Raiders of The Lost Ark is the best Indiana Jones film, now while Temple is my favorite Raiders is the greatest action hero in the greatest action/adventures film of all time (and one of the greatest films of all time) I'll start of with my love list
The opening, it introduces us to a new hero from the creators of JAWS and STAR WARS: INDIANA JONES he runs from danger on every corner, travels across the globe to exotic locals with with mystery, seeing him run from the boulder, dodge the traps, and use the sand bag to retrieve a lot treasure showed that this character had brains and strength. He uses a whip and wears a fedora, when you watch this movie it has a very nostalgic feel to it, and nostalgia=awesome
STEVEN SPILEBERG, GEORGE LUCAS, and HARRISON FORD colaborate to create a film so iconic, so beutiful, so ... perfect that no other modern action film has even come close, many have tried one has succeeded: Raiders of The Lost Ark. These three are entertainment geniuses Spielberg was at his peack (in my opinion) during the early 80s and this film only proves it.
Villains, while in my opinion (usually not other's) Belloq is a lousy villain, there's nothing intersting about him he's just a man in a suit. The only thing that makes him stand out from Donovan
is the fact that he and Indy have been life long enemies. but there are still some really cool things about this character. He hits on the lead lady. Before Raiders how often did this happen? Now how often? The answers are: 1) not very often 2) in many modern action pictures (prior to raiders). And second off he's a dirtbag... let Indy do this work then get the prize...classy
So he's okay. He's not as interesting and exciting as Mola Ram or Chatter Lal, he's not as dirtbaggy or evil and cunning as Lao Che, he's his own character. Now on the other hand there's toht. He makes Raiders of the Lost Ark so awesome. he is the definition of evil. This man brings out the evil in Belloq and the other villains. Long live toht (melted that is)
but the one thing that makes Raiders villains stand out from the rest is the fact that there are 3 villains. This allows for one ultimate source of evil. That is dietrich makes it happen, he supplies the power...and the guns. Toht supplies the evil. And belloq supplies the dirtbag, suit wearing, slightly cunning, romanticness. All of these combined maek one amazing villain. And every great movie needs a great villain after-all.
The action, what sill gets me about raiders is the fact tha spielberg was able to get three huge action squences back to-back to-back. That is, the well of souls, the fight on the flying wing, and the truck chase. That scene where Indy is at the wheel of the truck and rams belloq's car off the road is wonderful. I can only imagine sitting in the theatre in 1981 and watching with the Raiders March blarring in the background. Awesome.
Then lastly one of my altime favorite lines...
(from the top of my head)
Katanga: "where's jones?"
Pirate: "I don't know"
Katanga: "find him"
Pirate: "I found him sir"
Katanga: "where is he?"
Pirate: (points to u-boat) "there!"
Indy salutes and all but then the the pirates start cheering and the Raiders March plays. wow.
So overrall Raiders is fantastic. It's a great film, and just wonderful overall
