Review of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) by Bjorn B — 05 Apr 2014

If I was to get to the point immediately, ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is one of the most deliriously funny, ingenious and stylish American adventure movies ever made and easily one of my all time favourites, if not my favourite.

This film made my childhood. I rightly wore the VHS tape out, thats how much I used to watch Raiders. After this film was released it changed cinema from there on. It inspired all the adventure movies that followed because of how this film was pulled off.

John Williams score. The most iconic score of all time easily. Steven Spielberg really does recognise the fact that John Williams is a genius. If you have the score on your iPod and you play it. I guarantee everyone will say 'Oh that's from Indiana Jones'.

Even if they haven't seen the film. And if they haven't seen Raiders make certain that you sit them down in front of the television and make them watch some cinematic gold. The story is pretty simple, isn't it? The year is 1936.

A professor who studies archeology named Indiana Jones is venturing in the jungles in South America searching for a golden statue. Unfortunately, he sets off a deadly trap doing so, miraculously, he escapes.

Then, Jones hears from a museum curator named Marcus Brody about a biblical artifact called The Ark of the Covenant, which can hold the key to humanly existence. Jones has to venture to vast places such as Nepal and Egypt to find this artifact.

However, he will have to fight his enemy Renee Belloq and a band of Nazis in order to reach it. Spielberg and Lucas set out to make this movie and not only did they succeed but they did it in such a unique way.

It was defiantly hard core and it was certainly effective. And that is one of the reasons why Raiders was such a success because the action set pieces felt real, featuring some of the best stunt work I have ever seen.

Lawrence Kasdan's script is one of the best scripts ever written for the big screen. It really shows the relationships between each of the characters in a special way. Which is why none of the sequels had that same writing technique and feel because Kasdan only wrote Raiders.

Another implement in this film is that it has aged really well. Especially after watching it on blu-ray recently. It looks like it could have been made yesterday apart from the odd 80s effects. But on the whole this film was way ahead of its game in terms of directing, effects, script and acting.

This film deserves all the complements it receives. I couldn't love Raiders more. A+.