Raiders of the Lost Ark

The two scenes that I consider essential for appreciating Raiders of the Lost Ark (though there are a number of others) are the sequences with the airplane and the submarine. The former is a masterclass in constructing action in space and narrative in the sense of layering information and details that will then be utilised for dramatic effect and causal scene development. In addition, this sequence also demonstrates Harrison Ford’s strengths as an actor, or rather how he is able to sell his charisma while concurrently enhancing the comic essence of the scene with his facial expressions and body language. I find the submarine sequence essential for understanding the entire Indiana Jones franchise and its self-conscious work with trash. It divides viewers into two camps. One will nonsensically debate how Indy could have gotten to the island with the submarine. The other camp will enjoy the genius of the editing ellipsis consisting in the fact that it doesn’t answer the question at all, because it simply doesn’t have to. Then, after a few episodes, the first group of viewers will disparage the refrigerator scene and the presence of aliens (even if they’re not bothered by the Biblical supernaturalism of the first and third instalments), while the opposite camp will appreciate them as further manifestations of how the filmmakers honour the saga’s roots in trashy film franchises and their straightforward logic and low-brow elements. (2022-07-14)

I was lucky enough to see this film for the first time as a little kid at the Czech premiere in a completely packed cinema (people were sitting on the stairs), during the deep totalitarian era, when everybody was happy to see something other than a Soviet film (despite the many years of delay). The audience togetherness and the incredible burst of laughter of the whole cinema during Indy's duel with the swordsman is something I will never forget. Beautiful fun. (2003-04-12)

Raiders of the Lost Ark was and will probably remain the best adventure movie. No wonder, when two of the most ingenious and most talented filmmakers of their era, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, stood behind its inception. They created the character of Indiana Jones, a slightly unorthodox archeologist who went down in history in a short time. First we meet him in 1936 when he is commissioned by the US to find the mythical Ark of the Covenant which Adolf Hitler, obsessed by the occult, is desperate to acquire. The first part of the Jones Trilogy is without doubt the best. The mystical powers of the Ark, along with the enrapturing music by Williams manages to evoke fear of the unknown even now after so many years. The ending in the warehouse has an indescribable atmosphere that makes your hair stand on end. (2006-12-02)

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? (2004-04-18)

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. (2023-07-01)