Retardo_Montalban wrote:AtomicHyperb ole wrote:
HOW is the Ark worthless? It can decimate an entire army with Gods power! Jesus, that's DANGEROUS! It's worth shitloads more than a crappy cup that can only move and deliver immortality by a few meters and an old man who's sitting in a cave.
What a terrible argument you've just given, you totally devalued the movie you're defending by even comparing the two! HA!
Historical and monetary value aside, The holy grail can cure the sick, heal mortal wounds and I don't think its power is only relegated to the cave it sits in or else it wouldn't really need a billion year old Knight to guard it. It is also a great plot device as is proven in Monty Python and The... wait for it... HOLY GRAIL. Of course if you hold more value in destruction than life, I can see your point.
The point isn't whether or not you hold value in something, but what it's capable of beyond the positive and negative. The Ark is a potential Nazi weapon of great destructive power, rendering them invincible were it not for their arrogance before God, which makes Indy's quest all the more urgent.
The Grail ends up being revealed as nothing but a mere trinket in comparasion. It may be able to grant eternal life and cure mortal wounds, but only within a small sphere of influence. Carry it away, it's useless - this is proved when Elsa steps over the seal. Indy's father doesn't become immortal from drinking it, either. It's purely a symbol, granted a powerful one, but compared to The Ark, a symbol nonetheless.
Of course, you totally missed my point. My point is that whatever it is that Indy is chasing doesn't really effect the movie as long as that object is also sought after by a group of wiley villains. Indy could be chasing James Dean's car and as long as some hooligans are trying to get to it first, Stephen Spielberg could make it interesting. The factor that I choose the superior movie upon is mainly in acting and dialogue, as the action and cinematography of both films is too close to call.
The villains in TLC are laughable at best, horrendously flawed, conflicted - in the case of Walter Donovan, barely present. Hitler is a joke, going to Germany doesn't place Indy in any particular grave danger. If you want to talk villainy, see Mola Ram, outside of the blonde German in Raiders the only bad guy to actually place Indy in mortal danger.
If you feel the action is too close to call, I feel for you pal, I really do. That tank scene is horrendously sluggish, it's like watching Speed 3, only Speed 3 lifts everything off Speed 2. And the dialogue? Please. At least Willie can deliver her lines, Elsa couldn't read off a teleprompter.