Review Detail

7.5 16 10
FanFix August 12, 2012 3755
(Updated: September 12, 2012)
Enjoyment
 
8.0
Review by TV's Frink — March 7, 2010 @ 5:22 pm

This sucker surprised me a few times.

First off, I had never watched a Jorge fanedit before, so I was very excited when this was announced. Since there was no real WIP thread, my expectations were simply a result of Jorge’s reputation. And then the reviews came in, and while there were some positives, it sounded like this was a disappointment. My expectations were dramatically reduced, which in hindsight seems to have been a good thing.

Turns out I really enjoyed the edit. I liked parts of the original but the overall experience was not what I was hoping. While this still isn’t exactly what I was hoping for, it was much, much closer. I even think I will watch this again in the future. The runtime is short, but I didn’t have a problem with that. Some specific thoughts:

Opening nuclear film: I thought this was out of place. Not only is Doom Town unimportant to the movie, but it doesn’t open the movie either. On the plus side, the short film comes before the true opening (the Paramount logo), and because it is a separate chapter, I will just skip it next time.

New “proper” opening: I loved this. No car chase, but rather we start with the Russians arriving and gunning down the soldiers as the titles are shown. This worked great.

Warehouse: Really works well. I actually didn’t mind seeing the ark in the original, so I sort of missed it here, but not a big deal.

Doom Town: I actually kind of like this sequence, except for the fridge. And while the fridge is ludicrous, so is some of the other Indy action in the series. So while I wouldn’t mind a cut with Doom Town gone completely, this didn’t bother me too much.

Motorcycle/Library chase: I thought this worked very well, except for the Russian dub. It surprised me and for a bit I didn’t quite understand what it was supposed to be. Unnecessary but not too harmful ultimately.

“No Nazca Ninjas, you big silly:” In addition to this cut description making me laugh, I definitely liked how this played out.

Ox trims: Much better.

Jungle chase/Waterfall: The trims to the chase and fighting work well. No scorpions, no monkeys, no Tarzan all worked great. The ants didn’t bother me too much in the original, except I was so sick of all the bad stuff that came before the ants I was in no mood at that point. In this version I think the ants work much better as a result. The waterfall is still kind of silly (still don’t understand what Marion is thinking) but it works better, and I actually like the immediate cut to the craft in the water with them climbing onto shore.

Pyramid puzzle: I like this version better.

Ending: I’m a bit conflicted on this. I like the idea, but I think it would have worked better without the voiceover and LOTR shot. Keeping it more ambiguous would have been fine, and the additions stand out a bit too much.

A/V seemed very good. I can’t comment on the 5.1 upmix, as I was listening on headphones.

The DVD is nicely done. I sampled the commentary and it sounds like it will be worth the listen. I don’t like that it’s hidden on the trailers page, but not a big deal. The only other complaint I can think of is at the end of the movie, after the Remixed logo, the DVD stopped. No end credits and no return to the menu. I was especially surprised to see missing end credits – I thought this was considered a no-no.

Thanks for this, Jorge. It was well worth the time. 8/10
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