I remember the first time I saw “Raiders of the Lost Ark” – I was a freshman in high school. A school friend loaned me a VHS copy and I was instantly hooked. I’ve been a fan of Dr. Jones ever since. (Let’s pretend Crystal Skull didn’t exist, okay?)
This past Saturday, I had the pleasure to relive the adventure on the IMAX screen. It was a real treat to watch “Raiders” on the big screen for the first time. I noticed several new details this time around, that I never picked up in my multiple viewings of the film on television.
For example, I had always wondered how Indiana Jones managed to survive after he boarded the U-boat. My assumption was that the U-boat submerged. In the IMAX version, you can clearly see Indy standing on top of the U-boat as it is about to enter the cave.
Of course, the one minor thing that has always bugged me about “Raiders” is the ending – just how did Indy know not to look at the Ark after it was opened? Perhaps there is a deleted scene that explains this?
The video quality of the IMAX transfer was good but not great. There were certain parts in the film where the quality was slightly fuzzy. It didn’t take away from the experience, but it was noticeable. The remastered audio, however, was uniformly superb.
All in all, I enjoyed the heck out of “Raiders”. It’s playing across the US for one week only. If you’re an Indy fan, you owe it to yourself to watch it on IMAX. And if you’re lucky, you can even score a free 11″ x 17″ collectible “Raiders” poster (shown above) from your local theater, like my friends and I did.
-Krishna
