A timeless classic

Rating: Null/10 (18 September 2011)

Raiders of the Lost Ark is the first installment of four in the Indiana Jones saga. I believe the underlying theme is centered on the central characters and the plot of a good archaeologist racing against the clock to find the lost Ark of the Covenant before the evil Nazis. The story is centered on Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), an archeology professor who also moonlights as a treasure hunter, collecting important and sometimes priceless artifacts for a local museum. Produced by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg, this dynamic duo takes the viewer through the jungles in South America to the mountains of Nepal and on to the deserts of Egypt in this epic search for the lost Ark of the Covenant. In the first action sequence of the movie, Indiana and his unnamed assistant negotiate deadly booby-traps in search of an ancient Peruvian gold idol. After recovering the idol, the walls start trembling and the two make a mad dash for the exit. Coming upon a seemingly bottomless pit, Indiana's guide tricks him into handing over the idol so that they both can escape the temple filled with booby-traps. The guide leaves Indiana to die and runs for the exit. Indiana with the aid of his bullwhip crosses the crevasse and later found the guide impaled on a booby trap. No sooner than finding the guide, a massive bolder is ejected from the ceiling of the passageway heading right for Indiana. Racing towards the exit, Indiana escapes the gigantic stone bowling ball and dramatically exits the cave covered in spider webs only to be surrounded by local poison blowgun toting locals. The camera is positioned facing Indiana and leads him towards the exit. Indiana's nemesis, Dr. René Belloq (Paul Freeman) takes the idol, and Indiana narrowly escapes with his life. The first sequence was filmed in both a studio to control the environment and on location. The special effects, camera angles who are a mixture of point of views and third-person angles coupled by the musical accompaniment compliment the first action sequence well and the movie as a whole, leaving the viewer on the edge of their seat. After returning to the classroom, Indiana receives another opportunity to retrieve the lost Ark of the Covenant. However, he must find a medallion from a lost love and daughter of his mentor, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen). After a run-in with Nazi's agents, Marion agrees to give the medallion to Indiana at price; she is now partners with Indiana. The couple travels to Egypt and hires an old friend, Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) to find the best digging crew in all of Egypt in order to beat the Nazi's to the Ark. Before heading out to the high desert, Marion is kidnapped by the Nazi agents. In my opinion, the best scene in the movie is the chase scene through Cairo where Indiana encounters a sword wielding Arab, who demonstrates his prowess with this weapon. I was anticipating a sword battle; however, Indiana who was only holding his bullwhip, opts to pull a revolver from a concealed holster, shoots the scimitar wielding bad person, and resumes the search for Marion. Several action sequences follow until the discovery of the Ark. The Ark is then transported to a deserted island where the Nazi's and Belloq, against the advice of Indiana, open the Ark. Brilliant lights and demons liquefy the Nazi's, The Ark replaces the lid, and only Indiana, and Marion remain alive. Throughout the movie, images of swastika, German soldiers, and evil musical scores reminded me of the struggle between good and evil. This well-developed movie had a good balance of action and special effects.