As a child, I was obsessed with Indiana Jones. In fact, Raiders of the Lost Ark was the movie that got me into movies. This is something that I have never forgotten and it will always be my favourite film of all time. As you can guess, I was very happy when I realised that my local cinema was showing the adventure classic. I was also interested to see if the film itself held up or if I have been viewing it through rose-tinted glasses all these years.

After seeing the film in cinema nearly forty years since its first release, I am happy to say that it has lost very little of its magic. The rest of the audience appeared to agree with me as there were audible gasps at the moments of slapstick violence and laughs at the witty interplay between characters. I was also happy to note how the audience was varied enough to include the elderly, young families, teenage couples and the occasional nerd such as myself. It appears that Indiana Jones is still as popular as ever.

I don’t see any point in writing a new review of the film but there are a couple of interesting points that sprung to my mind. In an age where movies are busy setting up shared universes or countless sequels, Raiders of the Lost Ark is just focused on being an entertaining piece of escapism. It is the breakneck pace of the film that I have always taken for granted on DVD as going to the toilet in cinema meant missing one of the many superb set-pieces. Any character beats are done on the fly and the plot constantly rattles along to its thrilling conclusion accompanied by John Williams’ timeless score.

Considering its age, I was expecting the visual effects to appear dated but instead they add to the 1930s B movie feel. The great thing about Raiders of the Lost Ark is that while we are now accustomed to constant CGI in movies, a lot of its special effects are old-school and in-camera. I had fun spotting such quirks as the sheet of glass separating Harrison Ford from poisonous snakes or the tunnel dug into the ground where Ford’s stunt double (Vic Armstrong) could crawl underneath the moving truck. No weightless CGI characters here.

If Raiders of the Lost Ark has a message for modern blockbusters, its that simplicity is always more effective. There is still enjoyment to be had from watching two people have a good old-fashioned fistfight or your favourite character escape by the skin of their teeth. There is no feeling here that Spielberg and co. were trying to set up the three ensuing sequels or a multi million dollar franchise. They just wanted the audience to have a good time which I hope they keep in mind when they get around to making Indiana Jones 5. Also, no aliens.

Image Credit: Watch Steven Soderbergh’s Silent Raiders of the Lost Ark, BagoGames, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0), some rights reserved.

Disclaimer Notice: Any thoughts and opinions expressed here are solely my own. Any images (copyrighted or otherwise) have been used according to Creative Commons and if needed, have been referenced to the best of my knowledge.

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