Review by Gary Tooze

 

Studio:

Video: 20th Century Fox

 

Discs:

Region: 'A'

Feature Runtime: 1:45:55

Chapters: 24

Feature film disc size: 33.4 Gig

One dual-layered Blu-ray

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: October 14th, 2008

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Resolution: 1080p

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC

 

Audio:
English: DTS HD Master (lossless), English 4.0,  French (2.0), Spanish (mono)

Subtitles:
Feature: English, French, Spanish, Chinese (traditional and simplified), Korean and none
 

Supplements:

• Commentary by director Lewis Teague

• Featurette: "Romancing the Nile - A Winning Sequel" (20:58)

• Featurette: "Adventures of a Romance Novelist" (8:01)

• Deleted Scenes  (5:42 - in HD)

• Trailer in 1.33:1

• HD trailer "Jumper" (2:30)
 

 

Product Description: In the blockbuster Romancing The Stone, novelist Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) and wanderer Jack Colton (Michael Douglas) went sailing off into the sunset together. In this thrill-packed sequel, Ralph (Danny DeVito) is back on their trail and they're back in the fast lane on a perilous trek through the fierce North African Desert. Not even treacherous tribes, deadly dungeons and seemingly endless villains can stop this trio from finding, once and for all, that mysterious "jewel." ...

 

 

 

The Film:

`The Jewel of the Nile" is more silliness in the tradition of "Romancing the Stone," which in its turn was a funny action comedy inspired by the Indiana Jones epics. We walk into the theater expecting absolutely nothing of substance, and that's exactly what we get, served up with high style. The movie reassembles three key "Romancing" cast members - Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito - and goes on to a fourth inspired casting decision with the addition of Avner Eisenberg as a holy man of gentle goofiness.

 

 

Movie-industry gossip has it that Kathleen Turner didn't particularly want to make this sequel, and that even Michael Douglas, who produces as well as stars, thought it might be best to quit while he was ahead. But the original contract specified a sequel, and it's to everybody's credit that "The Jewel of the Nile" is an ambitious and elaborate attempt to repeat the success of the first movie; it's not just a ripoff...

Excerpt from Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun Times located HERE

 

Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc.

The Fox Blu-ray transfer seems adept with a softer palette, as compared to Romancing the Stone. This is probably how it was shot and detail doesn't suffer much because of it. It does tend to mute colors to some degree. Background noise is fairly fine but visible in monochromatic skies. The image overall is very smooth . I don't think it has as much depth as Romancing the Stone but I can't really point out any specific flaws. It looks about what one might expect for a 20+ year old film put to 1080P - perhaps a notch better than that. DP Jan de Bont shows the Moroccan landscapes looking mighty impressive and enticing at times - ditto for Miss Turner. The feature size being a healthy 33.4 Gig on the dual-layered Blu-ray. I don't see evidence of DNR or edge enhancements. You may click on the screen grabs to see the full 1080 resolution.

 

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio & Music:  
The lossless DTS HD Master option may me marginally superior to the similar track of Romancing the Stone. It shows a bit more life when called upon and I always like the subtleties (horses galloping, train noises etc.). The mix can't compete with more aggressive modern scores but for this film it augments the presentation adeptly. There is (an original?) 4.0 track option available. The score is by Jack Nitzsche with some modern (at the time) music with Billy Ocean and similar thematic rifts. It sounds pretty tight. There are optional subtitles offered in English, French, Spanish, Chinese (traditional and simplified) or Korean.

 

Extras:
This time we get a commentary from director Lewis Teague. It seems pretty PC with some anecdotal incidents and discussion of the production, locations etc. There are a couple blandish featurettes and deleted scenes in HD plus an 1.33 trailer.

 

 

Bottom line:
The trio are united in this more slap-dash effort. It was meant to duplicate the success and 'feeling' of the first film and it doe just that. Once again Blu-ray does its job bringing out the best qualities of the cinematography and audio. It's almost hard not to get wrapped up in the adventurous fun in 1080P, but I'd say this is the weaker of the two films - but still worth a spin when you are in the mood. 'Feel good' adventure films like this are rarely of this quality - and tack on the Blu-ray transfer and you might be surprised (I was) at just how much you enjoy yourself.

Gary Tooze

October 12th, 2008