[Retro Review] RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
I have a deep, dark, personal secret: until last weekend, I had NEVER seen Raiders of the Lost Ark in its entirety. I don’t know about you guys, but where I live, they play Temple of Doom at least once every two weeks on TV. I’ve seen that thing a million times. I’ve seen The Lost Crusade at least once that I can remember, but I wasn’t a big fan of it. I’ve never actually sat down and watched Raiders all the way through. I’d catch ten minutes here, twenty minutes there, but this situation was rectified(finally!) at a friend’s get-together at his house. We were all rummaging through his DVD collection(and if you’ve seen Hot Fuzz, it’s almost as massive as Danny’s little treasure trove), and I stumbled upon his Indiana Jones box set. “Hey, I’ve never seen Raiders all the way through, can we watch that?” I innocently asked. I swear, everyone in that room turned and looked at me like a bird had just flown out of my ass. With great haste, that DVD went into the player, and we were in business.
I’m going to say what the rest of the world already knows: this movie is fantastic! I had so much fun watching this thing, and I am now filled with a renewed sense of excitement and fear for the upcoming Indy 4. I’m pumped to see Indy return, but is there any way in hell that Spielberg and company can match the greatness of Raiders? Probably not, but if they come close, it’ll be better than most of the shit I’ve been subjected to this year.
Harrison Ford…goddamm it, the guy is so note-perfect throughout this whole thing. I loved him in Temple of Doom, but this was just a flawless performance. He’s charismatic as hell, he’s so damn likable, and WOW is he easy to look at. I mean, DAMN! That gal with “LOVE YOU” written on her eyelids had the right idea! I swear, I looked just like those swooning girls in his class. He’s so great in this, and after seeing how electric he was here, his recent film choices pain me even more. Does he still have THIS in him? I dunno, but I hope to God that he does. When the announcement was made that Karen Allen is coming back as Marion Ravenwood for Indy 4, fanboys pissed themselves with excitement, but I could barely remember her from the bits and pieces that I’d seen years ago. I won’t be forgetting her anytime soon now. She is a great heroine, not quite a worthless damsel in distress, but not quite Ripley either. She’s comfortably in the middle, and her spunk and resourcefulness was a perfect compliment to Indy’s style. After seeing what she did here, I fully understand the hate leveled at Kate Capshaw for her whiny, worse-than-Dunst-as-MJ performance in Temple of Doom. Jonathan Rhys-Davies was also great as Indy’s BFF Sallah, and it makes me a bit sad that he won’t be in Indy 4, because he was a great addition here.
Most films have at least one memorable moment lumped in with a bunch of forgettable crap, but this film is one of the most jam-packed flicks I’ve ever seen. There was NEVER a moment where my eyes left that screen. It was paced excellently, the performances were great, and those signature Indy moments that I’d seen in passing(the big ball, “throw me the idol, I’ll throw you the whip”, Indy shooting the swordfighter, Marion’s mean right hook) had me absolutely hooked. My only complaint is that it took so friggin’ long for me to wise up and watch the damn thing.
Now, if I could only watch The Godfather…
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2 Responses to “[Retro Review] RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK”
Shame on you, how can it have taken you this long
Glad you finally caught up with the rest of the class. Are you going to watch Star Wars next?
Haha.
I really have no excuse. I just never saw it. I’ve seen the highlights so many times that it felt like I’d seen the movie, but I hadn’t. I know, I should have my fangirl card revoked :oops:
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