DVD Review: Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection

Writers: George Lucas, Phillip Kaufman, Lawrence Kasdan, Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz, Meno Meyjes, Jeffrey Boam
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, Paul Freeman, Jonathan Ke Quan, Kate Capshaw, Alison Doody, Ronald Lacey , Alfred Molina, Wolf Kahler, Amrish Puri, Roshan Seth, Phillip Stone, Roy Chiao, Raj Singh, David Yip, Ric Young, Julian Glover, River Phoenix, Michael Byrne, Kevork Malikyan
Rating: PG
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: May 13, 2008

I grew up in the 1980s. What kid in the 80s didn’t play Indiana Jones? We’d go on our own adventures in my friend’s backyard (or in my mobile home park, running down the path between the two homes on each side) and pretend we were in a swampy place, trying to avoid whatever creatures, especially snakes, we could. We even played Indiana Jones at the local pool. With so much water playing a role in all three movies, it was easy to relive any of Indy’s adventures. Well…at least in our imaginations.

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are the ultimate team. I don’t know why so many people seem to hate George Lucas. I’m thinking they all must be LOTR fans. Well, I’m not one of them. Nobody owned the 80s like Spielberg and Lucas. This is proof positive since the two have been listed in the top 400 richest Americans with a net worth for Lucas of over $3 billion and Spielberg, slightly below that. That’s a feat Peter Jackson (or any other Hollywood filmmaker) has yet to dream of accomplishing.

Release Information:
The Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection is made up of the original, three Indiana Jones movies. The first movie is Raiders of the Lost Ark. This movie premiered in theaters on June 12, 1981. Spielberg and Lucas had always intended for there to be five films in the Indiana Jones series, so after the success of Raiders, the follow up was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which debuted in theaters on May 23, 1984. Finally, what was believed to be the last in the series, since disputes over the fourth film caused Lucas and Spielberg to move on to other projects, is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This movie was released into movie theaters on May 24, 1989.

Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection is being released on May 13, 2008 to celebrate the impending release of the newest Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. This is a long time in the coming; 19 years to be exact. Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection is available for pre-order online. You’ll be able to pick up this box set collection at all major retailers on May 13. Until then you can purchase a set, for pre-order on Amazon at a cost of $39.99 USD.

The Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection Plot
Most everyone has seen the three movies in the Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection. Still, I feel it is only fair to give a brief plot on each of the films and discuss their good and bad qualities (if any), as well as my opinion on the characters, the actors and the movies as a whole. It seems as if the general public has, as a consensus, labeled Raiders the best of the three, which is no surprise since first films in films with sequels tend to be the best in the bunch. This is followed closely by Last Crusade and for some reason unbeknownst to be, Temple of Doom is the least favorite. I happen to enjoy all three of them though certain elements of each film make all of them excellent. Still, if I had to pick one, I guess I’d go with the consensus and say Raiders is my favorite.

Raiders of the Lost Ark has an excellent story and a lot of adventure. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is a famous archaeologist, though he seems to be consistently foiled when he’s on his quest to find that one great discovery that could bring him fame and glory, by his biggest adversary, Dr. Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman). Indy knows a lot about history, archeology and lost artifacts, but Belloq always seems to be there to swoop down on Indy’s success and take it away from him.

Indy finds himself going head to head with Belloq when he is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant, the box where Moses originally stored the tablets with the Ten Commandments upon them. Indy has been told the Nazis, who are trying to attain power in the mid-to-late 1930s, want the Ark and Belloq is just the man to help them find it. To find the Ark before the Nazi’s, Indy must find the daughter of his old mentor, and his former flame, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), since she’s the only one who can help him on his quest.

This is my favorite of the Indiana Jones movies because it has the tightest storyline. There are a few silly moments, but those are few and far between. Harrison Ford and Karen Allen have amazing chemistry. They’re absolutely perfect together and you want them to be together. This also has some of the coolest action sequences, which includes the moment where Marion gets stuck inside a plane, almost running Indy over, since she can’t turn it off, a moment where they’re tied up and the Ark comes to life, and an amazing scene in a Temple where Indy and his guide must get out before it crumbles to pieces.

The second movie is the most loathed of the Indy films, as of yet. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was slightly silly, but I still liked it. The movie starts with Indiana Jones in a Shanghai club known as Club Obi-Wan. Gee, bet you didn’t guess that George Lucas wrote this story now did you?! Anyway, this story takes place a year before Raiders in 1935. Indy has brought the remains of Nurhaci to trade for a diamond he was promised by a notorious Shanghai gangster named Lao Che (Roy Chiao).

