Steven Spielberg is a household name in the film industry due to his work in Jaws, Close Encounter of the Third Kind, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park. While these films became critical and box office success, there is only one film that many consider being Spielberg's greatest achievement. Raiders of the Lost Ark is by far tSteven Spielberg's best film of all time due to its choreographed sequences, witty humor, character development, and the plot.
Starring Harrison Ford, the film takes place in 1936 where the United States Government hires archeologist Indiana Jones on a quest on finding the Ark of the Covenant. Through legends, the Ark is the resting place of the ten commandments whose supernatural powers can wipe out entire armies. Fearing that the Nazis will use it as a weapon, it is up to Indiana Jones and his friends to find the Ark before it falls into the wrong hands.
What makes this movie brilliant, is its innovating action and stunt sequences where Indiana Jones went through dangerous booby traps and Nazi henchmen to get to the Ark. The effects team did an excellent job on executing these stunts relying more on practical effects and using less on visual effects. The beginning of the movie where Indy retrieves an idol and must run away from the giant round boulder is an iconic moment that has grabbed the attention to audience members for many years.
Another element of the brilliance of Raiders of the Lost Ark would be the chemistry of actor and director between Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg. For Harrison Ford, he brings Indiana Jones to life by incorporating well-balanced character traits of both a suave womanizer and an experienced Archaeologist who went to many adventures in the past. While Ford is bringing out an excellent performance, Steven Spielberg manages to better comprehend the overall plot due to Harrison's direction of the character bringing the story life as a visionary director suitable for the film.
To this day, it is impossible to imagine a different direction of Indiana Jones movie without the collaboration and involvement of Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford. Raiders of the Lost Ark is a work of art that paved to action films that incorporated exciting and innovative filmmaking techniques like Die Hard, Terminator 2, The Matrix and Mad Max Fury Road. This one of the very few movies that can never replicate as it has brought an everlasting impact on the world of cinema.
