“Any of you guys ever go to Sunday school?”

I’ve never been a particularly huge fan of this movie, or really any of the Indiana Jones movies for that matter, but for some reason I had the urge to rewatch this film, and potentially the other two films in the trilogy (probably not the two legacy sequels). There is no doubt that this film has a special place in the history of cinema, and is not only one of Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford’s most iconic movies, but one of the most iconic adventure movies, and potentially the most iconic of all time. Don’t get me wrong, while I don’t really like Raiders of the Lost Ark a whole lot (we’ll see how the other two hold up), I don’t think it is a bad movie by any means, and I do have plenty of positive things to say about it.

First off, the character of Indiana Jones has to be one of the coolest protagonists/heroes in film. There is a reason he is such a popular character. I mean, even if you just looked at his silhouette, you would recognize him immediately. One of the things I find most interesting about him, even though it isn’t explored a whole lot here, is the contrast between his two different sorts of careers in life. It was certainly revolutionary at the time to have a heroic figure like this, only to figure out that his actual career, well, I guess that’s up for debate, is being a school professor. The contrast between his two lives adds a lot of intrigue to his character.

I think the cinematography serves him very well, too. Not only is this film shot beautifully, with one silhouette shot in the desert in particular, but the shots are also used very cleverly. Straight from the start and all the way until the end, the camera frames Indiana Jones in a way that makes him more imposing, and, to put it bluntly, just plain cool. I would even go as far as to say that this might just be one of the best examples of how to shoot a movie out there, as it’s one of the ones that has stood out to me the most.

There is also some great action here as well, and some of the practical effects, as well as actual real-life stunts, are just insane. There were plenty here that I had a hard time understanding how they were even accomplished in the early 1980s, when computer-generated imagery wasn’t even really a thing yet. Steven Spielberg truly is one of a kind with cinematic immersion.

I can’t forget to talk about the great John Williams, either. While this isn’t one of my favorite scores from him, it still is one that stands out and has always stuck with me. It adds a lot of fun to the movie, as it should, but also mystery. The last thing I’ll say here is that just like most of his other work, you really only have to listen to the main tracks for a second or two to immediately recognize them.

Now, you’re probably wondering why I rate a film so beloved so low. Well, I’ve always found Raiders of the Lost Ark, while technically impressive, very lackluster in the story department. The main thing that makes it hard for me to really care about the story is the characters. Besides Indiana Jones himself, no one really sticks out, and, in fact, a few are even a little bit annoying, including the love interest, Marion. Even aside from that, there is very little character motivation, or, at least, not any that’s very compelling, and that includes Indy.

The lack of interesting character motivation is really what makes the story and plot lackluster in my opinion. I never truly cared about what was going on or what the outcome of any particular situation was going to be, so I’ll have to be honest, I find this film quite boring. The plot is just super generic, too. I mean, the time period is cool and all of that, but it lacked a lot of momentum, with characters being in the same place for an extended period of time, which could be fine for a movie, but this is an adventure movie after all.

Like I said, though, this isn’t a bad movie. To be honest, I think this just purely comes down to taste and what I personally prefer and want out of a film.