opposite camp will appreciate them as further manifestations of how the filmmakers honour the saga’s roots in trashy film franchises and their straightforward logic and low-brow elements.
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I still remember that fateful day when my and Indy’s paths first crossed. It took place when I was less than seven years old at summer camp. It was a rainy afternoon and there were no outdoor activities. So that the teachers could have some peace, they put on a video for the horde of children. But unfortunately they had nothing animated at hand (causing a wave of tangible disappointment among us little kids) and thus we had no choice but to watch something from a well-worn cassette. At first, some movie started, but they soon stopped it (the biggest mystery of my life to this day; what movie was that?). They fast-forwarded the cassette to half way. Then some strange movie with a gentleman in a cowboy hat started. To make it stranger, it was dubbed by a single adult who was difficult to understand. At first I was terribly disappointed, but then the ball boulder rolled out, the main theme tune sounded, and... And nothing was ever the same again. I met the love of my life (I’m sure my wife will forgive me). This cinematic experience has been surpassed in my eyes just by one movie; and no, it wasn’t Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The day after the screening, the weather was beautiful, but while we were whistling the main melody, we forced the teachers to show us the second movie. The reactions to the soup scene were... But that's another story.
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