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Released by: Paramount Studios
Released on: October 14, 2008.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent
Year: 2008
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The Movie:
It's always a risky move, revisiting a successful franchise after years of quiet, and few franchises were more successful than Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' Indiana Jones films. The first three pictures, Raiders Of The Lost Ark in particular, are beloved by movie fans of all ages in all countries and they (along with the Star Wars films of course) went a long way to making Harrison Ford a household name. But was bringing Indy back after almost twenty years really a good move? Yes and no.
The film is wisely set twenty years after the events in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, allowing the aged Ford to look like himself and not like some schmuck with too much make up on trying to look like a younger man. During the Cold War, the Russians want to get their hands on Indy (Harrison Ford) so that he can decode some information for them. A young man nicknamed Mutt (Shie LeBeouf) brings Indy a message from an old colleague of his named Oxley (John Hurt) and the pair wind up being tailed by a group of Russian agents lead by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) who chase them, along with Indy's old flame Marion (Karen Allen) all the way to the jungles of Peru. There they find attempt to return a skull made entirely of crystal to its sacred and rightful place in the lost kingdom of Alkator - but the Russians have got other ideas for Indy and his gang as well as for the crystal skull itself.
It's probably safe to say that Spielberg and Lucas are making a few assumptions with this fourth film - they're assuming we know the characters well enough that we don't need any real character development to rope us into the story; they're assuming that fancy CGI will effectively replace the fantastic special effects set pieces of the first three films and that no one will notice; and they're assuming that if they throw the audience enough over the top action set pieces we won't mind a weaker storyline. In one sense, these assumptions are correct. Everybody knows who Indiana Jones is and everyone remembers Marion. That leaves Oxley, who is a plot device more than anything else, and Mutt, who is really only there to draw in a younger audience thanks to his Transformers street credibility. The CGI is obviously computer generated but as far as CGI goes, it's decent enough save for the jungle chase scene which plays out more like a cartoon than a live action scene.
And yeah, those action set pieces, they're pretty impressive and they do help us forget that this is really just a two-hour chase film.
The big question… does Harrison Ford still have it? Yes and no. He's still got that personality and that screen presence and even if he understandably looks his age it's hard not to like the crotchety character that Indiana Jones is. He's charismatic and likeable enough in his gruff manner that we can still believe him in the part - who else could possibly play the role? At the same time, Indy has mellowed. This is an older and slightly tamer Indiana Jones, he doesn't quite have the same vigor that he once did. Considering that aging affects us all, however, this is easy to forgive.
The CGI, as mentioned, is better than average but there are some scenes where it really does stick out like a sore thumb and when this occurs, it does suck you out of the picture to a certain extent, particularly if you're as familiar with the older films as many of us are. Younger viewers more accustomed to CGI effects probably won't see it as harshly as many of the rest of us will, but regardless, it adds some phoniness to the film that it would better off without.
That said, as big budget popcorn movie fodder goes, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is decent entertainment. It doesn't approach the 'instant classic' status of the first film or work as well as the second and third but hey, it's Indiana Jones fighting Russians in the jungle with man-eating ants, giant crystal skulls, and some dopey comedy thrown in for good measure. It may be formulaic in a sense but it's a formula that is at least entertaining, which is probably more than a lot of fans were expecting in the first place.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull debuts on Blu-ray in a very nice 2.35.1 1080p AVC encoded high definition anamorphic widescreen transfer that presents the picture in its original theatrical aspect ratio. The transfer is pretty much what you'd expect from a recent big budget blockbuster like this - it's colorful, clean, bright and detailed. Some of the CGI looks almost too obvious in spots but this isn't really an issue with the transfer as it is with CGI in general. Skin tones look good, nice and natural, and there aren't any problems with edge enhancement to note. The picture is crisp from start to finish and it looks pretty damn close to how the movie appeared when this reviewer caught it in theaters.
