Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Story: George Lucas, Philip Kaufman Screenplay: Lawrence Kasdan
Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, Alfred Molina, Wolf Kahler
Genre: Adventure, Action

I've seen Raiders of the Lost Ark several times in the 80's and 90's, but this is actually my first revisit this millennium. It's been 29 years since Spielberg made it, and it's still the best of the adventure action genre. Entertainment the way these movies are meant to entertain. Without a CGI-department trying to blowing our brain with their creativity every third second, but rather take us along on an inspired adventure with easy-to-hate bad guys, historical relics and an old-fashioned protagonist.

I'll admit Ford have never been among my favorite actors. I find his acting range rather limited and maybe even more so his facial expression's range. Still. Indiana Jones is one character he was born to play. Indy doesn't need a wide range. We like him because we can always rely on him to do as expected, rather than because he's got such a wide range of abilities.

It's not perfect, by all means, but it's purely enjoyable, even the third, fourth or fifth time around. It inspires the adventurer in all of us, it triggers our imagination about historical artifacts, exotic destinations and its paced and driven enough to not become tiresome. For the rest it's like a lifelong best friend you can rely on: It guarantees entertainment. It's the standard every other adventure based movie is compared to. A truly must-see classic in every possible meaning of the expression.