Customer Reviews

National Geographic - Relentless Enemies

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(32)

 

 

This is one of the best lion documentaries I have ever seen, the Jouberts have done it again. Several giant-sized powerfully built lionesses have specialized in hunting buffalo, massive bulls and newborn calves alike. The buffalo are equally dangerous defending their own. If you enjoy real world wildlife battles as opposed to fake, computer generated conflict this film is for you. The notorious hyenas make a cameo appearance but the lions aren't all that concerned about them. The angry faces of the lionesses are hilarious at times. And a dark side of lion life is exposed.

The commentary can be turgid and overwrought, but the cinematography is superb and the music complements the action well.

Fortunately, this disc plays without any problem in my Toshiba HD-A2 with the latest 1.5 FW update. It's a great film with all those incredible up-close brutal scenes!

National Geographic has once again provide us a magnificent viewing experience & insight of the wild in high-definition!

I hear great things about this movie. Be warned though. Relentless Enemies will not play on any of 4 different Xbox360 HD-DVD players we've tested it on. They all have the latest updates from Microsoft and still will NOT play this disc. Shame on the manufacturers for such lousy quality control. They are clearly embracing mediocrity.

I grew up watching animal documentaries and it was a surprise as to how detailed Relentless Enemies was. I learned even more by watching this documentary. One thing I can say about animal documentaries is that they are not movies, where they have to be staged and people wine about the settings, the actors, the scenes, and everything else, nope, National Geographic or any other animal doucmentary is real life, no acting and I suspect only people interested in animals would know about this. Great documentary, worth the money, and you should get the whole collection.

This is my favorite of Dereck and Beverly Joubert's films. I loved it so much I actually bought the companion book (also called Relentless Enemies, see my review). The cinematography is superb, the picture quality excellent and the creatures awe inspiring. The lions are the most beautiful I have ever seen, but the buffalo are just as impressive. These giants literally fill the screen with their amazing confrontations! I have lost count of how many times I have watched it and it's just as wonderful as at the first viewing. The narration seems a bit melodromatic at first, but with Jeremy Irons' perfect enunciation and timing it grows on you after the first viewing.

How can someone mess up such a great documentary film in such a way?? I hope National Geographic does something about it and we can buy it again...I tried on couple of different HD DVD players and no luck with anyone of them... Such a shame and I can't understand why National Geographic does not react, it is their reputation at stake???

the lions presented in this film ARE different than your open plains lions... these lions have a much larger built chest due to hunting in the shallow waters... building muscles that open plain lions would not. the story in this dvd is excellent as well.. and as it is in real life for lions.. it is not always happy times... there are sad times as well.. and these times are captured in this dvd..
buy this dvd.. it is worth it.. it is... lions

This is an awesome showcase of the drama that plays out on the African marshland of Botswana between lions and Cape Buffalo. This HD-DVD plays flawlessly on my Toshiba A3 HD-DVD player, despite all the negative reviews about compatibility that I've read on this site. My only thought is that Microsoft probably has a problem with their HD-DVD player that causes the disk not to play. Either that or National Geographic has fixed a known issue. Whatever it is, customers need NOT worry as this disc does play well in Toshiba players.

Firstly, on to the visuals. This HD-DVD is beautifully displayed in 1080p. I only have a 1080i TV/Player yet I was quite literally blown away by the footage. There are some fantastic closeup images of lions where you feel like you are literally staring the beast in it's face. There are parts where you can literally see individual blades of grass. I have watched this thing on both a 32 and a 42 inch TV and it's really impressive.

The Narration is also skillfully done and it really sucks you in the drama of what is taking place. Sometimes you can't help but feel for the buffalo. Other times you're rooting for the lions.
As other reviewers have mentioned, this in not a DVD for kids as there are simply too many scenes of predation. However, if you're considering this product then I have to assume that you have no problems with that subject.

Overall, this is a really nice look at the lives of a strange group of lions that have seemingly lost their fear of water, and hunt Buffalo. I would definitely recommend it for anyone who is a fan of big cats

This has got to rank among the best documentaries on African wildlife I've ever seen. It focuses on lions and cape buffalo in Botswana's Okavango Delta. Even though lions and cape buffalo are two of the most filmed animals on the savannah, National Geographic - Relentless Enemies manages to capture a lot of interesting and new sequences. Many of the scenes show lions wading through or hunting in swamps. The movie is replete with hunting scenes, often bloody and dramatic, with competing charges from the lion prides and buffalo herds. Later on, hyenas join the fray and chase off lions from their kills.

The footage itself is beautiful, especially on the blu-ray version. The filmmakers really captured Africa's vivid colors, including the bold green of the grasses, blues of the river, and gold of the lions. I had the joy of visiting Africa and seeing lions and cape buffalo up close, and I can say National Geographic - Relentless Enemies is as close as I've gotten to that experience through a documentary. You can even see the flies swarming around the buffalos.

I find it tough to love any wildlife documentary narration except for BBC's David Attenborough, but I thought Jeremy Irons did a great job in National Geographic - Relentless Enemies. Irons (who also voiced Scar from The Lion King) adds a great ominous mood to the film. His opening line captures the relationship between these two animals perfectly: "There are prey, there are hunters... and there are enemies."

Amazing of how long it can take for NG to film all these events in animal life and how much of wild animal life is brought right in front of us.