Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

Running Time: 115 minutes.

Media: DVD.

I seem to still have the music playing in my head after having seen this movie last night... I finally saw this film in one full go, after thirty years... All I can say is, it's about bloody time...

Although Star Wars was Harrison Ford's big break... I would have to say from personal opinion, that it was Raiders of the Lost Ark that brought Ford to stardom; and having people like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and music from John Williams to make it all come together didn't hurt things either!

We have the movie start with Indy getting upstaged by fellow archaeologist Belloq out of a prized idol after avoiding poison darts, wall spikes, rolling boulders and very pissed off South American natives wielding bows and arrows... He then gets wind of the possible location of the Ark of the Covenant over in Egypt and heads on over, only to wind up getting involved in trouble with his ex-fiancée Marion Ravenwood, who possesses the only link to finding the Ark. Nazi agents, middle-eastern henchmen and a couple of thousand snakes later, action goes into overdrive with Dr. Jones and Marion getting a hold on the Ark, until things go awry.

Given the time of the early 80's, and still in the Cold War days, it's not surprising that things end up well for Indy, and go sour for the Nazis; the whole "good versus evil" thing, and the good guys saving the world; and I guess, when you think about it, we have Indiana Jones to thank for saving us from the Führer. The movie gets a tiny bit schmaltzy as a result... particularly towards the end where some weird supernatural stuff happens with the Ark, which make me question the choice of storyline... it just seems... too easy... Particularly with the "spinning lid", you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it... As a result, my rating of the film has dropped...

Now, having never seen this movie, in full, previously, I'm planning to go through the movies in order in the near future... And I've been told Marion makes a comeback in the latest one, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. That's something I'd definitely look forward to watching in the near future... Until then, Raiders of the Lost Ark gets four stars.