BIG'S BIG MOVIE LIST
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981)
Harrison Ford, Karen Allen
Directed by Stephen Spielberg
Doctor Henry “Indiana” Jones (Harrison Ford) is a professor of archaeology with extensive experience in looting rare and valuable ancient artifacts from ruins (the opening sequence is an “Action Movie 101” collection of picture perfect action movie elements in which Indy attempts to collect an ancient golden idol with the aid of a two-timing Alfred Molina).
He is called to action when the US Military discovers that the Nazis have been searching for the headpiece to the “Staff of Ra”, a staff that can unlock the location of the fabled Ark of the Covenant, a golden chest said to contain the original stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed, but more importantly believed to be a weapon of immeasurable power. Indy travels to Nepal to retrieve the headpiece belonging to the young boozy proprietor of a Nepalese tavern, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen). The pair are quickly shanghai'ed by Nazis hot on their heels and eager to get their hands on the headpiece, and after a fiery skirmish, Indy and Marion embark on an adventure that promises to be an adrenaline-fueled dance with death where the stakes have never been higher.
I dont know why I never watched this movie in its entirety (Family Guy has pretty much parodied the whole thing, front to back, so I felt like I had already seen it). It is platinum action. Clean burning, old school stunt-explosion action (none of that modern cg green screen business that plagues the industry today) with balanced gunplay alongside perilous escapes and chase sequences that collectively remain some of the best action around.
This movie is one of the greatest action movies to spawn from the golden age of action that was the 80s and 90s. While I ultimately loved the movie, a few minor things irked me.
The early scene in Dr. Jones' classroom establishing him as the object of lust for his many female students is brought over the top when one of the students blinks to reveal “LOVE YOU” written on her eyelids not once, but twice. Cute and funny, sure, but a bit excessive for the scene.
The other issue I hold with this film, though still a very minor one, is one presented in an episode of “The Big Bang Theory” (spoilers in the video): that Indiana Jones the character is ultimately irrelevant to the rest of the plot (that is to say that everything that happened in the movie would've still happened regardless of his presence as the protagonist). While this is indeed a true statement, it doesn't change the fact that the movie is the finest most thrilling action movie I've seen in a good long while.
a thirty nine year old Harrion Ford is robbing crypts. that aint yo idol!
Karen Allen is a lovely and tenacious female lead.
This Ark is worse than its bite... I'll show myself out.
I give Raiders of the Lost Ark: 4 / 5 snakes
"A Clockwork Orange"
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I didn't see “The Goonies” until i was 23 (2009). I didn't see “Memento” until about a month ago. I still have never seen any of the “Jaws” movies. Many people hear things like this and the responses range from “i dont believe it!” to “you call yourself a cinephile?” to just hyperbolic gasps, but its true. For all my love and affinity for cinema, there are a number of “standards” that just slipped through my fingers over the years. This is one of the many reasons why I started the movie list in the first place: to close these gaps and to further fortify my movie knowledge. With that in mind, I finally cracked and watched “Raiders of the Lost Ark” the first of the four Indiana Jones movies and the second Indiana Jones movie I've ever seen in its entirety after “Temple of Doom”.