The beginning of a classic, they say

Rating: 7/10 (14 February 2006)

STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits
The film opens with our hero, Indy Jones (Harrison Ford) on one of his expeditions in the caves, which nearly goes disasterously wrong. But he survives and is back to his day job as a lecturer at a high school. But it is there that he is approached by a group of men to hunt down a mystical ark that will point in many directions when shone under the sun. But along the way, old flames, murderous Nazis and treacherous foreigners all conspire to stand in his way.
25 years ago, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas teamed up with leading man Harrison Ford to bring us Raiders of the Lost Ark, a film that 25 years on, is still hailed as a classic of it's sort.
Ford's a good choice of lead for this sort of thing. As an actor he's not particularly expressive, but as an action hero with presence he does just nicely. But he's one of the main commendable things I could find with this film.
As a big grand spectacle it may be something, but it doesn't develop the most engaging characters or story to go along with it as we just sort of 'open up in the action', with Ford and some cohorts on their first big grand adventure. When the action scenes do arrive, they are fairly spectacular, but they're strangely unplentiful and one or two of them are a little bloody and violent for a PG film.
I know this is a film with legions of fans and there are some 'classic' movies I've been able to get into and accept as brilliant. But maybe Indiana Jones will be one of those ones that just doesn't rub with me. ***