Writer: Various
Director: Various
Cast: Sean Patrick Flanery, Catherine Zeta Jones, Daniel Craig
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Paramount Home Video
Release Date: December 18, 2007

Fans of Indiana Jones seemed to be quite excited when this particular series of DVDs hit the shelves. The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones is a series of movies that offer just what the title says, the adventures of a young Indiana Jones. For one reason or another I just never got into these when they came out back in the 1990s. I suppose I just had better things to do. Either way, I never had any intention of watching these movies when they first aired and I had forgotten all about their existence until I was asked to review this set of movies.

Like most people on the planet I have seen the traditional Indiana Jones movies. When I heard about these again I was the most curious about how they would compare. I couldn’t help but feel like these were made to cash in on the success of the original films. That being said, it didn’t mean that these would be terrible. They could still have a good quality if the writing and acting were above the par I was expecting.

The movies were originally on television, so add that to a possible new nail in the coffin. As most people are able to realize, television movies are usually not of a quality that is even worthy of something that needs to be on DVD. To their credit, I will say that these have since been reedited by George Lucas. I have no idea what the original edits are like as I never saw them. I will just be going off the Lucas edits for the eight movie set that I was given to review.

Release Information:
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Volume 2 is a series of eight television movies based on the younger years of Indiana Jones’ life. This set of movies is included in a nine disc set that was released by Paramount Home Video on December 18, 2007. In addition to the movies there are a fair amount of special features here that fans of the series of movies will love. You can purchase this set at just about any entertainment retailer, including Amazon, where it is available for $78.99.

The The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Volume 2 Plot
Sean Patrick Flannery (Simply Irresistible, The Boondock Saints) stars as Indiana Jones in these eight movies that offer Jones’ experience of life during the time of the First World War. The War Years, as this volume two set has been coined, offers the following eight movies:

The Trenches of Hell
Demons of Deception
Phantom Train of Doom
Oganga, the Giver and Taker of Life
Attack of the Hawkmen
Adventures in the Secret Service
Espionage Escapades
Daredevils of the Desert

As a step up from the first box set, each movie has corresponding special features on the same disc as the movie. The special features will be looked at more in the bonus features section of the review. Each disc offers a fair amount of celebrity influence with stars ranging from Catherine Zeta Jones to Daniel Craig. Despite being made for television movies, a lot of work was put into each film. Scenes were filmed on location all over the world to make sure the right look and feel was attained for each portion of every film.

The Trenches of Hell begins the set with Jones as a inexperienced soldier that is thrust into the Battle of Somme. During this time, the action is high as Jones encounters bombings, rapid gunfire attacks, and even attacks using nerve gas. As the dead bodies pile around him, young Jones assumes that death will capture him soon enough. The chance for death never arrives as he is captured instead and sent to a camp for prisoners of war. In the camp, Jones meets Charles de Gaulle, who would later become the president of France. The two men plan an escape that is incredibly daring and worth watching.

In Demons of Deception the horrors of war just seem to increase though these horrors tend to revolve more around the lies, selfishness, and lack of conscience that can be found in war. Jones gets closer to manhood during a two week leave to Paris and an affair with a spy, Mata Hari (Domiziana Giordano). It does not take long for Jones to see that heartbreak and war go hand in hand.

Phantom Train of Doom leads Jones on a mission to destroy a German artillery gun that has the ability to disappear after it demolishes anything in its path. The Old and the Bold (ageless, fearless soldiers) are at Jones side, helping him to accomplish his mission. This mission has the group traveling on air balloons and wagon trains. The mission is incredibly dangerous and it’s aided by obstacles that are raised by those in his group and the Germans all around them.

Oganga, the Giver and Taker of Life has Jones rescuing a small child from a disease inflicted African village. The presence of this child means danger for Jones and his fellow soldiers, which causes Jones to struggle with morality and right and wrong concerning this child and the soldier’s safety. While in Africa, Jones works at the hospital of Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who offers Jones great comfort and a renewed sense of life.

Attack of the Hawkmen has Jones working with the French Secret Service. As part of the Lafayette Escadrille flying unit Jones has to handle dangerous flights behind enemy lines. While performing his missions, Jones ends up in battle with Manfred von Richthofen and ends up pursuing Anthony Fokker in the process. This leads Jones to information that could change the war if he can get it into the right hands.

