Harrison Ford was kind of a big deal when I was a kid, He was the action hero every kid wanted to be, Han Solo, and Indiana Jones were what every young kid playing make pretend with their friends would fight over who got to play one of these roles. My father introduced me to Raiders of the Lost Ark when it was released on VHS back in the day. I was only four years old when the film came out in theaters, so I was too young to experience it them. Now many years later, and with the release of the fourth installment of the series on the way, Raiders of the Lost Ark along with the rest of the trilogy is now being released in special edition version on DVD.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is the first of the Indiana Jones series. The film mainly revolves around the developing of the Indiana Jones character played by Harrison Ford. Jones is a rebel archeologist who goes out in search of very hard to find artifacts worth tons of money. He’s not your normal sand digger archeologist as everywhere he seems to go there is always the threat of danger around every corner. After narrowly escaping death while retrieving an ancient artifact in South America, Jones is hired by the U.S. Government to find the Ark of the Covenant, because they have intelligence that Hitler’s henchmen are in search of it as well, and want to harness the power which is present inside the ark. With the help of his friend Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) and his love interest Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), they set off on a quest to find the ark and fight off the Hitler’s Nazi army before they can have their way with the ark and uncover it’s secrets.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is masterpiece that helped define the action movie genre and really helped Harrison Ford become one of Hollywood top actors. It was the first film that teamed up blockbuster directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas (whom served as the writer and producer). It’s one of the best action films to date, everything from the great script, wonderful acting and great directing are what made this film what it is. The film also had some of the greatest sets ever put together for its time and also had some creepy special effects during it’s conclusion which includes two of the villains faces melting.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a great movie, but I still like Temple of Doom better, as I feel it’s more action packed. Still Lost Ark is a masterpiece of cinema and it’s the film that gave us the great character of Indiana Jones. It’s been a while since I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the last thing I did see remotely like it was the Indiana Jones Stunt Show in Disney Studios which takes the most memorable scenes from this film and is presented in a great stunt show. It was kind of neat to pick out those scenes from the show in the film.
Lost Ark is a masterpiece in it’s own right, and is one of the better action films to ever be made. The Special Edition DVD includes some great bonus features such as a new introduction by Steven Speilberg and George Lucas, a few featurette such as The Indy Trilogy: A Crystal Clear Appreciation, The mystery of the Melting Face, A story board featurette called Snakes Alive about the well scene, a photo gallery and the demo to the Indiana Jones Lego game.
– Horror Bob
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- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
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