Film at 11 Podcast: Episode 21 | Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

How has it taken this long to introduce either of my sons to Indiana Jones? I’m honestly not sure. That’s just something we never found the right time for, I guess. This week, by special request, my son Joseph asked if we could watch the original Raiders of the Lost Ark for our latest Film at 11 podcast. I hesitated a bit about only allowing one of the boys watch a movie this important without the other one, but ultimately, how could I say no to that?

I was a little surprised by the request, frankly. Joseph usually doesn’t care for or have much interest in action movies, and here he was asking about one of the most famous action movies of all time. I think the character’s saturation in popular culture finally got to him. Thankfully, he enjoyed the movie, though not without some of those reservations that are starting to become so characteristic for him. (Fair enough. I encourage my children to develop their own opinions and tastes.)

Don’t worry, Thomas will catch up with Indy at a later time. You can also get my own full take on Raiders in the 4K Ultra HD review linked at the end of this article.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - Idol
Title:Raiders of the Lost Ark
Year of Release: 1981
Director: Steven Spielberg
Watched On: Blu-ray
Also Available On: 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Disney+
Paramount+
Various VOD rental and purchase platforms

Frustratingly, I had some technical issues recording this episode of the podcast. My camera’s auto-focus went a little nutty, and most of the episode after after opening credits got knocked out-of-focus. I’m probably more upset about that than anyone, but I think the episode is still watchable. I’ll do my best to avoid that problem next time.

The Blu-ray

I’ve previously reviewed the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray edition of Raiders of the Lost Ark on this site (see below). I appreciated a lot of things about that disc, but also had a few qualms, especially regarding the audio. For this viewing, I made a conscious decision to watch the older Blu-ray edition from 2012, which may have its own issues, but different ones. I knew my son wouldn’t notice or mind either way.

My Blu-ray copy came as part of a deluxe four-film box set called Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures that I imported from the UK. Released well before the 2023 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was made, these “Complete Adventures” are not so complete in retrospect. Even at the time, they were blatantly missing the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles TV series. However, what this box set offers instead is some fancy packaging with a bunch of physical swag, including a (faux) leather bound copy of Indy’s journal. It’s a handsome collectible to keep on the shelf.

Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures Blu-ray box set

Despite (or perhaps because of) its THX seal of approval, the Raiders Blu-ray is a heavily revisionist affair that artificially brightens, boosts, sharpens, and adds a yellow tint to most of the movie. Certain parts of it look awful, especially the opening, which is way too bright and inexplicably somehow appears to be flooded with analog video noise. Various other scenes have weird digital artifacts that cause the picture to look wavy, juddery, or smeary. At least one effects shot of a truck driving off a cliff has been replaced with a CGI recreation of it.

Despite all this, I don’t find the disc unwatchable. The photography in Raiders was famously problematic due to the arduousness of the shooting locations, and many scenes suffered significant focal issues during production. Personally, I don’t agree with the attempt to “fix” that with artificial sharpening, but in this case it may come down to a “six of one, half a dozen of the other” dilemma. The later 4K remaster dials it back a bit, but not entirely.

The yellow tint, also, may not be the movie’s original color timing, but I don’t think it looks bad or even inappropriate. It’s just a different look. Forced to make a choice, I’d probably side with the less yellow and (slightly, very slightly) less manipulated-looking 4K remaster, but I found myself less annoyed with the Blu-ray’s video transfer than I expected.

Where I feel the Blu-ray outshines the 4K edition is its DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, which retains more bass and dynamic range than the later, heavily-neutered Dolby Atmos remix. It’s not perfect either (this soundtrack seems to get run through extra rounds of noise reduction filtering every time the movie is remastered), but the boulder in the opening scene rumbles with authority, Indy’s punches land with a thump, and gunshots have a satisfying crack. In my opinion, the Atmos version sounds much weaker in comparison, even after level-matching the volume.

The soundtrack also has quite a lot of surround activity and some nice swell to the John Williams score. If audio accounts for half the viewing experience, a legitimate argument can be made for preferring the Blu-ray over the 4K edition.

My Blu-ray set has only three trailers as supplements on the Raiders disc itself. After the four movies, a fifth disc labeled “Bonus Features” offers a modest selection of further extras that encompass the entire franchise up to that point. Specific to Raiders are about an hour of behind-the-scenes footage and another hour-long vintage making-of documentary. Additional featurettes are arranged by topic (stunts, sound, music, etc.) and may each cover multiple films.

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