Purely Joyful Movie!

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

In this instalment Indiana Jones (Sean Patrick Flannery) is now a motorcycle courier for the Belgian Army and he experiences further trench horror at the Battle of Verdun, the most notorious conflict in World War One. Indy then manages to get him and his friend Remy (Ronny Coutteure) some much-needed leave in Paris, which brings him into contact with a lady known as Mata Hari (Domiziano Giordano)...The first segment is rife with yet more drama for Indy, as he faces a difficult decision - the outcome of which could cost many men their lives. The sheer pointlessness and stupidity of the conflict is again well demonstrated in this episode, and the accompanying documentary on Verdun deepens the understanding of this insane 'war of attrition'.The second segment set in Paris is equally brilliant. Unlike some of the forgettable romances Indy has had previously in the series, this is where it starts to get serious. The wily Mata Hari teaches the young soldier a lot about his selfishness and sheer naivete in matters of love, and Jones leaves her a much-changed man.It is brilliantly played, and a great addition to the series.

After his escape from a German POW castle Indy ends up as a motorcycle courier for the French against the backdrop of the Battle of Verdun. Remy ends up being injured before being sent back into harms way overnight. Indy then decides to sabotage communication between the higher officers to prevent another troop massacre.Then, on a short leave of action, he and Remy travel to Paris to stay where Indy stays with a friend of his dad's. Almost immediately he is smitten by Mata Hari and drawn into her rather boring web of deceit.The pyrotechnics are impressive but the fast-moving action of the first half comes to a sudden halt as Indy gets wound-up in the soap opera love story that follows. And what's with the flash-forwards of Mata Hari's death? That made no sense at all.Definitely the weakest Young Indy yet.

Originally, "Verdun, September 1916" was the first of the army episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles broadcast on TV. With a dark, brooding score by Joel McNeely and a serious anti-war theme, it changed the tone of the still fledgling series and left a deep impression on many viewers at the time. To us, this was Indy's introduction to the Great War, but later on in the series we found out that the action packed "Trenches of Hell" two parter chronologically preceded it This meant Indy had already spend some time in the trenches and being an escape artist. Had the series been picked up for a third series, at least two more episodes were planned to be shot and put in between. Viewed in the right order, this reviewer does find Verdun to have lost a bit of it's impact. Perhaps this is why it took till 2007 for Lucasfilm to release Chapter 9: Demons and Deception on DVD, while Chapter 8: Trenches of Hell was released on VHS way back in 1999. Now, for the first time, Indy's war years can be seen in chronological fashion on The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Volume Two.Indy has managed to be transferred to the Belgian courier devision, while his unfortunate friend Remy Baudouin is still stuck in the trenches. Remy only appears twice in the Verdun story, once with his mustache and once without. More continuity gaffs arise when we see Indiana being shocked by the horrors of trench warfare but never mentioning he's lived through it himself. As in most of these adventures, young Indiana Jones is more of an observer than a protagonist. As the only courier who understands German, Indy is sent on a stealth mission to sneak into enemy territory, where he promptly falls asleep on the job? A case of lazy writing if ever there was one. He wakes up just in time to learn the Germans are bringing in their heaviest artillery, nicknamed 'Big Bertha'. When these show up they appear to be stock shots from another movie. The point of the story resolves around the French Generals carelessly sending troops to be slaughtered in the trenches. We are treated to lots of slow motion explosions and some scenes are repeated in flashback. Spielberg would never have done it that way, but then this series was never meant to be shot in the same 1930's serial style as the Indiana Jones films. Director René Manzor did however include the patented Jaws dolly/zoom in on Sean Patrick Flanery, presumably as a tribute to Indiana's original director.At the start of the next story, "Paris, October 1916", Indiana is serving in the trenches with Remy again, his career as a courier never to be mentioned again. Terefore, a new bridge scene with the both of them crawling through the mud had to be inserted (and yes, Remy's 'stache is back again). Here the tone of 'Demons and Deceptions' changes dramatically, as the pair of them go on leave and instantly forget all the doom and gloom of the previous 45 minutes and concentrate on chasing women. Indy has been invited to stay with acquaintances of his father, Proffesor Levi and his wife, a couple being played by Sci-Fi baddies Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and Supreme Commander Servalan (Jacqueline Pearce). McDiarmid is far from the only Return of the Jedi connection in this installment: Rancor Keeper Paul Brook makes an appearance as a police officer and the whole caboodle was written by the Princess herself, Carrie Fisher. Her highness-ness managed to include several references to other entries in the Young Indy time-line, including London, September 1916, for-shadowing his transfer to Africa and even mentioning an unfilmed episode of the 10 year old Indy adventures that would have taken place in the palaces of Raj and Punjaab. She also makes the most of Mata Hari's dialogue when Indy falls in lust with the exotic dancer and spy. Yes, its true, Indiana Jones lost his virginity to a Dutch woman twice his age. Nicolas Roeg brings some of his trademark style to a complicated flash-forward structure that lets the viewer in on Mata's ultimate fate long before she and Indy know it. The DVD version even features a little bit of nudity from the models at the art school that definitely wasn't there in the TV version.Now it is often mentioned that Young Indy never really makes a mark on the proceedings in these stories. He's just there as an observer, meeting and interacting with people who actually did get into the history books. This can certainly be said about the Mata Hari episode. Indy falls in love, gets jealous and leaves. But did grown up Indiana Jones ever actually manage to change history in the movies? In both Raiders and The Last Crusade he finds a Bibilical artifact, only to lose it to the Nazi's, who subsequently destroy themselves. Would it have been very different if Indy had not been there? In all three movies he fails to get his hands on the archaeological object he's after during the opening 'teaser': the golden fertility idol, the diamond (which may or may not be the Treasure of the Peacock's eye) and the Cross of Coronado. He only manages to get the last one back 26 years later. It is only in the Temple of Doom that Jones manages to make a difference, returning one the village children to their home, as well as rescuing the last Sankara stone (but he still goes home empty handed). Strangely enough, Temple is always seen as the least effective in the trilogy (soon to be quarterly). Makes one wonder how much middle-aged Jones stands to gain or lose in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull... 7 out of 10