One of the most exciting adventure romps of all time.

Rating: 10/10 (21 November 2015)

What can one say about Raiders Of The Lost Ark that hasn't already been said? This is a beautifully constructed movie from first frame to last; by turns interesting, exciting, humorous, thrilling, and yes, incredible, Raiders has surely become one of the most beloved of all movies, and deservedly so.
This is the film that introduced the world to Indiana Jones, that legendary archaeological adventurer, always in over his head (though he thinks he has everything under control); Harrison Ford is now a cinema icon thanks to Jones and Han Solo. It's almost impossible to imagine anyone else in the role.
Of course in this one he was a great adversary in Paul Freeman's Belloq, something which none of the succeeding Indy adventures have quite managed to repeat. Karen Allen and John Rhys Davies are great too as Indy's sidekicks, though that is totally the wrong word. They contribute massively to the viewer's enjoyment of the film.
The plot is too well known to repeat - suffice to say it's Indy against The Nazis in a race to find The Ark Of The Covenant, the chest alleged to contain the Ten Commandments (an idea Phil Kaufman apparently got from his dentist!) Sequence after sequence sticks in the mind, but the truck chase for me is one of the most exciting set pieces in cinema history. Spielberg and Lucas, what a team they once made.