The Adventures of Indiana Jones DVD: Review By stevegibbs

If you've been to a movie theater, a video store or watched TV within the last twenty years, you are probably already familiar with the movies. But here's a brief recap, in any case.

Raiders of the Lost Ark - The movie that introduced the archaeologist/adventurer and cemented Harrison Ford's name as a major action hero. Indiana Jones is given a top secret mission by the US government: find a lost relic in the sands of Egypt before Hitler's Nazi researchers can get their hands on it. And the relic? It is the Ark of the Covenant; of course. What follows is a breathtaking chase as Indy manages to stay barely one step ahead of his enemies.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - With a diminutive sidekick and a whining lounge singer in tow, Indy is talked into a search and rescue mission. The villagers somewhere in the Indian boonies ask our hero to find and return their missing children. The trail leads to a child slavery ring, run by a cruel cult. Along the way, Indy manages to survive a plane crash, a wild mine car chase and the prospect of death at the hands of the inevitably evil high priest.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Indy's search for his kidnapped father leads him also into a hunt for the legendary Holy Grail. Once reunited, the Jones boys close in on their prize, but again those dastardly Nazis are also hot on the trail. Aerial dogfights and tank chases finally lead everyone to a big showdown for the holy artifact.

Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy

A newly produced look at what it took to create this historic series of cliffhangers. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg guide us through this feature-length doc*mentary, from the first concept meetings through the last days of shooting. Included are some seldom seen screen tests from the early days when Tom Selleck (Magnum P.I.) was being considered for the part of Indy and Sean Young (Blade Runner) for Marion; construction of the massive sets in England; and Harrison Ford learning his whip technique. The rest of the doc*mentary covers the complex shooting schedules, with some amusing behind-the-scenes footage and reminiscences from cast and crew.

The Stunts of Indiana Jones

It's fun to see real live stunt-people doing their thing, rather than CGI stand-ins. Even with all the safety precautions, there were still elements of danger in the high falls, explosions and crashes.

The Sound of Indiana Jones

Ben Burtt, the sound genius from Skywalker Sound gives away some of the secrets of Indy's soundtracks. For example, who would have thought that stirring a cheese casserole would sound like a mass of writhing snakes?!

The Music of Indiana Jones

Composer John Williams discusses the various techniques he employed to come up with themes for all three movies: the operatic style of the Raiders ending; the 'Indiana Jones goes to hell and back' Temple of Doom climax; and the father/son emotional themes of Last Crusade.

The Light and Magic of Indiana Jones

A quick look at some of the early tricks of Industrial Light & Magic, including their live mechanical effects; blue screen work; models; matte paintings and animatics. It's a fun reminder of the way movies were made in the days before CGI.

Original trailers

Cheesy but fun. These 7 trailers and previews are little nuggets of movie history. I'm just glad movie previews have evolved!

Exclusive DVD-ROM Content

All three movies are presented in 2.35:1 widescreen, and the transfers are superb. The Lucasfilm folks have gone to a lot of trouble to do a complete digital remastering. Every scene is crystal clear and free of artifacts; it's as though the films were all brand new and just came out of the cans. You can tell their digital experts have been doing a little tweaking. Not only are the colors bright and full, but a few blemishes have also been corrected. For example, in Raiders, the snake's reflection in the glass separating it from Indy has been seamlessly removed. What else can you say but 'wow'!

Along with a complete picture restoration, the sound geeks have also had their way with Indy. The movies are now presented in breathtaking 5.1 Digital Surround. While the important stuff is still mainly front-and-center, much of the atmosphere has been expanded to put the audience in the middle of each scene. Of course, this is most noticeable during the cranked-up action sequences. You almost want to dive under the couch as bullets fly and ricochet all around. But even some of the more subtle sounds and atmospherics now envelope you in a much more compelling way. You can bet your sound system will get a full workout.

Raiders is one of my all-time favorite adventure movies. It does a spectacular job of setting up the Indiana Jones universe and introducing the character, with barely a pause between one death-defying feat and the next. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were right on the money in their decision to give the old Saturday morning serials a blockbuster spin. Everything works, and the rest - as they say - is history.

I have always found The Temple of Doom to be the least satisfying in the series (so far). For me, the words 'fun', 'action' and 'excitement' just don't go with a theme involving child slavery and death cults. Spielberg goes out of his way not to make light of those aspects of the movie, but they end up sticking out like a sore thumb. They just don't fit with the tone of the Indy universe. And even the thrill-a-minute cliffhangers can't cover up the disparity.

Then there's The Last Crusade. While it wasn't quite up to the standard of Raiders, it is made much more enjoyable by the filmmakers poking fun at their own mythology. Great little moments involving Indy's hat, his nickname, and his relationship with Henry Jones Sr. all crank up the fun quotient. Once again Spielberg delivered some great action sequences; the tank chase is an absolute classic.

The Indy movies were great in the theater, and much of that grandeur has been restored. This set is a fitting tribute to a great film series, and does complete justice to the material. Not only do we get to enjoy again those same chills and thrills that made us gasp ten or twenty years ago, but we now get to see all that behind-the-scenes material that we knew was gathering dust somewhere in Lucas' and Spielberg's garages. The only thing I can think that might possibly have been added to this set would be a featurette on the restoration process for the DVD release. Other than that, the Indy collection is just about perfect.