Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageRaiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Hollywood's chutzpah whizzkids Spielberg and Lucas team up to bring the audiences who flocked to Star Wars and Close Encounters a replay of the innocent pleasures of Saturday serials, but done at two hours length with a much larger budget than the old cliffhangers could command. Spielberg's evasion of present day realities in an effort to recapture the sheer childlike fun of moviegoing is as perverse as was his previous film, 1941. What he offers is one long, breathtaking chase of a plot as his pre-World War II superhero, outsize and Bogartian, races to prevent the omnipotent Ark of the Covenant from falling into the hands of Hitler's Nazis. Whether you swallow it or not, see it for a handful of totally unexpected visual jokes, worth the price of admission alone.Author: RM
User reviews of this film
-
- Daniel Cullinane said...
- Posted on Apr 10 2009 09:10 The film is just outstanding and supplies a great beginning to the franchise with its great peformances and action sequences.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Steve T said...
- Posted on Oct 16 2007 21:42 Even after all this time this movie is just amazing, it is what cinema is supposed to be all about.
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Steven Spielberg
Producer: Frank Marshall
Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, Alfred Molina, Wolf Kahler full cast
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Rated: PG
Duration: 115 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 50 greatest monster movies
As Joe Johnston’s long-awaited reinvention of Universal’s howl-at-the-moon classic ‘The Wolfman’ hits cinemas, Time Out lists our 50 favourite cinematic stalkers, growlers, slashers and biters.
Mark Kermode: A life in film
Dave Calhoun chats to Britain's most outspoken film critic and pundit ahead of the release of his memoirs
Has Ricky Gervais gone all serious?
The trailer to 'Cemetery Junction' suggests that its writer-director is suppressing his funny bone.
The genius of Roman Polanski
Ahead of his new film, 'The Ghost', we must forget the media circus and remember the artist pleads Wally Hammond
Oscars 2010: The nominees
Tom Huddleston offers his acute analysis on the list of nominees for the 2010 Academy Awards
Rotterdam 2010: Geoff Andrew's report
Geoff Andrew finds rich leftfield pickings at the 2010 Rotterdam Film Festival
Can Tom Ford cut it as a director?
After ten years as creative head of Gucci, Tom Ford has directed his first movie. Nina Caplan meets him
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
So here it is… Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this.
2009: The year in film
We look back at the best movies of 2009 and pick out some of our favourite lists, features and interviews.
What do you think?
Post your review now