The Jewel of the Nile Blu-ray offers decent video and poor audio in this mediocre Blu-ray release
Joan Wilder and Jack Colton are back in the fast lane on a perilous trek through the North
African Desert, facing treacherous tribes, deadly dungeons, and seemingly endless villains in
the search for the elusive "jewel." Plucky romance novelist Joan Wilder is thrust back into a
world of murder, chases, foreign intrigue... and love. This time out she's duped by a duplicitous
Arab dignitary who brings her to the Middle East, ostensibly to write a book about his life. Of
course he's up to no good, and Joan is just another pawn in his wicked game. But Jack Colton
and his sidekick Ralph, old friends from her previous adventures, show up to help our intrepid
heroine save the day.
The surprising success of 1984's Romancing the Stone led 20th Century Fox to call for a
rapidly-produced sequel, and faster than one can say "bling!," there was The Jewel of the
Nile in theaters during the
Christmas season of 1985. While stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito all
returned for the second installment, a brand new team was hired to pen the script and helm the
film. Gone was a plethora of both young and established talent that lent their skills to
Stone, their combined efforts invariably aiding that film tremendously. Amongst those
whose names would not become attached to the sequel included then up-and-coming director
Robert Zemeckis (whose future directorial credits would include Forrest Gump and
Back to the Future), writer Diane Thomas (who would tragically pass away less than two
months prior to the release of Jewel), composer Alan Silvestri, and cinematographer
Dean
Cundey (who previously served as director of photography on several John Carpenter classics,
including Halloween and The Thing). That's
quite a bit of star power, and although the crew assembled for Nile proved competent
enough, putting together what is a decent follow-up to a classic, there is no doubt that the allure
of
the first film is nowhere to be found here. Fortunately, the film's bread-and-butter, it's
memorable, affable characters return for one final adventure that doesn't send them off into the
sunset as Stone fans may have hoped, but Nile proves to be generally
entertaining, if nothing else.
Jack and Joan and Jewel went up a hill...
In The Jewel of the Nile, audiences find Jack Colton (Douglas) and Joan Wilder (Turner)
still together, Jack enjoying his newfound fortune and Joan struggling to complete an overdue
novel. When Joan is approached by a mysterious Middle Eastern ruler named Omar
(Spiros Focás) to write his story, Joan agrees to travel to his home country and take advantage of
the unique opportunity. Jack disagrees with the decision and is left behind. Shortly thereafter,
Jack runs into Ralph (DeVito), still in search of riches and out for revenge against Jack. Jack is
rescued by yet another mysterious man who informs him of Omar's
treachery and the danger Joan has gotten herself into, and with the proclamation that Omar is
himself in possession of the precious "Jewel of the Nile," Ralph and Jack team up to rescue Joan
and,
perhaps, once again discover unforetold riches.
The Jewel of the Nile is, frankly, a disappointment as a follow-up to Romancing the
Stone. Marred by some slow segments, and a particularly dull midsection, punctuated only
by moderately entertaining action sequences, the film feels somewhat longer than its fairly
average 106 minute runtime suggests. Absent is the remarkably witty and novel script of
Stone; Douglas, Turner, and DeVito seem able to do little with the script as it mostly
runs
through the motions of routine action, adventure, and romance, the spark of the first film
seemingly extinguished and the characters generally dry and uninspired. The magical
camaraderie shared between Douglas and Turner in the first film is lessened to a great extent
here, too. Their on-screen chemistry is lackluster at best, and as a result there is a detachment
between character and audience, and when strains are placed on their relationship, it's hard to
care. Audiences know the film won't leave them without one another and the obligatory happy
ending, but because the
relationship seems forced rather than playing as a natural progression as in Stone, there
is little-to-no urgency or drama within the confines of the relationship. Taken on its own merits,
however, and enjoyed as a routine adventure film, The Jewel of the Nile is not half bad.
The film features some decent action sequences; one featuring an F-16 fighter jet that fails to go
airborne is particularly engaging. A fairly strong twist revealed about halfway through, which
reveals just how precious the film's title jewel truly is, makes the movie palatable and watchable.
Despite its dated music, costumes, and special effects, The Jewel of the Nile remains a
testament to 1980s filmmaking, a quickly-produced sequel that attracted audiences to theaters
with the allure of another romantic adventure story, one that definitely has its heart in
the right place, but ultimately falls flat as a follow-up to one of the decades premier and
memorable films.
