As one of the most authoritative film magazines in the world, the veteran British film magazine "Empire", founded in 1989, has always been very influential.
In addition to the United Kingdom, it is also distributed in the United States, Australia, Turkey, Russia, and Portugal.
"Empire" magazine has selected authoritative series lists such as "The 100 Greatest Movies in History", "The 100 Best TV Shows in History", "The 100 Greatest Non-English Films", and "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters in History" .
A few days ago, "Empire" magazine announced the latest list: "50 Greatest Screen Heroes in Film History" voted by readers.
This list includes the most impressive characters in film history that we are familiar with, and the types are quite rich.
There are long-lasting agent series, such as James Bond, the soul character of the "007" series that has been filmed 25, and Ethan Hunt, the all-around agent of the "Mission Impossible" series.
There are heroes in magical epic dramas, such as Harry Potter in "Harry Potter", Sam Weiss Giange, Aragorn, Frodo Baggins, Gandalf in the "Lord of the Rings" series.
The largest proportion is the superheroes who have risen wildly in the past ten years, occupying half of the list.
The Marvel universe includes Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, Spider-Man, Thor, Black Widow, Wolverine, Captain Marvel, and the DC universe also includes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman.
However, despite the absolute superiority of the Super League series, the TOP1 list with the most audience votes does not belong to the Super League.
Iron Man is neither a top nor the United States team, Superman, but as "Indiana Jones" adventure type movie Raiders of the mountains of the protagonist of the Indiana Jones • .
"Indiana Jones" was born from an idea of screenwriter George Lucas.
In order to make this idea a reality, he hired "The Empire Strikes Back" screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, old friend Stephen Spielberg, and gold medal producer Frank Marshall.
This combination can be called a super dream team for film production.
But this kind of treasure hunting adventure film is an innovation, and Hollywood bigwigs dare not invest easily.
In the end, "Indiana Jones" finally got Paramount's 18 million investment.
Unexpectedly, the US$18 million Raiders of the Lost Ark alone created a global box office of more than US$300 million, and won eight nominations for the 54th Academy Awards in 1982, and finally won four. Award-winning achievements.
Harrison Ford, who played "Indiana Jones" in the film, became one of Hollywood's most successful actors through this movie, and the screen image of "Indiana Jones" became one of Hollywood's most successful movie characters.
At the same time, "Indiana Jones" opened a new era of adventure films, and this series has been filmed since then. The latest "Indiana Jones 5" is currently scheduled to be released in 2022.
So what kind of story is this historically groundbreaking "Indiana Jones" telling?
The story takes place in Peru in 1936, and the archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones debuts.
His goal this time was to find the treasure of Chachapoya's fertility idol from an ancient tomb. After experiencing numerous traps inside and outside the ancient tomb and betrayal by his teammates, he finally obtained the idol and escaped smoothly.
Unexpectedly, when he escaped from the tomb, he met his rival Bayer Laucu.
Bayer Laoku assembled a group of natives in the local language, not only to rob the idol, but also to the death of Jones.
Fortunately, Jones got rid of the people who chased him by virtue of his super ability, and left on the seaplane smoothly.
As soon as the picture turns, Jones, who has just experienced life and death, returns to his normal life. He is a university professor.
After this class, two military personnel found him, wanting to ask him to help find the whereabouts of his mentor Ravenwood.
Because the Nazis were searching for religious artifacts around the world, Tanis and Ravenwood were mentioned in secret documents intercepted by military personnel.
This news is absolutely shocking news for Jones, Tanis is likely to be the place where the lost ark is stored.
The ark, also known as the ark of the covenant, has always been a mysterious existence in the archaeological world. It is a golden cabinet used by the Hebrews to preserve the Ten Commandments.
The Nazis wanted to find Ravenwood because Raven was an expert on Tanis. They suspected that Raven had a "scepter of thunder" in his hand. This thing could show the storage location of the ark at a specific time and place. .
Knowing this, Jones immediately flew to Nepal, where Ravenwood’s daughter was also the bar where Jones’ ex-girlfriend Marianne was.
