My Movie Review on Raiders of the Lost Ark

Greetings, my friends.

This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.

Today, I'm gonna give you guys my take of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". The first installment of the Indiana Jones series.

Here's the summary of this adventure:

Indiana Jones is an American archeologist who frequently searches for lost artifacts to donate to a museum. And when he's not on any treasure hunts, he teaches at a college as an archeology professor.

His most challenging and life-changing quest, though, comes when he's told that the Biblical Ark of the Covenant exists. Not only that, but the Nazis, led by Jones's rival Dr. Rene Belloq, are after the ark.

With the help of his former girlfriend, Marion Ravenwood, Jones must travel the world in a race to find the ark before Belloq and the Nazis discover it and use it to take over the world.

Will Jones and Ravenwood find the ark? Or will Belloq and his goons get it first?

I'd like to be honest, I've been interested in reviewing the Indiana Jones film series for quite some time. I haven't seen "The Temple of Doom" or "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" yet, but "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "The Last Crusade" are films that I've been deeply fond of over the years and have really enjoyed watching.

I'd like to start this review off by saying that this movie is a definite masterpiece in its own right.

For instance, the direction by Steven Spielberg, the story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman, and the screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan, were fantastic!

When it came to making an action-adventure film, Spielberg and the writers showed their genius! As a movie taking place in a multitude of settings, everything tied together like a neatly made knot thanks to the characters of Jones and Belloq, and the lore of the Ark of the Covenant and the quest for it helped the story not be confusing or anything like that. The filmmakers also showcased a surprising sense of humor and wit, because they incorporated jokes that were brilliantly executed and hardly out of place. To top it all off, the film was suspenseful, thrilling, unpredictable, and it had a vast amount of heart and emotion generated by the characters.

The music by John Williams was magnificent, if I may add. It was so amazing to find how emotionally invested Williams clearly was in composing for this movie, because he not only gave his music feeling...he helped the movie have a sense of personality with his score alone. He remarkably captured the tone Spielberg and the writers created for the movie as well.

Finally, the acting, casting, characters, and character development were awesome!

Among the characters, it was Jones and Marion whom I thought had the greatest of developments. Throughout much of the movie, they pretty much treated each other like enemies, but as the film progressed...they grew an unlikely romantic bond and sense of care for one another. I'm not even sure how many others besides me think this, but out of all the romances between Jones and a female character...the one between him and Marion is my favorite. The performances of Harrison Ford and Karen Allen were likewise fantastic, and so was the chemistry they created between their characters. I enjoyed Marion's feisty personality and the fact that she wasn't some mere damsel-in-distress too.

I would also like to add that John Rhys-Davies was a definite scene-stealer as Sallah, and his character was undeniably lovable and funny. Paul Freeman likewise did a marvelous job portraying Belloq. When it came to making the character an alternate reflection to Jones and someone undeniably human, Freeman literally didn't mess around. Belloq himself nicely developed throughout the movie.

The one thing I will admit is that I felt that the movie should've been given a PG-13 rating instead of a PG rating, not only because of the cussing, but due to the graphic, intense, and bloody violence. The part where Belloq and the Nazis disintegrate after opening the Ark was additionally one of the most intense moments I've ever seen, and that's coming from a guy who was man enough to see that moment for the first time. The fact that the MPAA rating system never took the time to re-rate this movie after the PG-13 rating was created surprises me, really.

In conclusion, though, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is an astonishing movie. It's not only among the best film starring Harrison Ford, and to be made by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, but...as a film made in the late 1900s, its quite a game-changer.

So, I rate "Raiders of the Lost Ark" five out of five stars.