Movie #22 – Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - 115 min, cert PG.
Dynamic archaeologist Dr Indiana Jones embarks on a global quest at the request of the US government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis do.
Despite being made over thirty years ago, this film holds up brilliantly alongside many of the action/adventure movies of today. At the time, it was simply groundbreaking. Nothing like it had ever been made before. It is a rollercoaster ride of adventure. One minute Jones is running for his life from a rolling boulder, then he’s in a gun fight in a burning bar in the Himalayan mountains, then he’s fighting swordsmen on the streets of Cairo, or dodging snakes in a long-forgotten tomb, or taking on an entire German convoy with just a horse. The action is non-stop, and yet the plot holds up surprisingly well.
Harrison Ford plays the part of the adventurous archaeologist well, taking all the death-defying action sequences in his stride, doing all sorts of stuff you won’t see on Time Team. He handles the comedy very well, as does Spielberg in his direction. Spielberg is not known for his comedies, and although you can’t classify this as a comedy as such, it certainly has a strong comic feel running through it, and never takes itself too seriously.
Score – 9/10. As good today as it was back in 1981.
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