JEWEL OF THE NILE - Blu-ray review

What I remember most about "Jewel of the Nile" is not its plot, but the hit song "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" by Billy Ocean. That was such a catchy tune and back in the day when MTV actually played music videos, it provided the ultimate trailer for "Jewel of the Nile." I cannot recall whether or not I had seen the film in theaters, but I had loved the first movie and always looked forward to the sequel when I first realized it was forthcoming. Jack Colton wasn't nearly as cool as Indiana Jones, but this was another series that featured a lot of action and at the time Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito were both very familiar faces. The details of when I saw the film may have escaped me, but revisiting the picture with the Blu-ray release quickly brought back some memories and while this picture isn't nearly as good as the first film, it does have its moments.

The story continues the lives of Jack Colton (Douglas) and Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) and the boat that appeared at the end of the first film. They are deeper in their relationship, but Joan is having problems writing and Jack is not prepared for marriage and does not care much for book signings. There is apparent strife in their relationship and things are only amplified to a point where Jack decides it is time to leave and return to a life of adventuring. During this time Joan is approached by an Arab ruler named Omar (Spiros Focas) to write his memoirs and travel with him. Joan accepts and leaves Jack behind. While Joan is leaving Jack runs into the antagonist from the first film Ralph (DeVito) and they begin an argument that is interrupted by another Arab named Tarak (Paul David Magid) who informs them that Omar is not a king, but a dictator and his intentions with Joan are not exactly noble.

This thin and somewhat laughable plot allows Douglas and DeVito to become partners in this film instead of adversaries, but their find strain in their partnership when their characters are informed that Omar controls the Jewel of the Nile, which is incredibly valuable. Lots of fun action sequences and a little adventure is introduced, but the big surprise is that the Jewel is actually a man named Al-Julhara (Alan Foulds) who is well loved by his people and not monetarily worth anything. Joan is privy to this information, but does not tell either Jack or Ralph as she wants to keep their interest peaked and makes excuses to have them allow Al-Julhara to continue on with their adventure. The film eventually ends in a huge climax that allows Michael Douglas to slide down a very large curtain in a scene reminiscent of Golden Age swashbuckling pictures, but ends on a very silly note.

I am certain that I enjoyed "Jewel of the Nile" far more as a youth when Al-Julhara was a more interesting and humorous character when I wasn't too familiar with Indian culture and thought he was a tremendous caricature. The film was far funnier and far more entertaining when I was just a fresh teenager who loved laughs, big explosions and the fact that the writers managed to get an F-16 into the film. Now that I am older I find this to be a far inferior film to "Romancing the Stone" and can see that it is a poorly written picture that relies on bigger and more expensive stunts and special effects to entertain its audience. The joke regarding Al-Julhara being the Jewel of the Nile wears thing after a couple viewings and his character comes off as a likable buffoon and not as a clown as he did when I was younger.

The film still has its moments and there is some fun to be had while watching the movie. Douglas, DeVito and Turner have a strong chemistry on-screen and watching the three of them act is a real treat. They would later star in the superior "The War of the Roses" after a planned third film in this series was canned and had anybody else been involved in this sequel it would not have the limited appeal that it does now. You watch this movie to enjoy its three principal actors and the fun they had working together that is easily conveyed to the audience. The story is weak and the action sequences are perhaps just a little too far over the top, but Douglas, DeVito and Turner do their best to have their interesting characters entertain in a story that does not deserve their involvement. I have always wished that Jack Colton would have had one more grand adventure and it has never seemed fitting that this was his last.

Video:
"Jewel of the Nile" was produced immediately after the very successful "Romancing the Stone" and their close proximity in age and filming technology is apparent as the two pictures are nearly identical in quality on Blu-ray. The 2.35:1 picture is presented via an MPEG-4 codec and detail is good and colors are solid, but a few frequent scenes using soft focusing take away from the overall presentation and there are some noticeable scratches and other flaws from the source materials that help make the film look dated. I felt it was a slight improvement as far as the source materials used, but the black levels could have been stronger and the slight sheen of film grain provides a film like appeal to the picture, but "Jewel of the Nile" looks every bit as old as its near quarter century age would suggest. This is still the best this film has ever looked, but it is only slightly better than the most recent DVD re-issue.

Audio:
In the year that passed between the two films, "Jewel of the Nile" benefitted from a stronger surround mix and was recorded with four channel surround that had a discrete center channel that allows dialogue to be centered a little cleaner than "Romancing the Stone," but the overall sound is very similar to that first film that simply cannot benefit from the English DTS HD 5.1 Master Audio mix. Sound is contained typically in the front channels and aside from a very small number of ambient effects, the rears contain only some musical bleed from the Jack Nitzsche score. Even when Billy Ocean plays over the title credits the soundtrack sounded disappointing. The .1 LFE has little life and the big explosion of Jack's boat the Angelina comes across flat. Dialogue is clean, but clearly was ADR mixed. The original English 4.0 Dolby Surround mix is provided as well as a French Dolby 2.0 Surround mix and Spanish 1.0 mono soundtrack. Subtitles are provided in English, Spanish, Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Extras:
"Jewel of the Nile" is released onto Blu-ray with a couple nice features that provide more bang-for-the-buck than the original "Romancing the Stone" when it comes to supplemental material. The biggest and most valuable supplement is the Audio Commentary by Director Lewis Teague. While Teague is not the most exciting person you will ever listen to in a commentary track, he provides some good information about the film. He begins with a bad joke and tries to keep things light, but he deserves an A for effort and is quite affable through the entire film. The F-16 story was good. Six Deleted Scenes (5:44) are included and they are brief. However, there are some funny moments and six minutes of one's time is not a lot to ask for. They should have gone to Greece. Romancing the Nile: A Winning Sequel (20:59) finds more involvement from Teague and is a nice remembrance of the film. Adventures of a Romance Novelist (8:02) is a continuation of the other featurette and looks at the story-within-a-story structure of the two films. Finally, the film's Theatrical Trailer is included.

Closing:
I'm certain that I enjoyed "Jewel of the Nile" far more when I was much younger. Time has passed and the sequel to the highly entertaining "Romancing the Stone" has not held up too well and this feels like a rushed rehash of the first film that uses bigger and more impressive sequences to lure the audiences into thinking this is just as entertaining and adventurous as the first film. It is not, but the charm of Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito keep it entertaining enough to make it worth watching if you have recently watched the first film. You have to watch the first film first though. The sound and video is that of a dated film and the Blu-ray port is only a slight upgrade over the 2006 DVD Special Edition re-issue. If you do not own these films on DVD in Special Edition form, then "Jewel of the Nile" is a nice secondary purchase to "Romancing the Stone." Keep in mind, this film does not stand alone.