The trade goes bad and Indiana gets poisoned. The antidote to the poison is picked up by the nightclub’s singer, Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw), who is trying to find the diamond in the chaos. The two manage to escape in a hot little roadster driven by Indy’s ward, a young boy named Short Round (Jonathan Ke Quan) or Shorty as Indy calls him. They escape the city on a cargo plane, but soon realize it is owned by Lao Che, when they are trapped with no pilots or fuel in the middle of the mountains near the border of India. The pilots have emptied the fuel tanks and parachuted out so that leaves Indy, Willie and Shorty with an emergency life raft, which they use in the snow covered mountains and finally in a river, which leads them to a village in India.

In the village, a terrible fate has befallen over the villagers. Ever since the stone that protects their city has been stolen, their crops have been damaged, their land has dried up. Their children have been stolen. They believe Indy is their only hope to save their village, so in return for a guide that can take them to Delhi, Indy agrees to go to the Pankot Palace, where the head of the village believes an ancient, evil tribe worshiping the evil god Kali, has formed. Indy does so because he believes that the stone is one of five magic stones known as the Sankara stones.

Willie has to fight with nature the entire way to Pankot, while Short Round provides some much needed comic relief. In fact, Ke Quan is what makes this movie. Not only is he absolutely adorable, he has perfect comedic timing and the chemistry he shares with Harrison Ford is great. When the three make it to Pankot, they discover a human sacrificing cult and a whole lot more than they bargained for, so getting the stone is as much a priority as is staying alive!

While Ford and Ke Quan have excellent chemistry, the chemistry between Ford and Capshaw is much different than the chemistry he shared with Allen in the previous film. Allen really is the ideal Indy girl so it is hard to follow that up. The creators of Temple of Doom did an amazing job in making Willie so different from Marion that it is hard to compare the two. While she shares chemistry with Ford their chemistry is so different. It’s like the difference between a passionate one night stand and a passionate, lifelong love affair with Willie being the one night stand and Marion being the lifelong affair.

Finally, there is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which starts out with a flashback of young Indiana (River Phoenix) in 1912. At the time, Indiana is a boy scout who is fighting over an artifact, the Cross of Coronado, with a couple of grave robbers. After Indy manages to get it away from them, the robbers tell the sheriff that Indy is the one who stole it, and he has to give it back, so the grave robbers can take off with it for good. Before they leave, a man wearing Indy style clothing gives Indiana a fedora and this is where we see the development of Indiana the archaeologist beginning, before it reverts back to present day.

This present day is 1938 and Indy has unfinished business. He finally catches up with the grave robbers on their ship, the Coronado. This time, he won’t let the cross get away, and when he finds it, he donates it to a museum. In the meantime, Indiana just happens to bump into a wealthy man named Walter Donovan (Julian Glover). Donovan informs Indy that his father, Professor Henry Jones (Sean Connery), vanished when he was on a quest to find the Holy Grail. Soon after, Indy receives his father’s diaries, explaining his findings and clues to the Grail’s whereabouts, which convince him his father is really in trouble.

This takes Indy to Venice with Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott), the man whose museum now features the cross of Coronado. There they meet Dr Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody). She had been working with Henry Jones up until his disappearance. Once again, Indy must fight the Nazis, who want the Grail to use its power for nefarious purposes. He also must deal with the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword, who will do whatever is necessary to protect the Grail from anyone they feel is a threat towards discovering its location.

The acting for The Last Crusade is good. Sean Connery steals the show though Harrison Ford can obviously hold his own. The two have great father-son chemistry and I can see why so many fans wanted Connery to come out of retirement to star in Crystal Skull. Alison Doody is okay as Elsa Schneider, but she’s definitely my least favorite of the three Indy girls. I would have liked to see Marion return for this one though she wouldn’t have fit in with Elsa’s role. A Marion-Elsa showdown over Indy would have been nice, but the movie is still good for what it is.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
The three films in the Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection all look the best I have ever seen. They’ve been enhanced for 16×9 televisions and are presented at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. I haven’t seen the 2003 Indiana Jones box set, but I’ve been told this is the same quality. Still, if you don’t have that box set, you could easily get this one, because the picture looks fantastic. This is about as good as it is going to get for now. The colors are brilliant and the contrast is sharp. There are very few if any visual flaws, at all.

