Raiders of the Lost Ark... does NOT live up... barely.

 

Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) with Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen)
Lure him close, then punch.

Many things from the 1980s no longer live up: the clutch of my parents' beige Volvo sedan, the Ghostbusters video game, my 70 year old neighbor's casual racism, Kellogs OJ's cereal.** 

Kellog's OJ cereal box
Try brushing your teeth first. Blech.

And so it goes... We released our review of Raiders of the Lost Ark knowing that Indiana Jones was a childhood hero for many of our friends. There's still a lot of fun to be had with this movie, but ultimately it didn't live up to our memory of it. 

THE GOOD

  • It's fun: the adventure, the world traveling, the quests... all still exciting!
  • It looks so cool: the set design (and practical effects!) look fantastic! Kudos to an Oscar-winning team in the art department.  
  • The music: John William's score is iconic. So, so good.
  • Harrison Ford and Karen Allen: phenomenal actors having a lot fun. Marion Ravenwood still makes the greatest entrance into a film of all time. 

THE BAD

  • The violence: we did NOT remember the crazy high body count in this... and a lot of the deaths are grotesque (eyeballs get impaled? Ew.)... yes, we're clutching our pearls a lot these days, but also, Jess was watching this with her 6 year old.
  • Colonial looting: knowing what we know now about stolen antiquities, it's not so cool when Indy is casually selling the stuff he stole after class. 
  • Indy doesn't even save the day: if the Ark of the Covenant was going to kill all the Nazis regardless, why dig it up in the first place?
While we were split on our decision as to whether or not this lived up, the fact that one of the kids viewing it got bored and left the room was like a nail in the coffin. We voted that it didn't live up... barely.

THE UGLY
After we dared to give our opinions (as women!), out came the cockroaches from the cracks of the internet:

Deep thoughts.

Luckily, the majority of the feedback (particularly from our listeners) was actually positive and well thought out. We appreciate your comments!

If you haven't listened yet, here's our episode on Raiders of the Lost Ark:


And, BONUS! Here's a few extra minutes spent on Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Amanda's dislike of Adam Driver:


If you'd like to valiantly defend us, or send us hate mail, you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter... or wherever fine podcasts are published!


**On the topic of 1980's cereal, I still pity the fool that don't eat Mr. T Cereal. 


Comments

Post a Comment