How good is this movie really?

My explanation is simple. What ultimately makes a movie "really good" is not the script or the director or the actors or the composer or the cinematographer or the editor. It is a little bit of each of those which add up in some magical way to "click" with audiences. "Raiders" did that and continues to do that, in many ways for reasons that cannot be adequately explained.

The other half of it is this ... there is no way to determine ahead of time if any given movie will be a great success. That is part of the magic of movies, and why we fans continue to watch, hoping to see the next great movie.

TxMike
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference.

IMHO, This movie is great.

RIP
Jeff Hanneman
1964-2013

It really is a good movie. It has a kind of matinee story structure to it, but that's what it was designed to be. And even so it's still a good film.

Films today are all market researched. Ergo there's a distinct lack of values in them, and a lot of glamour but no real story substance.

You see the characters act funny and go through a story, but there's no point to it other than "don't hurt people". Not a very good premise for your industry.

All time great. Deserves its rating and position in the top 250

"Is it really worth the 8.6 it has now?"

Yes it is. Imo, it could be rated higher. It has a great story, actors, stunts/action, drama and comedy. It really is the full package and it isn't hampered by outdated special effects being most was executed practically and still look great.

I was surprised when I watched this restored film on DVD for the first time. (Seen it on vhs originally) The film looks and holds up so well that it could've been shot last year. Classic.

One of my all-time favorites and totally deserving of it's praises.

I think it definitely earns its rating, even today. This movie only gets better each time I watch it. The cinematography is actually quite beautiful and I think the music (mainly the haunting theme for the ark) is fantastic. Harrison Ford has a wonderful weariness about him that makes Indie such a great character; always out of his depth but still scrappy and capable. It's a marvelous film, the peak of adventure, escapism cinema.

I think that this movie is TRULY better than most of the big movies coming out now. I haven't seen Ender's Game either, but from the looks of the trailer it didn't seem too appealing (most of the shots being actors in front of CGI backgrounds). Raiders of the Lost Ark is a bit of a miracle for a couple of reasons.

It features a dazzling number of practical effects that work better than any post-production trickery: the shooting arrows, the boulder, the truck chase, the explosions, the snakes... you can see and feel that they are real, even if the boulder is plastic and some of the snakes are rubber. The final Ark sequence is somewhat cheesy with the optical printing effects, but the ghosts being added are still real bits of cloth that were filmed being pulled about in water. So, it's real and it has a human handprint on it instead of being disconnected like so many of the pixellated effects we see today.

Also, the editing is terrific. It's so easy to ignore it because you are too caught up in what is going on, but that's exactly the point: The editing follows a specific train of thought in each scene as we can see what the characters are literally thinking. Take the opening scene where Indiana hears the gun cock behind him... we see the his head turn slightly with the silhouette of his ear clearly outlined. In a couple of rapid-fire shots, we see him take out his whip and knock the gun out of the man's hand. Watch it in slow-motion, seriously. I prefer watching movies like this as opposed to the James Bond movies where Bond always knows exactly what to do but they never really show how... "Raiders" follows the thought process every step of the way.

A lot of people say that cinematography in movies is boring today, but you might not exactly know what that means. There is a "correct" way most movies are shot that is actually quite boring. Use close-ups for dialogue (often with the listener out of focus in the foreground), use wide shots for action, and shake the camera a lot. "Raiders" refuses to do that. The cinematography makes sure that we can see what is going on, but also makes sure to keep it interesting. We look at the actors from above and below. We see them through dense forests, candle flames, and lattice walls. It's a brilliant variety that often goes unnoticed.

Anyhow, all of the technical feats somehow step out of the way so you can enjoy the ultimate roller coaster ride. This is no average Hollywood movie as we see characters get dirtied up and beat up and even looking pretty ugly sometimes... It's a throwback to when movies didn't take themselves so seriously and instead focused on being fun. Years later when people forget "Gravity" and even "12 Years a Slave" they will still remember this one.