The audio tracks, all in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound are the same as the 2003 tracks. I guess if you planned to double dip on this set it’d be pretty pointless. The sound is dynamic. The adventure is full of sound effects and everything comes through loud and clear. The original tracks from the movie don’t seem to be included (I’m assuming it was filmed in stereo), but this track is a lot more full bodied and every sound comes through allowing you, as an audience member, to be in the action. Subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French and closed captioning is available for the hearing impaired.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
The 2003 DVD box set was filled with many extras, none of which are included in the Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection Box Set. There are plenty of additional bonuses, so if any area makes double dipping necessary it is the bonus features. Some fans might not feel there is enough bonuses available to double dip, especially since there are no carryovers from the 2003 set and none of the bonuses seem to be quite as good as the ones in the latter set. Just for reference, almost all of the bonuses (excluding the older footage shot during the time each movie was filmed) is in anamorphic widescreen format.

The first bonus is an introduction on the Raiders of the Lost Ark DVD that runs for a little under ten minutes in length. The intro is with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. With interviews, production photos, and behind the scenes footage. This is a mish mash of history pertaining to the making of Raiders. The next feature on the Raiders disc is called “Indiana Jones: An Appreciation”. This has a run time at just over 11 minutes and it has interviews with the actors who have returned (or are new) to play in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. These interviews look back at their views on the original three movies.

The Raiders of the Lost Ark DVD continues with “The Melting Face”, a less than ten minutes long featurette about the technical effects used on the melting death sequence. This is informative and should be watched after you watch the movie, if you’ve never seen it. Luckily, if you happen to catch this featurette first, it shouldn’t ruin the movie for you since it avoids directly explaining the plot of that scene. There is also a Storyboard Sequence on this DVD (which looks at the “Well of Souls” scene) as well as trailers for “Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures” and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Finally, there are photo galleries with everything from prop pictures to early story illustrations.

The Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom DVD also features a George and Steven Intro. This one is a little over five minutes long and is more of a behind the scenes feature than the one on the Raiders DVD. The first featurette on this DVD is called “The Creepy Crawlies”. If you’ve ever seen Temple of Doom you will understand how aptly named this feature is. It looks at all the critters used to make this movie and trust me, there were plenty! This featurette is almost eight minutes long. “Travel With Indy: Locations” examines the various locations Indy and his crew (at the time) traveled to in all three movies. This one is not quite ten minutes long. These two featurettes also have pop-up trivia if you’d like to utilize this feature. Finally, there is a Storybook Sequence for the “Mine Cart Rollercoaster” scene as well as the same two trailers on the first disc and another set of photo galleries.

The last DVD Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade aptly begins with an Intro by George and Steven. This time, the boys speak on the movie for over six minutes. The first featurette on the DVD is a ten minutes long tribute by the American Film Institute called “Indy’s Women: The American Film Institute Tribute”. This talks with Allen, Capshaw and Doody. There is also the featurette, “Indy’s Friends and Enemies”, which is over ten minutes in lengths. This looks at the various characters that played friends and enemies with all of Indy’s closest allies and foes being represented. The Storybook Sequence is for the “Grave Robbers scene”, the two repeat trailers and a final set of photo galleries.

These may not be as good as the bonuses on the previous release, but there still is some good information and entertaining bonus featurettes included in this bunch. This, with what was included in the first set really should all be lumped together in the box set for all four Indy movies, which you just know is going to be released! Now that would be the perfect DVD box set!

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
Fans of the movie that don’t care about the bonuses can choose either the 2003 Box set or this Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection set. Both have excellent, quality movies and plenty of additional offerings that add a little something to each set. Bonus junkies and die hard Indiana Jones fans may want to own both sets, just because all of the bonus features make both sets worth it. I loved the Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection set, but then I don’t have the 2003 set. Either way, the movies in this set come very highly recommended are amongst the best to ever be produced.

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: Indiana Jones, The Adventure Collection, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade, Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Jonathan Ke Quan, Short Round, Marion Ravenwood, Adventure, Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas

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Written by Dominick - Visit Website
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Dominick Evans is in his late 20's. He spends his days working as a full time writer/editor and a part time musician/composer. His passions in life include music, directing films, watching movies, reading books, watching sports, wheelchair football, politics and spending time with his family (fiancée Ashtyn, son Robert, and shih-tzu Oliver). Other interests include being an advocate for the disability and GLBT communities.