Most viewers are powerless to resist the kinetic pleasures of this endlessly inventive action adventure.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:47
Fresh:44
Rotten:3
Average Rating:8.8/10
Consensus: Featuring bravura set pieces, sly humor, and white-knuckle action, Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the most consummately entertaining adventure pictures of all time.
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
US Box Office: $0
Synopsis: Action-packed and adventure-filled, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK is director Steven Spielberg's loving homage to the Saturday matinee cliffhanger serials of his childhood. When the Allies discover the... Action-packed and adventure-filled, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK is director Steven Spielberg's loving homage to the Saturday matinee cliffhanger serials of his childhood. When the Allies discover the Nazis are planning to use the Lost Ark of the Covenant as a weapon, the U.S. government enlists archaeologist-adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) to locate the biblical treasure chest where the remains of the broken tablets of the Ten Commandments were placed. En route, Jones and his feisty ex-girlfriend, Marion (Karen Allen), must escape the clutches of evil Nazis, duplicitous "natives," and a nest of venomous snakes--not to mention the wrath of God. The groundbreaking special effects and furious, never-ending pace make for a stylish whirlwind of a movie, topped off with a fabulous sense of humor. This bare-knuckled, barnstorming, pot-boiling, eye-popping bucket of Technicolor popcorn became Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing film, and deservedly so--RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK is quite simple one of the most enjoyable movies ever made. [More]
Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey
Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, Alfred Molina
Director: Steven Spielberg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter: Lawrence Kasdan
Story: George Lucas, Philip Kaufman
Producer: Frank Marshall
Composer: John Williams
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Reviews for Raiders of the Lost Ark
Imaginitive set pieces and a quick pace make this a wonderful debut for the series.
To get to the point immediately, Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the most deliriously funny, ingenious and stylish American adventure movies ever made.
I have nothing against the film for what it is. I'm just not wild about what it is.
My big complaint: Take Indiana Jones out of the story, and nothing changes. The Nazis still find the Ark, still open it, still die.
Allows for a certain worldliness, cautiousness, and darkness in Indy's character. He's far from reckless or noble.
The purpose of the exercise. If you can't love this film, you have no business loving movies at all.
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg's classic movie did not invent adventure, as it was largely inspired by old serials, pulp magazines and B-movies, but it certainly revamped our conception of big screen adventure.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a wonderful movie. The good news for exhibitors is that it's also one of those rollercoaster-like movies that people will be lining up for again and again.
Spielberg's and Lucas's collaborative rip-roaring adventure story with a hero of epic proportions makes this film one of the best screen entertainments of 1981.
The stunts are incredible and the effects astonishing, but it's Harrison Ford's effortlessly charming performance as the original tomb raider that makes his globetrotting quest for the Ark of the Covenant so appealing.
Watching Raiders of the Lost Ark again on the big screen I was again reminded how summer films were once thoroughly entertaining and fulfilling.
Ford, in a career-minting performance, plays what would've been a cardboard cut-out in the 1930s as grubby, coy, impertinent, imperfect, phobic of snakes and agnostic (describing the Ark's magic as "the power of God or something").
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