The primary audio track on this release is an English language 48 kHz/24-bit Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Sound mix although standard definition Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mixes are supplied in French and Spanish. Optional subtitles come in English, English SDH, Spanish, French and Portuguese language. While the video is very good, the audio on this release is truly excellent. This is a very well executed and fairly aggressive mix that takes full advantage of all the channels in the 5.1 set up and uses them quite effectively, particularly during the action scenes. Dialogue stays clean and clear throughout and there isn't a single noticeable instance of hiss or distortion. The levels are well balanced and the low end sounds especially nice, you'll really notice this when the bomb goes off and during the jungle chase scenes.
Paramount has spread the extras over the two discs in this set and aside from the still galleries on disc two, they're all presented in high definition - a nice touch! The first disc starts off with a Pre-Production Featurette (11:44). This is essentially a look at how Spielberg uses traditional storyboards to pace the film as well as what went into the costume design, how a couple of the actors got into character and got ready for the shoot, and how animatics were used to flesh out some of the more effects heavy scenes. A second featurette, The Return Of A Legend (17:34), is a fun look at how Indiana Jones made it back to the big screen. Fan demand and Harrison Ford's own desire to reprise the role once more were the real deciding factors though pressure on Spielberg from partner in crime George Lucas didn't hurt either. They talk about how and why they came around to the idea, how they dealt with the age of the character and the actor who plays him, and how they once again decided to mix history up a bit and give us an entertaining and pulpy spin on something that is kinda-sorta based in reality. Rounding out the first disc are three handy-dandy Indiana Jones Timelines (Production, History and Story), and a pair of trailers for the feature. Not all that surprising but still a little disappointing is the absence of a commentary track to play over the feature itself.
Disc two starts off with a mammoth look at the making of the film by way of the Production Diary: Making Of The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (1:20:52) featurette. This documentary is broken up into six chapters - Shooting Begins: New Mexico; Back To School: New Haven, Connecticut; Welcome To The Jungle: Hilo, Hawaii; On Set Action; Exploring Akator; Wrapping Up. This ridiculously comprehensive documentary explores the origin of the film day one of shooting right up through the very last day of shooting and it more or less tells you everything you're likely to want to know about the movie and how it was made. There's a lot of great on set and behind the scenes footage here as well as traditional interviews, stills, effects and stunt footage and more.
From there, check out a few other featurettes including Warrior Make Up (5:34 - a look at what went into making the warriors in the film look the way that they look in the movie), The Crystal Skulls (10:11, a peek at how the skulls were created), Iconic Props (9:58, obviously an examination of the various props that the franchise is known for), Adventures In Post Production (12:44, an examination of the post-production and editing work that went into finishing off the film), The Effects Of Indy (22:42, a very interesting and fairly in-depth examination of the film's many special effects scenes), and Closing: Team Indy (3:41,a humorous curtain call to wrap the shoot). Combined, this material gives us quite a bit of insight into the more technical side of the behind the scenes aspect of the production. Does it ruin a bit of the magic? Nah, not really. These are concise, too the point, and genuinely interesting supplements that enhance the movie and make you appreciate all the work that went into this aspect of the production.
Up next is a three part Pre-Visualization Sequences section that shows up the Area 51 Escape (3:51), the Jungle Chase (5:47) and the Ants Attack (4:30) scenes in 3-D computer animated form. Rounding out the extras on disc two are a bunch of still galleries: The Art Department which is broken into three parts: The Adventure Begins, Cemetery And Jungle and Akator; Stan Winston Studios which is also broken into three parts: Corpses, Skeletons And Mummies, Aliens & Crystal Skulls; Production Photographs; Portraits, and Behind The Scenes Photographs. Both discs contain animated menus and the first disc contains chapter selection for the feature.
The Final Word:
An entertaining picture in its own right, even if it fails to fully capture the glory of the original films, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is a decent enough popcorn/adventure film and Paramount really has pulled out all the stops on this excellent two-disc Blu-ray release.