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“Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark,” released in 1981 starring Harrison Ford, is undoubtedly one of the most well-known action movies of its time. Admittedly, while a lot of the props look like Halloween decorations by today’s standards, this film was on par with a lot of other productions in terms of overall quality for its time.
The film starts with Indiana Jones played by Harrison Ford, on one of his daring trips in the middle of The Peruvian Forest, filled with dangerous wildlife and a menacing native tribe who had been taken advantage of by his rival archaeologist. After he had gotten past a multitude of dangerous traps, the rival ends up taking the treasure from Jones.
The choice to start with an action scene is not an uncommon strategy in action movies. It’s meant to pull the viewer into the suspense immediately rather than start with a slow scene and let the suspense build up over time. Although “Indiana Jones” director Steven Spielberg wasn’t the first, it was a conscious choice in order to properly build up the plot and give the audience a taste of the action to come.
The main conflict of the story arises when after Jones is finished teaching his classes as a professor. He gets pulled aside by his friend Marcus Brody play by Denholm Elliot, to get briefed about a threat regarding Nazis gaining control of a biblical object known as “The Ark of The Covenant.”
In terms of casting, Spielberg couldn’t have picked a better actor to play this role than Ford. He plays the character to its absolute fullest potential. From his natural charm to his good looks and brave personality, Ford was overqualified for the role.
One thing that could’ve been explored in depth was the personal rivalry between Jones and René. Their direct relationship is kind of ignored in the plot and mostly clouded by large amounts of action scenes which is not a bad thing of course, because it’s an 80’s flick by Steven Spielberg.
Overall, I would rate this movie 3.5📼 out of 5📼. I enjoyed a lot of the special effects and constant action scenes that were filled with suspense. One thing that felt unenjoyable was the lack of depth, even though this is one of those films where you can turn off your brain and just watch. I recommend watching this in your free time if you want an edge-of-the-seat movie that doesn’t have a bunch of wildly expensive special effects and still holds that 80’s to 90’s aesthetic.
