it's just sheer, nonstop high-quality if implausible entertainment from one of the best directors that we have today

Rating: 10/10 (1 March 2010)

There are very few moments in Steven Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" that is plausible or that could be taken for credible if you wanted to give the illusion that this may happen in real life. But there is hardly a single moment in this movie that is not adrenaline-stimulating in its excitement. Spielberg willingly throws logic out the window in favor of creating something that is just old-fashioned, nonstop nostalgic entertaining fun and he does it very well and with that pure craftsmanship that has made him one of the really good directors of contemporary times. It is the start of the Indiana Jones series and hailed as the best of the bunch. It's certainly one of the most stimulating movies ever made.
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" stars Harrison Ford, just recently having shot to fame as Han Solo in the Star Wars movies, as an adventurer in World War II who stumbles upon the secret that the Nazis have discovered a city in which the famous Ark of the Covenant may be located. Since the Ark is described as being a source of indescribable power, Jones is hired to retrieve it before Hitler does. Along the way, he meets up with an old flame wonderfully played by Karen Allen and an Arabic friend (John Rhys-Davies) who together work to try and uncover the Ark, battling everything from Nazis to venomous snakes to booby traps along the way.
It's not the credibility of the movie, but the energy and stimulation that it uses with such great craftsmanship and enthusiasm that makes "Raiders of the Lost Ark" one of the most thoroughly enjoyable movies ever made. On top of that, it is equipped with a very solid screenplay of wise dialogue and interesting characters. Harrison Ford is excellent as Indiana Jones, obviously modeled after Frank Buck and other real-life adventurers and the supporting performances by Rhys-Davies, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, and the others are fabulous. Who can forget Ronald Lacey walking into Karen Allen's pub hissing in his Peter Lorre-like voice "Good evening, Fraulein." And who can forget iconic scenes such as Harrison Ford running through a cave with a giant boulder hot on his heels? "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is nonstop fun and that's why it has become a classic. Is it what I would call motion picture art? No. But is it a great movie? You bet it is. It is proof for all that credibility CAN be thrown out the window and still have a movie with a lot to show for itself. But it takes a certain genius that its imitators do not seem to show. And on top that, it takes a great director. And, in my opinion at least, Steven Spielberg most certainly qualifies.