Raiders of the Lost Ark

Anyone who doesn't take this brilliant ride through the history of adventure and stylistic tropes as an absolute gem is ripe for a psychiatrist. Spielberg and Lucas created a new form of entertainment that, with any luck, won't get old even after 1000 years. An example of a fully effective application of outdated genres and references to a dominant and entertaining filmmaking style, a playful and engaging combination of myth with real thematic background. Excellent music and camera, an awesome Harrison Ford and very possibility the most iconic character in cinema history, and so on, and so on… (31/01/2022)

I still remember that fateful day when my and Indy’s paths first crossed. It took place when I was less than seven years old at summer camp. It was a rainy afternoon and there were no outdoor activities. So that the teachers could have some peace, they put on a video for the horde of children. But unfortunately they had nothing animated at hand (causing a wave of tangible disappointment among us little kids) and thus we had no choice but to watch something from a well-worn cassette. At first, some movie started, but they soon stopped it (the biggest mystery of my life to this day; what movie was that?). They fast-forwarded the cassette to half way. Then some strange movie with a gentleman in a cowboy hat started. To make it stranger, it was dubbed by a single adult who was difficult to understand. At first I was terribly disappointed, but then the ball boulder rolled out, the main theme tune sounded, and... And nothing was ever the same again. I met the love of my life (I’m sure my wife will forgive me). This cinematic experience has been surpassed in my eyes just by one movie; and no, it wasn’t Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The day after the screening, the weather was beautiful, but while we were whistling the main melody, we forced the teachers to show us the second movie. The reactions to the soup scene were... But that's another story. (20/08/2006)

My first great adventure film, and if it wasn't for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it would have remained the greatest. Spielberg has a rare talent for combining a thrilling story, a mystically chilling atmosphere, superbly rendered characters, and a narrative push-off into an explosive whole that is funny, haunting, thrilling and emotional. Dr. Jones, a man of two faces versus Hitler's evil realm in an environment of mysterious and ancient forces. Iconic from the first to the last second, fabulously filmed, the acting, the sound, the tricks... It's kind of a fairy tale, kind of a horror film, and every inch the adventure ride that turns grown men into little boys and little boys into big heroes... So, what do the ladies say? (18/04/2004)

I didn't get to the first Indy adventure until 42 long years after the film's premiere, and my average rating is based on that. I didn't grow up on Spielberg's film, nor do I have a nostalgic attachment to it, and now that I've seen it for the very first time, I have to say that the ravages of time are quite visible. It's most noticeable in the special effects scenes, which is understandable given the year it was made, but the same can't be said for the action and fight scenes, which look laughable (in the negative sense) to the point of being artificial. The scene with the snake's lair or the final confrontation with the Ark of the Covenant had a solid atmosphere, I don't deny that, but for most of the film I felt like I was watching some kind of still undeveloped Indiana Jones prototype. (01/07/2023)

The film that forever changed the adventure genre and added more mystery to it than ever before in this first installment. However, even after many, many screenings, I still have a problem with its restrained pace and I will never include it in the group of the best films in history. Not that Ford's star doesn't shine like never before, but both Raiders of the Lost Ark and later Temple of Doom will always be in my eyes mainly warm-up acts to The Last Crusade. That doesn't change the fact that Indy is one of the most charismatic and likable movie heroes. (30/04/2006)