Due to the existence, and
necessity, of exams, I’m afraid I don’t have much time to quench the word lust
of my readers. To atone for the SQA’s wrongdoings, I’ve decided to make up for
this by posting a paragraph or two dedicated to each of my favourite 50 films, counting
downwards, at least until my exams are over, by then my infantile attention
span might drag me to pastures new. But don’t worry, those pastures will be as
smugly sarcastic and narcissistically hate-spewing as ever. I’ll probably post
one every other day, so keep a look out. Okay, are you ready? We’re off...
50. Raiders of the Lost
Ark
Spielberg’s 2nd
greatest filmic achievement, (I say filmic, he might consider being a father
his greatest achievement. Well, the man does enjoy his corniness) it’s very
probably the best adventure film ever made. The adventure ‘genre’ is actually
very particular, contrary to popular belief. The three components of this ‘genre’
consist of two major genres, and one sub-genre in their own right; comedy,
action and romance. Other examples of this delicately defined field range from The Mummy to Pirates of the Caribbean. Raiders
succeeds, where many others fail, because it absolutely nails each individual
component, and they flow and interact seamlessly with one another. The comedy
is light-hearted and genuinely funny, the action frequent and exciting, but
never intrusive, and the romance unashamedly old-fashioned, (maybe a bit
sexist, though) taking the form of the classic ‘reluctant damsel-in-distress
eventually falls for Mr. Charismatic Sarcasm’. It has heroes and villains,
romantic interests and comic relief characters, all staples of adventure. There
are so many great scenes, which are now eternally branded onto the pop culture
cattle; the rolling boulder, the fist fight at the aeroplane, the scene where he
shoots crazy-sword-Arab-man, and, of course, that retreating shot of the Ark’s
final home...
 |
| Here's Indy doing the Haka to impress a statue head. |
I could go on and on about how innovative the special effects
where, or how perfectly atmospheric John Williams’ score was, or how superb the
pacing and characterisation was. Instead, I’ll lastly point out that Raiders is the pinnacle of escapism in
film. We watch films for a variety of reasons; entertainment, education,
attractive actresses in inappropriate clothing, but they are all a product of
escapism; the idea that we can leave the drudgery of our own lives behind, and
embrace another world; an immersive experience. Spielberg achieves the finest
example of escapism with Raiders, in
its purest, most unspoilt form. A blockbuster masterpiece. I leave you with the
words of the greatest film critic of all time, Roger Ebert. He writes ‘It’s
actually more than a movie; it’s a catalogue of adventure... it wants only to
entertain. It succeeds.’[1]
No comments:
Post a Comment