When it was here, Jones discovered that Ravenwood had passed away, and the bronze medal he was looking for on the scepter was transferred to Marianne's custody.
Even when Jones and Marianne were still pulling over their old feelings, the Nazis hired them to follow in Jones's footsteps.
The battle between the two sides was about to break out. After a fierce exchange of fire, Jones, who survived a catastrophe, took Marian and the bronze medal to his destination Cairo.
In the new location, new chases and fights were launched. In the end, Jones took a step ahead of the Nazis and found the place where the ark was hidden.
But just after they took the ark out of the tomb, the opening scene was repeated again. The Nazis and Bayer Laucu snatched the ark and locked Jones and Marianne in the tomb full of venomous snakes.
After that, he escaped smoothly and confronted again. After fierce hand-to-hand combat, gun battle, and car chasing, Jones snatched back the cabinet.
But the ark hadn't covered its heat yet, and it was robbed by the Nazis again. This time they wanted to bring the ark to the island to test the power of the ark in advance.
Of course, the final outcome is that Jones won the victory and returned to the United States with Marian. The cabinet was classified as a secret and kept by the military.
This is the end of the story.
The story of Raiders of the Lost Ark may not be novel to look at today, and it may even feel a little bit routine.
But the reason why it has become a classic in the hearts of generations of Americans is related to the fact that it is the pioneering work of a treasure hunting adventure film, and it is also related to the dream team behind it, and also to the film’s narrative mode, lens language, and protagonist. The charm and comedy elements that appear from time to time are related to the taste of CULT.
1. The linear narrative of classic Hollywood adventure films
As a successful Hollywood commercial film, "Indiana Jones" has the linear narrative style of a textbook-style Hollywood action-adventure film.
From the perspective of action-adventure movies, "Indiana Jones" can almost be seen as the creation of the narrative structure of such movies.
The first is the prologue. Before the main story comes out, let the protagonist appear on the stage, show the protagonist's skill points through a short story, and let the protagonist show his charm to capture the audience.
After the audience has a preliminary understanding of the protagonist's image, they begin to unfold the main line of the story, which is to enter the main part of the movie.
Then there are changes in the details of the development of the story. Key figures have appeared one after another, and all forces have begun to prepare for the treasure.
Then there is the climax part, which generally belongs to the chasing and fighting part, and the big scenes are basically consumed here.
Although the development of the story follows the timeline little by little, but because of the relaxed narrative rhythm, it can continue to capture the audience.
Throughout the story, the promotion of the plot relies on transitions.
From Nepal to Cairo, every time the scene changes, it is accompanied by the climax of the plot, and the chase begins immediately.
Moreover, there are many climax parts in the film that can capture the audience. Basically, there is an action climax in ten minutes, and a narrative upsurge is completed in ten minutes.
Even after the fiercest fight near the end of the film, when we thought that everything had settled, the plot ushered in another anti-climax.
Continuous incidents and fights keep the audience in a state of excitement when they disappear.
Of course, these classic plot development and screen design, the director and screenwriter have credit.
2. The protagonist's character set with extremely personal charm
The reason why "Indiana Jones" can be selected as the greatest screen hero movie in film history, the protagonist with extremely personal charm is indispensable.
As the protagonist of the "Indiana Jones" series, Dr. Indiana Jones, according to the original setting, is a wise, brave and unruly playboy.
But in the framework of director Spielberg and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, Indiana Jones, as an archaeologist and scholar, should be more restrained and serious.
After all, based on the age of the film's birth and the age of Jones's life, as a university professor and love to explore archaeology outside every day, how can he not be associated with a wandering dude.
At the same time, during the performance, Harrison Ford added a performance that fits the aesthetics of the movie protagonist that American audiences love.
Ever since, the final version of Indiana Jones showed a "united, tense, serious, lively" and very charming image.
At the beginning of the game, a thrilling treasure show was used to highlight Jones's character of literacy, skill and military, and wisdom and courage.
Cowboy hat, torn leather jacket, small horse whip, his eyes are like a torch. The horse whip is more handy than a gun, and he will pick the pistol in twos or twos.
Before he was so handsome as a friend, the film immediately gave a new image-college professor Jones.
