Review of the Indy DVDs by Ihatesnakes
Review of the Indiana Jones DVDs by 'Ihatesnakes':
October 14th, 2003
The release of the Back to the Future Trilogy last year saw the 'Most Wanted on DVD' list reduced to two: Star Wars Episodes IV, V and VI and the Indiana Jones Trilogy. On the 21st of November, one group of fans' wait will be over. It seems the force has let down the other.
This being a DVD review, I'm not going to review the films. You all know the plots and the characters. If you don't, where have you been, and more to the point, what are you doing on an Indiana Jones fansite?
Let me start by admitting that I never saw any of the films at the cinema. I've only ever seen them in fullscreen, on TV. And I haven't seen the High Definition transfer that appeared on US screens not long ago.
So put simply, the films look better than I've ever seen them. Video quality compares admirably with many a modern film's DVD transfer, remarkable considering their age. Colors are vibrant and detail is high (indispensable for any prop-makers out there). Some scenes do have visible grain (the very beginning of Raiders, for example), but not enough to make an impact on your enjoyment.
Lowry Digital Images, the company responsible for restoring all three movies, have done a fantastic job.
On the audio side of things, each movie comes with a new Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix. And again, each movie sounds better than I've ever heard it. Close your eyes, and you could almost be in the Peruvian jungle (not usually recommended... unless you speak Hovitos) or underground as mine carts screech and spark their way around you. The mixes here are great. Dialogue is always clear and the Williams score is as good as it ever is. You also get French and Spanish 2.0 soundtracks.
Visually and audibly, the quality gets better the later the film was made. The Last Crusade, therefore, just has the edge over Temple of Doom, which itself is just that bit better than Raiders. Nevertheless, the quality of all three is nothing short of spectacular.
The DVD menus are animated, though not in an overly flashy manor. Each has a general theme according to the movie: Raiders has a seaplane, Temple of Doom has a minecart and Last Crusade the circus train and carriages. Most of these animated intros are skippable - as nice as they are, you don't want to watch them over and over.
Selected scenes play in the background of all the sub-menus with some kind of filter that I guess is supposed to make them look painted. It doesn't really work. Never mind.
There are plenty of chapter stops (Raiders and Temple of Doom have 31, Last Crusade has 36) throughout the movies to help quickly find your favorite sequence. All chapter 'thumbnails' are animated to help you quickly find your way through the movie.
So... the extras. Much has been made of the fact that, despite there being longer documentaries on both Raiders and Temple and Doom already in existence, the decision was made to create three all new documentaries for the DVD. Again, I have little perspective on this - I haven't seen either of the old documentaries, so I can't compare them. What I can say is that the three new ones, presented under the title 'The Making of the Trilogy', are of top quality.
Each follows a similar format - new interviews with the principal cast and crew members, behind the scenes footage, brief glimpses of screentests and general chronological discussion on the making of each movie. Raiders lasts the longest, clocking in at around 50 minutes, followed by Temple of Doom with 40 and Last Crusade with 35. There are, though, no chapter stops, which would have been a nice idea for those who want to watch a particular part.
All three are great fun to watch. There are clips here that no-one has seen before, and everyone involved seems to recall their experiences with enjoyment and good humor. I can guarantee you'll learn something you didn't know - I won't spoil it for by listing things, but one part I particularly enjoyed was the fairly in depth look at how the one-take bridge cutting scene in Temple of Doom was put together, complete with revolutionary flailing dummies.
The three make up the majority of the extra material. But it doesn't end there.
Also presented are four 'featurettes', each focusing on a different aspect of the trilogy - Stunts, sound, music and ILM's special effects work. I found the Stunts and the ILM featurettes the most interesting, though I'm sure those in the audio field will get a kick out of the other two. With ILM we see, amongst other things, how the Mine Cart race was created - complete with a homemade video camera and a whole lot of tin foil! Very interesting to see how all the effects were created before the days of widespead CGI.
Each disc also comes with the 'THX Optimiser', letting you set brightness, contrast, color and other variables to their correct levels, and a web-link to 'exclusive special features' from the IndianaJones.com website. However, to view these, you need to install the frankly awful Interactual DVD player. At the time of this review, I couldn't get it to work, which is logical - I expect the material will go live on the release of the DVD.
And finally, there's a selection of teaser trailers and main trailers for all the movies, as well as a trailer for the latest game: Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb.
Considering the amount of time Paramount has had to put together this set, it is perhaps disappointing that there is only one disc of extra material, and no commentaries. Yes, there is more material out there. But these DVDs present the trilogy looking and sounding better than I've ever seen, and with the addition of over three hours of genuinely interesting extras, how could I possibly complain? The answer - I can't. All I can do is sit back and enjoy the films - and that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm sure you will do too.