Adventures in the Secret Service Jones will try to end the war as quickly as possible. In order to do this he has to endanger the lives of two royal brothers from Habsburg. This is all part of a diplomatic mission gone wrong when Jones is sent to Russia as it is on the heels of collapse. The country falls down around him and Jones has to make the decision between those who mean something to him and his work and obligations to the service.

In Espionage Escapades Jones goes undercover with plans of discrediting some German diplomats. Considering his undercover mission, it’s nice to see that he soon ends up in Prague dealing with something more his style. This mission is by far the simplest or at least the most tedious, as Jones needs only to locate a telephone installed in his apartment where he will sit and wait for further instructions. Personally, I feel this one could have been left off as it was rather tedious itself, lacking the action that the others seem to possess.

The final movie, Daredevils of the Desert has Jones offering a hand to the British, during an attack in Beershaba. Catherine Zeta Jones lends some beauty to the film as a spy who accompanies Jones on an undercover mission. Their mission is to disable explosives that have been placed into the city’s water wells.

I have no idea what the movies were like on television, so if you are a purist you might scoff at the edits that were made by Lucas before this set was released. If you did not see the television versions or you’re not a purist then these discs should be quite satisfying for Indiana Jones fans. There is plenty of action, interesting locations, and the acting is much better than the typical television movie fare.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
The video and audio quality of this set could be better. I found many of the battle scenes to be on the softer side rather than sharp and vibrant, like I would have liked them. Granted these are television movies, but with the extent they went to shooting in so many locations, you would think that the picture quality could have effectively shown the best of these scenes and areas. The compression rate of these DVDs comes in at the standard, 1.33:1, which can vary in quality, but is never the best.

The audio is a step up from the video, but that wasn’t perfect either. It was a bit more crisp than the video, but again, I have heard better.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
This set is filled with bonus features. Each disc has features that correspond with the movie on the disc and then there is a final disc that has interactive bonuses. Disc one offers, “The Somme: A Storm of Steel,” “Siegfried Sassoon: A War Poets Journey,” “Robert Graves and the White Goddess” and “I Am France: The Myth of Charles De Gaulle”. The second disc offers just as many features including, “Into the Furnace: The Battle of Verdun,” “Marshal Petain’s Fall from Grace,” “Flirting With Danger: The Fantasy of Mata Hari” and “Reading the Enemy’s Mind: Espionage in World War I”.

Disc three offers the following three features, “Chasing the Phantom: Paul von Lettow Vorbeck,” “Dreaming of Africa: The Life of Frederick Selous” and “At Home and Abroad: The Two Faces of Jan Smuts”. Disc four offers “Albert Schweitzer: Reverence for Life,” “Congo: A Curse of Riches,” and “Waging Peace: The Rise of Pacifism”. On disc five the features include, “War in the Third Dimension: Aerial Warfare in World War I,” “Blood Red: The Life and Death of Manfred von Richthofen,” “Flying High for France: The Lafayette Escadrille,” and “Anthony Fokker: The Flying Dutchman”.

The sixth disc includes “Karl: The Last Habsburg Emperor,” “The Russian Revolution: All Power to the Soviets!” and “V.I. Lenin: History Will Not Forgive Us”. The seventh disc offers, “Impresario: Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes,” “Ballet: The Art of Dance” and Franz Kafka’s Dark Truth”. The final movie offers the final two special features, “Lines in the Sand: The Middle East and the Great War and “Col. Lawrence’s War: T.E. Lawrence and Arabia”. On the ninth disc there are interactive features such as a timeline and a DVD game. There is also the historical lecture, “War and Revolution” by H.W. Brands.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
Many have questioned whether the price of The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Volume 2 made it worth purchasing or not. This versions price is much higher than volume one, so it is a question that deserves to be asked. The easiest answer is that essentially this is worth the money. If you have never seen these movies, you might want to pick up the first set before spending more money on this one. If you’re a purist you might want to rent this first. Otherwise, The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Volume 2 should be an enjoyable collection for lovers of action and war films.

Overall Rating:

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