Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

7/10

Starring
Harrison Ford
Karen Allen
Paul Freeman


Directed by Steven Spielberg

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is the first of the Indiana Jones franchise that spawn out 3 sequels, a TV series and numerous video games. It is a classic and stood above many in the box office raking in over $380 million dollars. It also won 4 Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Film Editing and Best Art Direction.

The movie pulls surprises after surprises, like what happened when the Ark was opened, that scene alone is not something you will expect as it starts from the time it was opened till when it was shut, you will be stunned.

It packages in its 115 minutes run, a bolder chase, arrow flying here and there, submarine, car chase, gun fights, drama, comedy, adventure, Nazis, Gestapo, Arabian men and Spiritual power in high places, all this for your fun and view, in a movie that is shot in numerous locations.

There was a scene where Indy is trapped in the well of souls with over 7,000 snakes, now that is a sight you really want to see. The car chase reminded me of the Mad Max movie Road Warrior it was intense, fun and dangerous.

The movie plot has our favorite hero, trying to get a solid-gold idol somewhere in the Peruvian jungle in 1936. He gets it then loses the artifact to his rival and the movie antagonist who is French archeologist named Belloq (Paul Freeman).

Indy is recruited by the Army Intelligence to stop the Nazi’s who seem to be after the Ark of Covenant so as to gain power to topple the world.

So Indy saddles up and goes to Nepal to meet with his Mentor Ravenwood only to discover that he had died, so he is left to ride along Marion (Karen Allen) his daughter to Cairo where they meet Indy’s sidekick Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) as they team up to stop the Nazis.

The movie is one joy ride from place to place the movie had quite an interesting bunch of characters that will keep you both thrilled and entertained, one character that catches my fancy was the Gestapo.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is set to be a sequel to the movie that came after it, as Temple of Doom was set in 1935. The movie has received numerous acclaim ranked 66 in the AFI’s top 100 movies 10^thAnniversary and also ranked 10^th in AFI’s top ten thrills.

Ironically no studio wanted to fund the movie, before Paramount decided to take the risk, so i wonder which studio did the duo (Steven Spielberg and George Lucas) go first? They missed out on a goldmine.

Here is Indiana Jones at the very beginning an intro to the character that we all love and admire, I believe there is no reason why you should not have seen this classic.