Road to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Raiders of the Lost Ark Review

 

With Dial of Destiny coming out this summer, I now have the perfect opportunity to talk about Indiana Jones.

Raiders of the Ark (later marketed as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, and sometimes just called Raiders) is an action-adventure film, and the first film in the Indiana Jones film series. It was produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Raiders of the Lost Ark was written by George Lucas, Philip Kaufman, and Lawrence Kasdan and directed by Steven Spielberg.

The story is it's 1936, and archaeologist Indiana Jones has been briefed by two Army Intelligene agents about Nazis excavating in Tanis, Egypt. They deduce that they are looking for the Ark of the Covenant because Hitler believes that it'll make his army invincible. The agents decide to recruit Indiana to recover first.

• Negatives

I've truly have nothing negative to about this movie. So just move on.

• Mix

Got nothing here. Just keep on scrolling.

• Positives

One thing that makes the film so beloved is Steven Spielberg's directing. We've got so many iconic shots from this, all because of his great eye for how the film should look. The moment where Indiana Jones is revealed, just that scene alone, let us know that we're getting get a wonderfully directed film.

Then there's John Williams' score. Much like with his score for Jaws, the music is beautiful. So much great music. You of course have Indiana's theme, but there's also great music that can be found with the chase where Indy winds up going under the truck. Then there's the music when the Ark is opened.

After finishing Raiders (for what might be the sixth time), I've really come to appreciate the special effects. Despite being made during the 80's, a lot of them still hold up to this day. That opened Ark scene, to me anyways, will always be timeless because of those incredible effects.

Now let me tell you about Indiana Jones' character. That being he's very well written. He not only comes off as a very real guy, but he is truly an archaeologist. He doesn't do it for personal and/or financial gain, he really does just want artifacts put in a museum because of how historic they are.

Which brings me to the guy who plays Indiana himself, Harrison Ford. Now while he did make a name for himself in the original Star Wars trilogy, and was very good in it, he ultimately did kinda have a supporting role, which I'm not saying as a bad thing. With Raiders of the Lost Ark, he's now in the main role, and he's awesome. Harrison Ford is and always be Indiana Jones. Even long after amongst him, myself, and everyone else is dead, and they decide to reboot this franchise, Harrison will always be this character, because his performance in this and the sequels is iconic.

The last thing that I'll praise is the action. It's fast, fun, intense, and every other positive word you can think. But after watching the film there's also another aspect to that I'm surprised I didn't realize it until much later, and that's the stuns. Not only do they look insane, but it also made me think about how we don't get too much of it anymore. So it was fun to not only watch the action scenes, but also think about how the filmmakers pulled them off, without anybody getting too hurt.

Guys, I absolutely love Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's a perfect action/adventure flick. It's got great performances, great music, action, etc. It's a film everyone should see whether they're a fans of Indiana Jones or not, or film buffs or not.

My final rating is A Must Watch.

Okay, that's going to do it for me, I had a lot of fun with this one. Come back on Saturday, Feb 4th, for my review of M. Night Shyamalan's newest film, Knock at the Cabin. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.