‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ Review: I Didn’t Dig This Classic

In my 20 years of life, I have never once had the desire to watch the Indiana Jones movies. I understand that the franchise is loved by so many and considered a cult classic, but 1980’s action movies have just never been my cup of tea. But when The Fox Theater decided to play the original Indiana Jones movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, I decided to give it a chance.

And it was exactly what I thought it would be. Indiana Jones, an archeologist, goes on a scavenger hunt to find a mysterious piece of lost history, gets into trouble, defeats the bad guys, and then saves the day. It was the definition of a stereotypical 80’s action film.

The entire premise of this movie is that Indiana Jones goes on the hunt to find the Ark of the Covenant. He has to find it before the Nazis do, and somewhere along the way, his girlfriend, Marion Ravenwood, gets kidnapped by the Nazis, so not only does he have to defeat the Nazis, but he also has to get his girlfriend back. Which, again, is a stereotypical 80’s action movie.

While I don’t think the film was necessarily bad, I think it just fell a little flat for me. Harrison Ford is an outstanding actor and Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest directors of all time, but I think the script and supporting cast just didn’t live up to what Ford and Spielberg contributed to the movie.

I found that Karen Allen as Marion and John Rhys-Davies as Sallah were given outlandish dialogue throughout the movie that just didn’t compare to Ford’s. I found that both supporting actors just didn’t have the acting chops to star next to Ford.

I did thoroughly enjoy the soundtrack, which is a given as it was composed by John Williams. While I had never seen any of the Indiana Jones movies until this moment, even I found the “Raiders March” nostalgic.

I do understand that “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was ahead of its time, but I found that the various long winded fight scenes and random explosions just weren’t for me. There were parts where I was fully invested in the plot, but then it would lose me with a way too long fight scene. I did enjoy many scenes from the beginning, such as when Indiana Jones is teaching his class or when he and Marion reconnect. Overall, I found the movie boring and predictable.

It wasn’t the worst movie I’d ever seen, but it wasn’t the best. After watching it, I understand why so many people enjoy the franchise, but I just don’t see myself watching the rest of the movies.

Lizzie Rush is a Grand Island, Neb., sophomore studying journalism and the Collegian’s Editor In Chief. Contact her on Instagram.

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