Review of Indiana Jones, Adventures Of, The Complete Movie Collection

Introduction

You`ll have to excuse me, I`m suffering from Indiana Jones Overload. I`ve got my grubby mitts on the spanking new Region Two release of the movie trilogy, and I couldn`t be happier if I woke up tied to Cameron Diaz. I`ve been looking forward to these movies coming out in the digital format more than that other trilogy of dreams (S*** W***), and I`ve not been disappointed.

Steven Spielberg has never made any attempt to return to this body of work for tweaks, re-workings or general fannying-about-withs, and the movies remain the same iconic pieces of cinema they were when they were originally released.

Having said that, "Raiders" has enjoyed a little sprucing up in the high-definition-mastering process and one or two little effects niggles have been addressed. Purists will be hard pressed to spot what has been done, though.

"Temple of Doom" is most definitely cut - that is, it`s the same cut of the movie that was passed back in 1984 for cinema release in the UK. Frankly I`m very happy with it, but if you want to see the full uncut version you`ll have to stump up for the Region One boxset.

Video

You almost certainly will never have seen the movies looking better. Transferred in pin-sharp 2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio, you`ll spend a lot of time thinking "I don`t remember that", because you can see so much more detail. The transfers are light-years ahead of the old letterbox VHS transfers we`re all familiar with. Colours are vibrant, contrast is spot on (especially if you calibrate your tv with the THX test routine). The three feature films are as spotlessly clean as if they had been made this year, and comparison with the trailers on disc four (which haven`t been spruced up) is something of an eye-opener.

Audio

The three movies were a treat for the ears when they were originally released in Dolby Stereo, and the new discrete Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes are spot on. For reference, George Lucas does not care for DTS sound, so there is of course no inclusion of such a mix.

John Williams` rollicking theme for Indy has to be one of the best, and all three films have wonderful full orchestral scores recorded by the London Symphony.

Features

The three movies come with bold, animated menus that allow the usual play, set-up, scene selection and subtitle options as well as access to the Indiana Jones website.

The fourth disc is the icing in the cake, and the cherry on top is the two hour (that`s two hours and five minutes) making-of documentary for the trilogy which includes behind-the-scenes material, interviews with virtually all of the principal actors, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and many more. Reminiscences abound, and quite frankly any yak-tracks included on the main features would have been overkill.

There are four short making-of featurettes on the stunts, music, sound effects and visual effects, and various trailers for all three movies and even the Indiana Jones game. All in all about three hours in total duration.

Conclusion

Three movies totally deserving the title "classic" and this box set does them absolute justice. People who carp about what could have been put on the discs are simply trying to put the hat on the dancing elephant. The movies are just the way I remember them, if not distinctly better.