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Indiana Jones - Raiders Of The Lost Ark - Special Edition [1981]

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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas's 1981 resurrection of the Saturday-matinee adventure genre was deservedly popular, and kicked off a successful trilogy. Set in 1936, this first feature introduces Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, an archaeologist and adventurer whose quests for rare antiquities frequently find him running from one menace or another. Raiders Of The Lost Ark finds Dr. Jones in the middle of a Nazi plot to use the mysterious powers of the Ark of the Covenant to win the war. Karen Allen plays the love interest with an old-fashioned "man's woman" appeal (she can drink anybody under the table and is free with her fists). The constant, cliffhanger appeal of the movie is great fun--one is always wondering how Indy will get out of one scrape after another--and Ford's career got a big boost with his self-effacing but masculine portrayal of the hero. --Tom Keogh

Deserves it's place in history.
Review date: 2008-06-17 Rating: 10 out of 10

An absolutely faultless film from start to finish. I must have seen it over a hundred times and it's still as thrilling to me today as it was when I first saw it aged 10.

A classic movie to stick on after Christmas dinner. Great casting, superb plot devices, wonderful music, it's all here.

Hard for me to be subjective about this film really. I just adore everything about it.

Reviews

a great central character makes a great action adventure
Review date: 2008-05-30 Rating: 10 out of 10

Harrison Ford (Star Wars) stars as Indiana Jones, an archaeologist who is sent on a mission to find the Ark of the Covenant.

Coming off the epic Star wars trilogy, Harrison Ford and George Lucas teamed up with Steven Spielberg to create an adventure masterpiece in this Oscar winning action adventure.

Ford leads the way as Jones, a cocky and intelligent man who uses rough, dangerous and intriguing techniques to get what he wants and through Ford's acting, do we see a great character and a strong male icon. Now, 27 years on, the icon with hat and whip are famous, as is many scenes, including probably one of the most exciting beginnings ever filmed when Indy goes into a temple and is chased by that boulder, possibly the best action sequence and memorable part of the series.

The writing by Lucas and direction by Spielberg also make the character and the entire film enjoyable and exciting all the way through in a consistent and tense plot. Lucas' attention to detail about the Ark is good and Spielberg's close and fast direction conforms brilliantly to the genre.

I wasn't around when the film was released but can understand by research that it was a landmark at the time of release, a completely knew idea when effects and action were really coming into full effect, like Star Wars brought the Sci-Fi genre out, and this film was a real niche in the adventure genre, and still remains to be today with Indy 4 currently being released and hundreds of thousands seeing it in its opening week.

The plot is consistent with great action scenes, suspense and mystery around every corner and intriguing characters and relationships being built. There perhaps could have been a bit more depth to some of the characters but otherwise it is a truly brilliant action adventure and a landmark in the adventure genre.

8.5/10

THE PERFECT MOVIE...
Review date: 2008-05-26 Rating: 10 out of 10

Where does one start with this 1981 CLASSIC!??
Quite simply the BEST Action/Adventure movie of ALL time!
Definiteley the best of all the 4 movies, followed by The Temple Of Doom & a tie between The Last Crusade & newbie, Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.
Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones is simply the most iconic & accessible of cinema's great heroes, easier for the everyman to relate to than say, James Bond. A reluctant hero who just gets it done! There's also a great ensemble of supporting characters.
Raiders, to these eyes, still looks the biggest budgeted out of the four, with its Egyptian locations, lavish underground sets, fantastic stunts (NO CGI!) and AMAZING visual effects.
The cinematography is perfect and the score by John Williams is one of his greatest - Love the music when Indy is in the hidden map room & the Staff Of Ra reveals the whereabouts of the Ark Of The Covenant. Spellbinding!
Raiders also has the perfect blend of light & shade , balancing the tension with the humour superbly (unlike the over comedic Last Crusade).
It's a fairly violent movie in places; people are impaled with spikes, graphically shot in the head, disintegrated in propeller blades & at the movie's wonderfully supernatural finale, faces melt & heads explode! There's also lots of hard & bloody fist fights which are some of the best choreographed I have ever seen - enhanced by those fantastically loud, 'wet leather' sound FX (ala Rocky 3) as every punch lands!
The aforementioned, supernatural climax is easily the most spectacular, even horrifying of the series, with traditional FX techniques that make a mockery of todays, overly CG indulgent films. Cloud tanks, traditional matte paintings, miniatures & prosthetic make up techniques all excel in the movie & let's not forget the amazing array of massive explosions, bullet impacts, and firearms action courtesy of a great mechanical effects team!
All this mayhem comes together through some of the finest ever editing & of course, Steven Spielberg's masterly direction! This guy not only raised the bar for Action cinema but set a standard that for this type of film has never been bettered (forget junk like The Matrix trilogy!). The opening 15 minutes as Indiana Jones battles a succession of deadly, archaeological boobytraps is now legendary & sets the often dark tone that follows.
It is quite simply THE perfect movie - if I'm nitpicking I can fault only one very minor thing - the scene where the truck flips over after Indy has shot the driver; you can see the pole on the vehicle's underside used to flip it - Couldn't this have been digitally erased for the DVD?? It still doesn't spoil a great action scene however - so well edited!!
Also this movie has the best villains in it's Nazis, played with a straight face & sense of menace, again unlike The Last Crusade where the Nazi Party were depicted as more of a pantomime style enemy.
And The Ark Of The Covenant in it's sense of mystery & ultimateley, it's apocalyptic power over Evil is still a better central plot device than sacred stones or alien skulls!
If you love action with a little bit of fantasy, great characters, a darned good plot & yearn for the days when truck chases were done without mega pixels, then this is the picture for you!
SIX STARS OUT OF FIVE.

Has the other reviewer actually seen the film???
Review date: 2008-05-20 Rating: 10 out of 10

Just felt I had to correct the previous reviewer - Indiana Jones was not played by Rex Harrison (I think everyone under the sun knows it's Harrison Ford) and it was not written by George Lucas either, it was written by Lawrence Kasdan. Those mind-boggling errors aside, this is by far the best Indy movie and the best action adventure fim of all time. Nuff said.

best indy ever was and ever will be
Review date: 2008-05-19 Rating: 10 out of 10

raiders focuses on the ark of the covenent which once held the ten commandments that noah brought down from mount olympus, apparently. Hitler being the nut that he was fancies adding the ark to his antique collection and the only man standing in the way is indiana jones (played by rex harrison) the stunts are truly amazing and despite being writen by beardy george lucas the script isn't all that bad. Raiders of the lost ark also has to have the best intro ever, the first 15 mins is class and sets you up for a rollercoaster ride!

Product Details/Specifications

Actor(s):
Paul Freeman
Harrison Ford
George Harris
Karen Allen
Frank Marshall

Director(s):

Recording label: Paramount Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment
EAN: 5014437954336
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL, Special Edition,
Release date: 2008-05-12
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 110 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1981

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Indiana Jones - Raiders Of The Lost Ark - Special Edition [1981]

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