The best adventure movie of all time. One of my favorite movies of all time.

Rating: 10/10 (9 May 2008)

My Take: Definitely the very best adventure the movie business has to offer.
The INDIANA JONES series may just be one of the best franchises in the history of cinema, and it seems pretty hard even to make a sequel that won't fall short of the predecessor. The INDIANA JONES series has everything that I like about the movies. Action, adventure, thrills, romance, and simply fun. And the first film, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, is the best place to start. The great thing about RAIDERS is that it isn't content with one great scene. It's ready and willing to throw in as much beginnings and endings as far as it can. The film moves from one locale after another, giving the characters much more to do. To a lesser film that tries hard, it's overstaying ones welcome. To a great film with a great screenplay (written by Phil Kaufman and Lawrence Kasdan), its terrific entertainment.
The film opens with our dashing hero, the ever-daring Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford at best), going on a trek through the rugged and muddy South American rain forest, off to find a priceless idol hidden inside temple ruins, surrounded by a bevy of booby traps. After surviving the ordeal and getting his loot, Indy's little artifact falls in the hands of his fortune-hungry foe Dr. Belloq (Paul Freeman), ending with Indy escaping a chase with Belloq's native allies through a plane, where Indy comes across his worst enemy: the pilot's pet python. "I hat snakes!" bellows Indy, and who knew such an action hero would admit his fear. Makes me want to admit my complete despise of cockroaches.
But this is just the first act, what follows include Indy's confrontation with Sherpas in the Alps, a trek that turns to a chase though Egyptian desert, but not without getting Indy trapped in a pit of snakes. The finale is always the time where the baddies get their just desserts, but that's just part of the charms of these kind of movies. It brings back the pure "cheer for the heroes" entertainment. And since this movie is filled with very interesting and memorable characters, the experience is more relevant. The fun of Saturday-matinées are wonderfully relieved thanks to such expert handling by director Steven Spielberg and the breathtaking special effects work by George Lucas' ILM which still holds up pretty well.
There's no further a do I can give about how great this film is. For all I know, you've seen it more times than I have (and I've seen it numerous times) and liked it as much as I did, if not more. Its worth buying the DVD set which includes the two films in the series, INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM and INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, both still stand out as pure classic cinema. Comparisons (especially with the 2nd one) are overrated. One film in the series is just as good as the other. RAIDERS is the most original of the three, but the other sequels are less sequels, and sprout out much original ideas on their own.
There's nothing really more I can say about this great films. My endless praises would just be the same thing that the last guy said about this movie. We know it's such a classic as other classics considered as the "Great Movie-going Experience." Like Lucas' other work on pure "fun at the movies" fantasy STAR WARS, RAIDERS has earned its place in classic cinema.
Rating: ***** out of 5.