No Ordinary Archaeologist

Rating: Null/10 (21 April 2017)

Hired to stop the Nazis getting hold of a priceless biblical artifact, a 1930s archaeologist has to combat swordsmen, sadistic Germans... and a pathological fear of snakes in this popular adventure film that brought the character of Indiana Jones to screens. The film begins strongly with a thrilling sequence in which Indy has to make his way through booby traps galore in a tomb, and while nothing later on quite matches this tension, there are several exciting moments to be had with a multi-tonal John Williams score perfectly complementing the action. This is hardly a deep or meaningful film, the antagonists range from one-note to one-dimensional and as a character, Indy lacks the charisma of an action hero like James Bond. The attempts to paint Indy as an ordinary university professor who just enjoys adventures never quite gels either since he is more agile and better at close combat than the very best of MI6. All that said and done, 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' is a film full of memorable small moments and there are several excellent artistic shots throughout, most notably some diggers against an orange sunset and Harrison Ford viewed as only a shadow against a wall when first meeting Karen Allen. A supernatural twist near the end also takes the film in some unexpected directions and the iconic final shot of the film makes for a fantastic final note to end on.