The Jewel of the Nile features a decent but certainly not eye-catching 1080p,
2.35:1-framed transfer. Detail is fairly high; the opening segments in the "real world" aboard
the Angelina reveals a nice amount of depth and color, particularly in the towels and
clothing as seen in the scene. Color also looks great in those scenes taking place in Omar's
kingdom, where the varied
and bright clothing plays nicely against the tan, monotone backgrounds of the buildings and dirt
roads. The first time viewers see Ralph, he is hiding in a wooden box. All of the knots and seams
take on a realistic texture. The image looks a bit faded and bland, soft in a places, but never
especially bothersome. Black levels are average, as are flesh tones, and the image exhibits some
print anomalies along with some noise that is particularly noticeable near the end of the film. Not
the perfect transfer, even for an older catalogue title, but certainly sufficient, The Jewel of the
Nile's 1080p transfer should satisfy most casual fans.
The Jewel of the Nile presents listeners with an uneven and generally disappointing
DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. It features heavier bass and a more active surround speaker
presentation than what was offered in Romancing the Stone, but the track is marred by
plenty of annoyances. Lacking much in the way of clarity, and far too loud at reference volume,
much of the sound comes across as muffled and undefined. Action sequences in particular sound
confused, jumbled, and exceptionally high in volume. Bass is used to nice effect in a few
instances, such as a rumbling explosion in chapter 5. Dialogue is the best aspect of the disc,
sounding crisp and natural
through the center channel. Surrounds come into play nicely here and there; some nice echoing
during a dialogue sequence between Joan and Omar as they speak in a large courtyard in chapter
eight stands out. Sound spreads fairly well around the stage, with a few decent ambient effects
in addition to the fine dialogue reproduction that feels as expansive as the yard itself. The back
channels fill up nicely a few times. The sound of gunfire, for example, crackles throughout the
back and across the front in chapter 11. Even throughout this action sequence, the volume
becomes inconsistent, and many listeners will find themselves fiddling with the remote rather
than paying attention to the action, a situation that, unfortunately, best describes practically the
entire mix.
The Jewel of the Nile comes to Blu-ray with a few supplements the die-hard fans of the
film
will enjoy. First is a commentary track with director Lewis Teague. In the first few minutes of
the
track, the director discusses the impact of the film on his career, chatting with Michael Douglas
before officially being brought on board and the star's impressions of Teague's work, the
importance
of grounding the film in reality, his work on the script and the tight schedule, the advantages of
making a sequel, and more. The first few minutes of the track are easily the best, but the entire
track remains easy to listen to and mostly interesting. Offering up a mixture of standard stories
recounting shooting locations and the harsh conditions of much of the shoot with a discussion of
some of his favorite scenes and the challenge of working with non-professional actors (the Flying
Karamazov Brothers, for example), Teague remains generally easy to listen to, in spite of some
dead air (much of chapter 13, for example).
Romancing the Nile: A Winning Sequel (480p, 20:59) features interviews with the
primary cast and crew members as they recount the film, the work that went into making the
sequel, and even a candid discussion about the viability of a project such as Jewel of the
Nile in today's world. Other topics touched on include the writing of the script (including
Kathleen Turner's displeasure with the draft) and a
discussion of the film's various scenes, including those that build the relationship between Joan
and Jack and several of the action sequences (with a fun conversation about the film's famous
F-16
sequence). Adventures of a Romance Novelist (480p, 8:02) begins with an examination
of the structure of the films and irony of a romance/adventure writer becoming entangled in
real-life adventures similar to those she writes, but quickly turns into a rather dull piece that
recounts
the story and poses several questions that this film tries to answer. Six deleted scenes (1080p,
5:44) are next. Concluding the supplemental
package is the film's theatrical trailer (480p, 1:34).
The Jewel of the Nile is a moderately successful sequel that definitely feels rushed to the
screen and lacks the polish, energy, and chemistry found in the first film. Regardless, the film
returns several memorable characters to the screen, though they often feel like a shell of those
same characters that appeared in Romancing the Stone. Taken as a mostly separate
entity, however, the The Jewel of the Nile is decent enough entertainment, with some fine
action, a nice twist, and a moderately interesting villain. 20th Century Fox's Blu-ray presentation of
The Jewel of the Nile is somewhat of a letdown, a surprise coming from a studio known for
its excellent presentations of both new releases and catalogue titles. Featuring lackluster video
quality that surpasses standard definition in every regard but feels meager next to most other
catalogue Blu-ray titles, an uneven soundtrack that is often hard to listen to, and a modest but
mostly fulfilling supplemental section, The Jewel of the Nile is a Blu-ray discs best
purchased by fans only.
Blu-ray bundles with The Jewel of the Nile (2 bundles)
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