| Product: |
Indiana Jones (DVD) |
| Date: |
05.07.04 (399 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Two of the greatest, adventure films ever made, and some nice extras
Disadvantages: Temple of Doom is, not a patch on the other, two, which is a shame
Surely everybody loves the Indiana Jones films (or some of them, anyway). Full of light-hearted action, gruesome deaths and exotic locations, they are probably Steven Spielberg?s best films to date. Harrison Ford is perfect as Indy, exuding charm and charisma. And the theme tune (and incidental music in general) is stirring and entertaining. Two of them are amongst the most perfect films of their type ever made. This box set contains all three films and an extra disk of special features. Digitally remastered (and looking very nice), and priced at a very reasonable £30 on Amazon, it?s what my latest vouchers were spent on.
Spielberg and George Lucas (the films? producer, who came up with a lot of the storylines) certainly invented a memorable and instantly recognisable hero in Indy, with his battered hat, stubble and bullwhip. He?s also one of the first really fallible heroes in film - he kind of muddles through, often by the skin of his teeth, and ends up getting hurt almost as often as his enemies do (which obviously inspired later action movies like Die Hard or The Rock). The films were very consciously made to ape the feel and style of old adventure serials from the 30s and 40s, and for the most part succeed admirably. They?re also frequently very funny. A lot of people will have seen these films already, which makes long, detailed descriptions of each one a bit redundant.
The first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), is most people?s favourite, and it has a lot going for it. Our intrepid archaeologist hero has to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis do. It has the best villain in the series (Ronald Lacey as giggling Gestapo man, Toht) and the best love interest (Karen Allen as hard-drinking Marion). John Rhys Davies is very funny as Sallah, Indy?s
Egyptian friend, and Denholm Elliot provides a bit of gravitas at the beginning as his boss, Marcus. It has so many great scenes - the bit with the boulder, the bit with the snakes, the truck chase, the fight in the market etc. - that it?s hard to believe they managed to fit so much into one film. It even has a monkey with a waistcoat and fez! It?s very good stuff indeed, and sets things up nicely for the next two films.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) is the weak link. It?s far less entertaining than the other two. The main problem is the supporting characters. Indy for some reason has a little kid following him around now, Short Round (played by Ke Huy Quan, who?s a lot less irritating in Goonies). Even worse is Indy?s new girlfriend, night-club singer Willie Scott (played by Kate Capshaw, who later became Mrs Spielberg). She is vacuous and annoying throughout, exhibiting none of the adventurous spirit that Marion had. The villains, led by the imposing Mola Ram (Amrish Puri) are OK, but the fact that they?re all Indian cultists somehow smacks slightly of racism. And the jungle locations don?t seem to work quite as well in this context as the desert locations in the other two films. Also, it lacks a decent quest, as I?d never heard of the artefacts Indy wants to steal; they lacked the monumental iconic resonance of the lost ark or the Holy Grail. Still, it?s not entirely terrible, and does have some nice action scenes. (It?s also cut by the BBFC, which is particularly annoying - couldn?t they just have upped the certificate to 12 and reinstated the cuts?)
The final film (to date) is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). This is my favourite of all of them. Indy?s out to try and find the Holy Grail,
and so are the Nazis. John Rhys Davies and Denholm Elliot are back providing excellent comic relief. The main baddie, Donovan, is played by Julian Glover, one of my all-time favourite actors. Alison Doody as Elsa is certainly the sexiest woman in the series (although I?m not normally into the blonde ice-maiden type). It has a great prologue featuring River Phoenix as the young Indiana. Best of all is Sean Connery as Indy?s dad. He proves to be just as eccentric as his son, and their argumentative banter is what elevates this film over Raiders. Connery is perfect, and Last Crusade allows me to forgive him for most of the films he?s made since. His line ?I should have mailed it to the Marx Brothers? has me howling with laughter every time. Again, great action scenes (the tank chase is incredible), great humour (the Hitler moment!) and a great ending (which is almost moving). Definitely the best of the series, and probably in my all time top ten.
The extras are all found on the fourth disk (there are no commentaries or such like on the movies themselves). The main feature is a documentary about the making of the films, and it?s very good, as these things go (obviously, being made by Lucasfilm, it?s a bit reverent). Most of the main participants are interviewed. Spielberg is fun, obviously having fond memories of directing the films, with his enthusiasm really shining through. He also reveals that he wasn?t too pleased with Temple of Doom, which is cool. George Lucas, on the other hand, comes across as deeply irritating (although this may just be my natural dislike of the man). His most interesting revelation is that his misery during the making of Temple of Doom (he was going through a divorce at the time) is probably why the film is less fun than the others. Many other c
rew members are interviewed, and discuss various technical problems they had to overcome to make certain set-pieces work on the film.
Most of the important cast members are interviewed, too (including archive footage of the deceased River Phoenix and Denholm Elliot). Harrison Ford is a bit of a disappointment, not really showing much enthusiasm, and contributing surprisingly little. His face seems weirdly rigid, too (oh, the vanity of ageing film stars). But everyone else is happy enough to reveal their memories of filming. There are some great anecdotes, too, like when Connery reveals that he didn?t wear trousers filming some scenes, or Kate Capshaw?s confession that she needed tranquillisers to get her through the scene where they shower her with insects. The documentary also features behind the scenes footage (much of which I remember from various ?making of?? documentaries that were screened when I was a kid) and other bits and pieces, like screen tests of actors who weren?t used (including Tom Selleck, Lucas?s first choice for Indy). (Sadly no mention is made of Klaus Kinski, who was allegedly Spielberg?s first choice for the role of Toht - that would certainly have made a big difference to the film, as Kinski had one of the most intense screen presences ever, and was batshit crazy.) This is a very enjoyable documentary.
There are also four short (10- to 15-minute) documentaries about various other aspects of the films. All are pretty self-explanatory. The Stunts of Indiana Jones features interviews with the stuntmen. The Sound of Indiana Jones lets the sound effects guy tell us how they created some of the sound effects. The Light and Magic of Indiana Jones talks to the people from ILM who generated the visual effects. All are pretty interesting. The Mus
ic of Indiana Jones features John Williams discussing his incidental music. He?s a bit pretentious at times, but the music is one of the best things about the series, and definitely contributed to its success in a big way. Williams has the ability to write film scores that sound classic, and obviously pastiche old-style movie music without actually plagiarising (although I do think that the Star Wars theme is slightly too similar to the main theme from Lawrence of Arabia). Not all of Williams?s music is successful (I thought some of the music in Schindler?s List was shockingly ill-conceived), but for Indiana Jones he created one of the most memorable theme tunes ever. I don?t think film composers receive the credit they?re due, and the Indy films would be far weaker without John Williams.
Apart from that, there are original trailers for all the films, but they?re not that interesting. There?s also apparently a link to an exclusive web site, but sadly I don?t have a DVD-drive on my PC, and it isn?t Mac compatible, so I can?t look at that. On the whole, though, the extras disk is rather good, and definitely a worthy addition. The packaging itself is pretty nice. The only real complaint is that it seems from the DVD cover that someone has changed the name of the first film to ?Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark?, which is idiotic, as he?s *one* of the Raiders, for goodness sake. I think I can guess whose brilliant idea that was. I?ll ignore it completely, just as I?ll continue to ignore all attempts to make me refer to Star Wars as ?Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope?.
Anyway, this is a great box set and a worthy addition to anyone?s collection. Only four stars, as Temple of Doom lets the trilogy do
wn rather, but the other two more than make up for it.
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