Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Blu-ray Review

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Blu-ray Review
Written by Loys Johnson

Video

The 1080p AVC/MPEG-4 video transfer looks quite good, with fantastic colors and and great detail. Black levels are very deep, and very strong. The transfer leaps off the screen even in the darkest scenes. Detail is great despite the film's misty and sandy environments. Colors were rich and bold, and one of the strongest things about the transfer. The film's CGI was quite bad, as it was very obvious, but still looked quite good in high-def. Indiana Jones is a vibrant and fantastic title to show off the Blu-ray format, and the transfer does not disappoint. 9/10.

Audio

Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio is included, and sounds fantastic right from the start of the film. The film's score makes fantastic use of the surround speakers, as do any of the action scenes. The car chase scene in the jungle sounds incredible, the car's smashing against each other, the monkeys coming from every angle, it's the sound of perfection. Dialogue is nice and clear, and never felt too quiet despite everything going on. Indy is fantastic demo material, one which I can see many using to show off their Blu-ray setup. 10/10.

Extras

Disc 1:
Indiana Jones Timelines (HD)
The Return Of A Legend (17:34) (HD)
Pre-Production (11:44) (HD)
Trailers - Theatrical Trailer 2 (1:52) (HD) Theatrical Trailer 3 (1:55) (HD)

Disc 2:
Production Diary: Making 'Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull' (1:20:52) (HD)
Warrior Makeup (5:34) (HD)
The Crystal Skulls (10:10) (HD)
Iconic Props (9:59) (HD)
The Effects Of Indy (22:42) (HD)
Adventures In Post-Production (12:44) (HD)
Closing: Team Indy (3:41) (HD)
Pre-Visualization Sequences - Area 51 Escape (3:51) (HD) Jungle Chase (5:47) (HD) Ants Attack (4:29) (HD)
Galleries (HD):
The Art Department
Stan Winston Studio
Production Photographs
Portraits
Behind-the-Scenes Photographs
Subtitles - English, French, Spanish, Portuguese

Extras were packed for this 2-disc special edition. Every step of the way in producing the film was included, from pre-production, to editing scenes. The idea of bringing Indy back for a 4th installment was quite entertaining as well, Steven Spielberg talks quite a bit about the idea and what persuaded him to go ahead with a 4th Indy film. Warrior makeup was quite boring, just the makeup process involved for the warriors, nothing riveting there.

The pre-visualization sequences provide a look at the scenes prior to actual filming, and quite entertaining, a very good job was done with the scenes. The Production diary was the longest feature, and provides a great behind-the-scenes look of the film, if there was not enough already. Closing: Team Indy was more credits than anything, except with high-def video of everyone involved. A Picture-in-Picture track or BD-Live features would have been great, but even with out the 2-disc edition leaves much to be enjoyed. 8/10.

Blu-news Summary

Indiana Jones is back, and I definitely enjoyed the return. I can't say it was what I was expecting, particularly the ending, but still enjoyed it for what it was. The Blu-ray presentation is fantastic, with strong video, and even better audio. Extras are packed for the 2-disc Blu-ray release, and all presented in high definition as well. Indiana Jones is 'Highly Recommended.'

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