Movie · 1981 · Adventure, Action · 1h 55m · PG · English
Curator score: 9.1/10 (2.3M ratings)
The return of the great adventure.
Overview
When Dr. Indiana Jones – the tweed-suited professor who just happens to be a celebrated archaeologist – is hired by the government to locate the legendary Ark of the Covenant, he finds himself up against the entire Nazi regime.
Ratings
Curator score: 9.1/10
IMDb: 8.4/10
Letterboxd: 4.15/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Metacritic: 86
TMDB: 7.9/10
Director
Steven Spielberg
Production
Paramount Pictures, Lucasfilm Ltd.
Cast
Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies, Ronald Lacey, Wolf Kahler, Anthony Higgins, Denholm Elliott, Alfred Molina, Vic Tablian, Don Fellows, William Hootkins, George Harris, Fred Sorenson, Anthony Chinn, Eddie Tagoe, Bill Reimbold, Patrick Durkin, Matthew Scurfield, Malcolm Weaver
Where to watch
Disney Plus, fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential
Curator Review
Verdict
A benchmark adventure blockbuster: fast, funny, impeccably staged, and endlessly rewatchable. It blends pulp serial excitement with top-tier craftsmanship, making it both a crowd-pleaser and a film-school staple.
Best for
fans of classic adventure movies
viewers who like charismatic action heroes
people who enjoy practical effects and inventive set pieces
audiences looking for a fun, high-energy blockbuster
fans of Spielberg-era crowd-pleasing cinema
Skip if
you want slow-burn or dialogue-heavy storytelling
you dislike heightened pulp and improbable escapes
you prefer modern, irony-free realism over old-school spectacle
Overview
Raiders of the Lost Ark is the rare blockbuster that feels both effortless and meticulously engineered. It moves with the snap of a serial adventure, but every chase, punch, and reveal is shaped with such clarity that the movie keeps feeling fresh even when you know every beat.
Worth noting
Harrison Ford gives Indiana Jones a perfect mix of swagger, irritation, and vulnerability, which keeps the character from becoming a pure fantasy figure. The film also understands that action works best when it is legible and playful: each sequence escalates cleanly, with danger, humor, and momentum constantly feeding each other.
Bottom line
What makes it endure is not just nostalgia or influence, but precision. The movie is a master class in pacing, blocking, and audience control, and it still plays like a genuine thrill ride rather than a museum piece. It is one of the defining adventure films for a reason.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Bethany (4.5★) · 10607 likes
i'm the girl in professor jones' class with 'love you' written on her eyelids
vi (4★) · 6611 likes
he really raided the fuck out of those arks huh
James (Schaffrillas) (4★) · 5528 likes
Belloq really is the most despicable villain ever, he's a Nazi ally AND he's French
Joe (5★) · 4849 likes
That French dude totally eats a fly. Like it just crawls right into his mouth and he acts like nothing happened. More hardcore than Temple of Doom
1955 · Comedy, Romance · 1h 45m · NR · Curator 4.3/10 (115.2K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, TCM, Darkroom, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
1966 · History, War, Adventure · 2h 14m · Curator 4.0/10 (12.6K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, MGM Plus, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
An expansive historical adventure with big-scale spectacle and old-fashioned momentum.