The epitome of action/adventure and the birth of one of film's greatest heroes

Rating: 8/10 (11 March 2008)

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" is simply the classic adventure film. You have your charming, smart, brave, witty and unforgiving hero in Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. There's history, mystery, traps, explosions, fighting, damsels in distress and...snakes. "Raiders" has it all and it shows the collaborative genius of two of the greatest modern day cinematic storytellers: Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
The film begins on an artifact hunt in South America in 1936 as we follow Indiana into a hidden temple with a treasure hidden inside. Normally, this scene in a film would just detract from getting toward the actual plot, but this scene not only introduces us to our hero and his fearless ways, it also happens to be incredibly memorable in how clever the actions is and the traps are. You watch it and you feel like you've seen it a million times before, but that's because you have (since 1981). "Raiders" has influenced Hollywood that much. Granted it does borrow on previous concepts, but that's always what making a hit entails.
Eventually we see Professor Jones and learn about the Nazi's pursuit of the Ark of the Covenant, the ark that held the Ten Commandments and disappeared thousands of years ago from the first Hebrew temple. Jones gets paid to stop them. After a pit stop in Nepal to pick up an essential artifact for uncovering the Ark, he ends up picking up an old flame (Karen Allen) who immediately becomes the stereotypical leading lady. When they arrive in Cairo, the search begins, which action and mayhem along the way.
Ford simply makes these movies. Why else would Indiana Jones have been attached to the beginning of the names of the following films? He simply is one of the best one-liner deliverers in Hollywood history. Jones is a complicated character and Ford fuels that while also making him the cunning hero everyone wants to see.
While the ending of the film is okay, it's all the cool action along the way that makes it a 1 hr. and 55 minute thrill ride that you can't help but love. It was simply was the Daniel Boone of adventure films and in how much it has inspired other adventure films, it has accumulated its own timeless value and gotten better because of them.