The magical whip appears again

The Indiana Jones Trilogy (Box Set)

Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Denholm Elliott, John Rhys-Davies, Alfred Molina, Alexei Sayle, Kate Capshaw, Roshan Seth, Ke Huy Quan, Dan Aykroyd, Alison Doody, Sean Connery, River Phoenix ,Julian Glover

Director: Steven Spielberg

Certificate: PG

Release Dates: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the lost ark (), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ().

Language: English – Dolby Digital (5.1), THX Certified

Duration: 5 hours and 50 minutes

Region: Region 2 DVD

Special Features with the Box Set:
- Indiana Jones making the trilogy
- The light & magic of Indiana Jones
- The sound of Indiana Jones
- The stunts of Indiana Jones
- The music of Indiana Jones
- DVD ROM Content
- 3 original films and bonus disk
I really liked the special features the DVD box set included, because it allows us to get a prospective as to how the film was made, how Lucas and Spielberg came up with the storylines, and the directions they wanted to take for each film. We get to here from both individuals about what they favored about the story, how they disagreed at times about the direction etc. Some of the stunts in the film were actually good, given the year it was made in, however even the littlest of scene’s required a great deal of hard work, the extra footage shows just how it was made.
Also packed with music and visual sound effects, it gives us fans an in depth analysis of the production of each film from start to finish.

The Main plots of the films:

Raiders of the Lost Ark: Rader’s of the Lost Ark was the first of three epics in the Indiana Jones Trilogy. Released to worldwide audience in 1981, the film was a huge success, grossing more than $383 million worldwide. The story follows the adventurous travels of Dr Indiana Jones. Many people will be well aware of the opening scene to the film, which has stuck in the heads of many people. The opening scene opens in 1936, with Dr Jones traveling into the Peruvian Jungle in search for a hidden artifact; however he must successfully go through a set of well designed booby traps. Jones manages to recover the artifact however is later surrounded by an army who was also in search of the artifact.
The story continues with Jones back in America, teaching a class of college students, when he is approached by agents of the Government who have to ask him some questions. The agents tell Jones that the Nazi army is in search for the most sacred of sacred artifacts, the Ark of Covent, which supposedly holds the TEN COMMANDMENTS. The Ark cannot fall into the wrong hands, so Jones being the adventurer he is must, stop the Nazi’s from obtaining the Ark and opening it, as doing so will have grave consequences on mankind. To make matters worse, the key headstone to the ark is in the hands of Jones ex – girlfriend who he now hates. The film follows the two as they search for the ark, whilst also settling their differences. Packed with action from start to finish, this film is just brilliant.

Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom: This was the second installment of the trilogy; released in 1984 it grossed $179 million worldwide. The film once again follows the adventures of Dr Jones, and his quests to find treasure. Just like the first film, the second film too has an explosive beginning, which sets a structure for the rest of the film. Jones is in Shanghia, were in a nightclub, he is about to trade the remains of Nurhaci for a large diamond, however things turn bad, when a gangster named Lao Che double crosses him. Indiana along with the nightclub singer Wilhelmina "Willie" Scott must escape the nightclub, however there is an army of gangsters in their way, with help from Jones young friend manage to escape and fly off out of shanghai, however the plane is sabotaged and Indiana and the other have no choice but to jump out of the plane, and as they wake up, they realize they are in India. The story then picks up, with Jones traveling to a village were all the children have been kidnapped and made to work as slaves in the Pankot Place, which is run by Mola Ram (Amrish Puri). The villagers ask Jones to save their children, whilst also finding the three sacred Sankara stones, which were stolen from the village by Mola Ram. Jones and co, travel to Pankot palace, but all is not as it seems, and we soon realize that things are really bad. Mola Ram the worshiper of Kalima, sacrifices people to the God, and Indiana is next. It is up to the other to help Indiana escape, whilst also tracking down the children and the stones.

Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade: This was the final installment to the trilogy, released in 1980; the film was the most successful of all three grossing more than $474 million worldwide. The film once again follows Dr Jones, this time accompanied by Sean Connery who players Jones father.
When Indiana’s father, Dr Henry Jones Sr goes missing, Indiana Jr must go on the trail to find his father. The only way to find his father is to read his journal to find the last steps his father took, however Indiana realizes his father was on the trail for the Holy Grail, which was in the hands of the Nazi’s, which once again are used in the film as they were in the first installment. Jones is reluctant to believe that the cup of Christ really exists; however his father’s passion and belief make them go on the search. Indiana’s father is badly hurt whilst on the trail for the grail, and facing death; however legend has it that the grail holds the key to internal life. Indiana must find a way of finding the grail, which many had tried to find before, but couldn’t as it has the key to save his father.

My personal Opinion of the DVD Box set and the films: Although the films were made well before I was born, my father who was a long admired fan of the films, told me to watch the films. I was reluctant at first to watch as I thought it would be boring, but when I watched the first film, I was surprised as just how good the films really were. Each film has its central theme or plot, which makes the story flow, the first one involves finding the ark, the second saving the children and the third saving his father, yet each film was unique and if you watched the first film you never anticipate what would happen in the second or third. The brilliant minds of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas created one of the most exciting and adventurous films of all time.
What really appealed to me was the way the directors made the views use their sense of imagination, i.e. when visualizing the actual existence of the Ark or the Holy Grail, whilst also keeping the film real, with action, none of this CGI fights scene’s etc. What really make these films great are its opening scenes, which set such a high standard for the rest of the film. In Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, the opening scene was perhaps one of the most exciting scenes in the whole film. Jones must overcome a large number of cleverly placed booby traps, large rocks rolling down on top of him, stepping stones that booby trapped etc. The same applies with the second, with the scene in Shanghai with the diamond.
The third films opening scene was much more unique as it shows Indiana as a young child on the trail for treasure. Played by river phoenix, we get the sense that Indiana has always been the adventurous characters since a child.

The cast also made the film more appealing, exciting and funny to watch. Harrison Ford plays the role of Jones every well, adding flavor and excitement to the character, whilst also charming the viewers and showing his humorous side. Sean Connery also makes the third film more exciting because we get to see a somewhat unusual father son relationship, between Indiana and his father. It is only in the closing scene that we here his father say Indiana, and see a sense of love and emotion.
With every film, you must have a villain who must be stopped and in my opinion this was portrayed brilliantly by Amrish Puri in the second film.
Puri plays the role of Mola Ram, the powerful priest who was brainwashing and sacrificing people to the gods and imprisoning the little children. Puri was born to play a violin, ever since he started acting in Bollywood, he was always a good villain actor, his big bold head gave his a sense of scariness and his deep voice and big eyes made the character of Mola Ram very fascinating to watch. All in all this trilogy and DVD box set is just brilliant, non stop action from the start to the finish, packed with small history lessons as well. I rate this DVD box set 5 out 5. Pure brilliance.