Director: Eric Zala
Cast: Chris Strompolos, Angela Rodriguez, Eric Zala, Ted Ross, Alan Stenum, William Coon
Running Time: 100 mins
Watching fan films can sometimes be a really painful experience, but most of the time you can appreciate that the fans really do love the source material. Watching shot-for-shot remakes can be an even more painful experience, because usually it’s the same film only worse! RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE ADAPTATION is a joyous experience.
The fact that it took this group of children seven years to recreate Raiders of the Lost Ark is something that should be appreciated and admired. The film is shot out of sequence so the actors’ ages vary from scene to scene – this adds a great charm to the film. This version comes with the newly added missing airplane fight scene, which they finally shot as adults. All of these tiny flaws are endearing here because you know that these kids were extremely passionate about what they were doing and they put so much hard work into it.
One of the best experiences whilst watching Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation is anticipating how the kids will manage to create certain sets and scenes. Most of the interior shots were made in basements and living rooms of their parents’ houses, but you can tell they put a lot of hard work into designing the sets to resemble the film.
You have to rate films like this highly because we often forget how passionate we were as children about certain things. Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation embodies that passion. You can see that even though the acting is hilarious and the costumes are handmade, and it is shot on awful home video, this film is full of love and creativity. If you are going to watch this, you might want to watch the documentary about the fan film first. It will give you a lot of perspective about the lives of the kids making the film, and how much hard work they put into it.
Verdict
