KarateParty.org - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
***** out of *****

Genres
Action
Adventure
Nazis

1981
Directed by
Steven Spielberg
Written by
George Lucas
Philip Kaufman
Cast
Harrison Ford – Indiana Jones
Karen Allen – Marion Ravenwood
Paul Freeman – Dr Rene Belloq
Ronald Lacey – Major Toht
John Rhys-Davies – Sallah
Denholm Elliot – Dr Marcus Brody

I’m approaching this review with some degree of trepidation. You see, Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favourite movie ever. The question of what is my favourite film was once terribly difficult to answer, and yet over the past year or so of looking at films with the eye of a critic (even though I don’t get around to writing as many reviews as I would like) my conviction has hardened and I am more certain than ever before that Raiders fills every criteria of what I look for in a movie. I watch the film three or four times a year and I hunted out a pre-recorded copy on VHS a few years ago – well before the DVD release.

But that presents me with a problem. Do I approach this review with the enthusiasm of a fan-boy, eager to convert the masses to my point of view, or do I take the path of the critic – it did earn a respectable swag of awards in 1982. It was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, but it lost to Chariots of Fire. Steven Spielberg was nominated for Best Director and lost to Warren Beatty for Reds (a film I’d never heard of until I started researching for this review). Most of the awards Raiders picked up were for technical aspects of film-making. However, it did win the People’s Choice award for Best Picture, so the film has always resonated with the public at large.

Let’s start with the story. The film begins with one of the most memorable prologues ever. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is somewhere in South America, it is 1938. He enters a forgotten temple, filled with booby-traps. He evades these and we see his goal – a golden idol. He retrieves it and sets off a massive booby-trap, he has no choice but to run. Then we see a massive boulder bearing down on him, he outruns it and manages to exit the temple. Where Belloq (Paul Freeman), a French archaeologist and Jones’ old adversary, lifts the idol from him with ease.

Jones returns to teaching at his university and is met by some Army Intelligence officers. They tell him the Nazis are excavating in Egypt and are interested in some of the work done by his old professor, Abner Ravenwood. Now if this was any other movie, I’d go off on a tangent about how it would be impossible for the Nazis to establish a military presence in a British dominated country in peacetime, but to be honest, I overlook it because the rest of the film is so good.

Anyway, it is deduced that the Nazis are looking for the Ark of the Covenant – a Biblical artefact that would give its possessor unspeakable power. So the chase is on. Jones tries to track down his Ravenwood through his daughter, Marion (Karen Allen).

I think I’ll stop with the plot description now. There are many twists and turns – which is appropriate as the film was structured as an old-time serial. You get taken from one exotic locale to another and follow Indy as he goes from frying pan into fire time and again. It’s pure escapism, which is exactly what this type of film should be. I find the idea of going off the beaten track and relying on your own wits to be an appealing one, regardless of the supernatural elements in the film. However, were I to go off the beaten track – assuming I survive – such an endeavour would be full of boring bits. I’d be trying to negotiate in foreign languages, making sure I had a tetanus jab and so on. Raiders wisely left those bits out and goes along at a cracking pace. And the thing about Indy himself is that he isn’t cool, calm and collected – he’s not the type to panic, but if he knocks out a soldier to grab the uniform and disguise himself, the uniform doesn’t fit. He doesn’t have everything all planned out and has to adapt and in the end, he isn’t really the one responsible for the defeat of his enemy.

I’m not going to pretend that Raiders is high art. I’m not going to pretend that it ranks up there with Shakespeare or the Mona Lisa in terms of impact on western culture. But I will say that it’s 115 minutes of pure fun. I’ve already seen it dozens of time, and there are many more viewings to come.

My name is Meatlips and I am a fan-boy. I give Raiders of the Lost Ark five stars.