Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark [VHS]

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Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark [VHS] Review

The details of new DVD editions of the three classic classic Indiana Jones movies with all-new special features have been announced. They'll be available separately for the first time on DVD, or as a set. They were previously only available on DVD as a set.

The new releases will coincide with the new movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which comes out on May 22nd. They'll have new special features designed to introduce new Indy fans to the old movies, and to introduce old fans to the new movie.

The Indiana Jones movies are George Lucas's recreation/update of the serialized adventures of the 1930s and '40s. The first three were made in the '80s and set in the '30s. They feature Harrison Ford as a mild-mannered archeology professor who moonlights as an adventurous seeker of priceless antiquities. This takes him to exotic locations across the world, and gets him in some very tight spots of the kind that only a movie hero could get into, or out of. He invariably finds himself opposed by dangerous men with evil plans for the powerful objects only he has the skills to recover. There are elaborate set pieces with creepy critters, ancient traps, fights with weapons from bare hands to airplanes and tanks, and sometimes supernatural forces. Along the way Jones manages to have some romance too.

Raiders was the first in the series. In 1936, having barely survived an unsuccessful attempt to find (OK) and bring home (whoops!) an ancient idol from Peru, Indiana Jones is recruited in a race against the Nazis to recover the Ark of the Covenant (yes, the one mentioned in the Bible, but with lots of added mythology), which is reputed to have the power to make an army invincible. The ark is located in the Well of Souls somewhere in Egypt; the key to the exact location is a medallion located, naturally, in a seedy lodge/bar in Nepal, in the possession of Indy's ex-lover. All kinds of sparks fly, literal and metaphorical, as the pair, joined by another confederate in Egypt, use their knowledge of ancient myth and sheer bravado to work right under the noses of the Nazis to find the ark and remove it to safety. Almost. There are several reversals along the way, close escapes, a huge near-finale, and icky stuff--spiders and, especially, snakes, thousands of them, of which Indy unfortunately has a bit of a phobia.

Some of the more memorable moments are tinged with humor, if not outright hilarity. Indy's reactions make the snakes as amusing as they are scary. We see how to fight an expert swordsman, if you're in a hurry. The way the Nazis got a copy of (half) the medallion is painfully funny. The fate of the ark is a wry comment on Washington bureaucracy.

Raiders was an instant classic. I'm sure there are people who don't like it, but I've never met any. It's fine for most kids (PG violence and mild sexuality), and it's plenty smart enough for all but the most snooty adults.

The original title is just Raiders of the Lost Ark, which is preserved in the movie itself. The longer title makes it easier to market as part of the franchise.

If you just want Raiders and don't want to wait until May, you could get a used copy of the old Raiders DVD (people sell them out of the sets). The difference is in the extra features. The bonuses from the old set are on their own disc, so what you get when you buy just the old Raiders DVD is pretty bare. The new release, on the other hand, has the following, all new:

-- "Raiders of the Lost Ark: An Introduction" by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas

-- "Indiana Jones: An Appreciation," in which the cast and crew of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull pay tribute to the original trilogy

-- "The Melting Face," a recreation of the famous effect from the climactic scene that certainly left an impression on me (was new then), with Spielberg and Lucas on the evolution of visual effects and CGI

-- storyboards for "The Well of Souls" sequence

-- DVD galleries of illustrations, props, production stills and portraits, FX/Industrial Light and Magic stuff, and promotion/marketing materials

-- "Lego Indiana Jones," a demo and trailer for a game based on the trilogy

If you like a few extras, you'll probably like this new DVD, though maybe not enough to upgrade from the old one, or to wait until May. I like audio commentaries, myself, and since they're easy to produce and tend to bring out points not covered in other features, I subtract one star for a special edition without any, but I look forward to the rest. If you don't care about commentaries, this may be a five-star DVD for you.

There have been rumors of deleted scenes, but none are included.

Some will want to wait for a high-def release, which may make sense if you have the equipment or plan to get it. Many speculate that a Blu-ray release will come out for Christmas, but that's guesswork.

There's also some speculation that an edition with all four movies will be released for Christmas. They may bundle the four together, but I doubt that there will be a better edition of this movie soon, if ever, on standard DVD. Keep in mind that the previous set came out over four years ago, and if not for the new movie, that would probably be the only release during the decade of standard DVD. The next upgrade may be high-def only, and may not happen for a while.

If you do want the whole trilogy (highly recommended), the new set is here, the old set is here. If you want to pick up one of the others from the new set, the new edition of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is here, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade here.

I was in college when Raiders came out. There was great anticipation because of the people associated with it, after the great success of Star Wars. A bunch of us went to the old full-size theater downtown to see the premiere, waited outside for hours. We weren't disappointed. It was a wild, gripping ride from beginning to end, lots of excitement, good characters, clever moments for comic relief, and romance. More memorable than some entire semesters!

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