The doctor dressed in British style, wearing academic glasses and talking in class, instantly transformed from the "Red Dead Redemption" in the jungle to the gentle and elegant "Doctor Jones".
Not to mention the contrast between the front and the back, the elegant gentleman version alone can fascinate the non-girl classmates, and some people even write "love you" on their eyelids to show their love.
On the one hand, he has a super-high insight into professional knowledge, and on the other hand, he can evade chase with super-high IQ, and his force value is not weak at all, and his looks are very bonus points, and his level is also super high in pleasing women.
Even in the process of chasing the gun battle, take time to give money to the poor.
Just such an image of a screen character, can it not attract talents?
It is precisely because of the success of the first film in characterizing, and then there have been several sequels.
Three, unique and flamboyant and rich lens language
"Indiana Jones" is the pioneering work of an action-adventure film, and its development precedent is: telling stories with actions.
From start to finish, most of the film is dominated by fighting and chasing scenes, but because of the director's unique exaggerated and rich lens language, the whole film becomes extremely lively and interesting.
For example, in the opening part, Jones went from getting the Buddha's head to crossing the arrow line to almost falling into the huge pit, and then he escaped from the tomb by chance. Before he relaxed, he was chased by the boulder again, and finally escaped completely from the tomb and met again. enemy.
This part was done in one go, the duration was not long, and the protagonist barely spoke, but the content was very rich.
Most of the chase scenes of "Indiana Jones" are sudden changes, suspense and horror happening almost simultaneously, and there are comedic chases during the period.
The lens language of the picture is very rich, several different expression methods are alternated, and the frequency is so fast that the audience has to enter the next emotion before they have time to reflect.
And although it is based on action scenes, the film's shots are very particular about fast and faster, slow and slower, and there is already a dynamic contrast between fast and slow.
For example, there is a section in the film that is talked about by later generations, a model of pretending to fail.
The protagonist Jones met the extremists who came to snatch the bronze medal in Cairo. While they sent someone to steal Marianne, they found someone to hold Jones.
At this time, a seemingly powerful black-clothed swordsman appeared. The two confronted each other. The black-clothed swordsman took out a set of fancy show knives, but Jones shot it to the end.
The battle between cold weapons and modern weapons, K·O.
In fact, the success of this scene was a bit unexpected. The screenwriter originally designed the plot of the two-person battle for 300 rounds for this scene, but at the time Harrison Ford was unable to film normally because of dysentery.
Under Ford's suggestion, Spielberg boldly adjusted this original fighting scene to the version we see today: on one side, it was crazy pretending to be forced, and on the other hand, it was shot down calmly.
Unexpectedly, the comic effect is very good, so this kind of comical gag will continue in this way and become the unique style of the "Indiana Jones" series.
Four, the small element CULT with extra points is full of flavor
"Indiana Jones" now seems to be a bit like the American version of "Ghost Blowing the Lantern", but they are "certified on duty", and it is justifiable to win the treasure.
Because of the setting of Jones archaeologists, there are many small scary elements in "Indiana Jones", not many of them, but they are full of cult flavor.
When I saw it for the first time, I was really scared.
For example, in the beginning of the jungle cemetery, I won’t talk about the hidden weapons and the hidden weapons. The sudden spiders crawling all over the body, although it is still a bit fake, but at first glance, who doesn’t feel hairy?
And after the mechanism, the sudden appearance of the skeleton will really scare the groundhog to scream.
Not to mention the last part where everyone was "taken away" after opening the ark. You can experience the last animation in this paragraph.
By the way, the role of this distribution music is also very good. The background music on the screen doubles the cool feeling.
In fact, "Indiana Jones" is not an impeccable masterpiece, but the reason why it can be regarded as a classic, so that people will not get tired after one brush and two brushes, is that the story is interesting, the narrative is exquisite, and the picture catches people.
Of course, the protagonist is really attractive, whether it is an actor or a character.
After all, a great movie is inseparable from great characters; a popular movie is also inseparable from popular heroes.
Bluestone Film Editorial Department | Lao Meng
This article is the original content of Bluestone Movies, please do not repost it in any form without authorization
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