Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indiana Jones is an enduring symbol of adventures in exotic lands. In my mind, he stands there right behind the always-affable Tintin. But, this an image created over lots of years of watching bits and pieces of his movies. While Harrison Ford looks just as mischievous in the latest Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as he was earlier, how have the first three movies aged? I checked out the first movie of the series recently: Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In this adventure, Indiana Jones is competing with the Nazis in a race to secure the mythical Ark. It is supposed to hold enormous power that the Nazis are keen to harness for war. This quest takes Jones through Nepal, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

With too much emphasis on fist fights and racing action, the cultures and locales take a backseat in this movie. Other than Harrison Ford and his Jones character, there is nothing much going for this movie. I regret to say that the best moments of the movie are right at the beginning, in the teaser where Indy is caught in a Peruvian trap. The rest of the movie never rises to such excitement and thus Raiders of the Lost Ark is barely watchable. I kind of expect that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom will also feel like this, but I have some hopes set on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Blade Runner

Does Blade Runner stand up to all the hype that surrounds it? Yes and more! Based on Philip K Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, the movie is set in a dystopian future where humans and replicants (manufactured human clones) are present. The replicants have a limited life-span of 4 years and are kept on human inhabited planets that are away from Earth. 4 replicants escape to Earth to meet their maker, Tyrell, the brain behind Tyrell Corp, the manufacturer of replicants. To hunt them down a blade runner (Harrison Ford) is assigned. While on the hunt he discovers that Tyrell’s own beautiful secretary is a replicant and soon is in love with her.

Top marks for the setting and background music of the movie. The very Asian (Japanese) setting of the LA districts, the floating billboard ads, the flying cars and the heaven-like setting of Tyrell HQ are all brilliant. The climax strongly reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey, though the scenes here are easier to understand (who is God and so on). The movie raises lots of questions (for example, is Deckard himself a replicant?) that makes it all the more interesting. Highly recommended watch.