Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull: 2 - Disc Special Edition Blu-ray Disc Set Review

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Title: Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull: 2 – Disc Special Edition

Media: Blu-ray Disc

Region: A

Genre: Adventure Fantasy

Stars: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent, and Shia LaBeouf

Writer: David Koepp

Based On A Story By: George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson

Director: Steven Spielberg

Feature length: 122 minutes

Extras: Pre-Production Featurette, Indiana Jones Timelines, Trailers, The Return Of A Legend Featurette, Production Diary: Making Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull – Shooting Begins: New Mexico, Back To School: New Haven Connecticut, Welcome To The Jungle: Hilo: Hawaii, On-Set Action, Exploring Akator, Wrapping Up!, Warrior Makeup, The Crystal Skulls, Iconic Props, Adventures In Post Production, The Effects Of Indy, Closing: Team Indy, Previsualization Sequence - Area 51 Escape, Jungle Chase, Ants Attack, Galleries – The Art Department – The Adventure Begins, Cemetery And Jungle, Akator, Stan Winston Studio – Corpses, Skeletons & Mummies, Aliens & Crystal Skulls, Production Photographs, Portraits, Behind-The-Scenes Photographs

Languages: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Sound, French and Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf Ad Hearing Impaired and English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese Language Subtitles

Packaging: 2 – Disc Elite Blue BD Case

Chapter Stops: 16

Sound: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2008/Blu-ray Disc Release: 2008

Theatrical Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Home Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

Nineteen years have passed since the events detailed in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. Doctor Henry Walton Jones, Jr. AKA Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) has survived serving in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, has formed a partnership of sorts with former MI6 operative George McHale (Ray Winstone) during and on and off after the war, witnessed the birth of the “baby boom” generation, seen America enter the Atomic age, watched students embrace Rock N’ Roll in the diners around the campus where he teaches at Marshall College and seen the passing of both his father and friend and colleague Marcus Brody. He has also been involved in a number adventures and was once called upon the government on a matter of national security regarding an unusual crash somewhere in Roswell, New Mexico. Sufficed to say, there have been many untold adventures between 1938 and 1957 and while I have no doubt these will be told in one form or another, I see Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull as an epilogue to the classic trilogy that wraps up a few unanswered questions regarding the adventuring academic and archeologist. Depending upon one’s point of view, you can take it or leave it and it should also be noted that the film opens up the possibility of continuing the series through the character of Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), a burgeoning adventurer in his own right that approaches Dr. Jones regarding his mother and surrogate father, Harold Oxley (John Hurt), who have both disappeared in Peru. His mother is Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and Indiana is intrigued with Harold Oxley’s research into the crystal skulls and is all too aware that there are others out there that have less than academic interests in learning their secrets following a harrowing escape from a government bomb testing site near a secluded base in the American Southwest and subsequent debriefing by both McCarthy era FBI agents and a friend in the military familiar with Indy’s services to the U.S. government.

America is in the midst of the Cold War and Stalin has instructed the KGB to experiment with the hidden potentials of the human mind. He has sent his chief architect of those experiments in ESP, Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) to discover the truth behind the mysterious crystal skulls and gave her a team of Soviet Special Forces to help her complete her mission. Since no one quite knows for certain what powers the crystal skulls could give those who posses it, the fact that Stalin wants them is further encouragement for Indiana Jones to join Mutt Williams on an adventurous quest.

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull was undeniably entertaining to see on the big screen and while I prefer to remember Doctor Jones as he was in the mid to late 1930s, the storyline manages to accomplish a lot and stay fairly truthful to contemporary speculation on UFOs, ancient astronauts, and their possible origins as well as hinting to why they may have resurfaced after many centuries without addressing it ever in dialogue. Just seeing Indiana Jones in the shadow of a mushroom cloud is enough to tell the viewer that the world has changed for Dr. Jones since 1938 and perhaps not all of it is for the best. The film has an exciting prologue sequence set in the Nevada desert that quickly reestablishes who Indiana Jones is and why his name, like James Bond, is synonymous with action and adventure. A chase through the streets around Marshall College where Doctor Jones climbs out of a car onto Mutt Williams bike is also very entertaining, but those sequences are in my opinion the closest the film ever gets to tapping into the same spirit of the first three films. That is not to say the rest of the film is unmemorable. On the contrary, as a whole, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull works surprisingly well considering there has not been another feature film in the series in nineteen years. It just feels like it is trying to be many things at once and thus the tones shift at time with a jarring pace and sometimes the magic just isn’t there like it used to be.

In trying to pat homage to the Cold War inspired sci-fi B movies of the 1950s, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is not nearly as successful as the previous films caught the feeling of the 1930s serial adventures and remade them to make them seem like new again for a new generation. The same can be said to be true of the classic Star Wars Trilogy, but the comparisons between revisiting Indiana Jones and revisiting Star Wars ends there because they are both different kinds of storytelling, despite whatever inspirations the respective Lucasfilm franchises have had on their creator. However from a story structure standpoint, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull follows the basic screenplay structure as the previous films right down to the supernatural climax of sorts. At this point where Lucas and Spielberg may take the franchise is anyone’s guess. There could be another film where Ford can officially hand the mantle or in this case, the hat to Shia LaBeouf, but I they wanted to make more Indiana Jones films, there is no reason why another actor couldn’t step into the role either for television or the big screen in the same manner that other actors have played James Bond over the last forty-five years. We’ve seen young Indy, but just as there are nineteen years to be filled in between the prequel and classic trilogies in the Star Wars Saga, there are nineteen years worth of adventure to be explored between Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade and Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull and ironically Sean Patrick Flanery is probably old enough now to fill in those adventures if ever Lucas decides to go that route with more live action feature films or another live action TV series.

The other problem that hindered the making of a new Indiana Jones adventure is simply the fact that in the nineteen years between the third and fourth films, there have been a number of franchises either directly or indirectly inspired by the Indiana Jones films that quite honestly began the pick away at possible ways the next big screen Indy adventure could go. Among the franchises that explore similar territory regardless of style include Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, National Treasure, and The Mummy movies. Fortunately no one made a film about crystal skulls and so forth and thus Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull keeps to providing adventure and intrigue unique to it’s competitors and still does it better than everyone else too.

The Blu-ray Disc release of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is historic for a number of reasons. It is the first major Lucasfilm project to arrive on the high definition optical disc format and it is a premium title from a franchise Lucas created that is second only to his Star Wars Saga in popularity. It is the second feature film to be released on Blu-ray Disc directed by Steven Spielberg, (Close Encounters Of The Third Kind was the first), and at the time of this writing, it is Spielberg’s most recent theatrical release that he directed personally. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is also the second Blu-ray Disc to be released featuring THX certification. James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day was the first. So to say the least, the Blu-ray Disc debut of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is arguably one of the most eagerly awaited BD releases of the year is an understatement. I think it is one of the year’s best BD releases to date too.

Paramount Home Entertainment has stepped up to the plate with their high definition Blu-ray Disc releases and Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull: 2 – Disc Special Edition is an HD fan’s delight complete with a widescreen THX certified high definition presentation with a native resolution of 1080p depending upon the equipment used during screening and this image just jumps out at the viewer with vivid detail that even at times betrays a bit of ILM’s CGI wizardry, in particular the ants don’t hold up quite as much as I recall seeing them on the big screen, but even so, the use of animation is top notch. The English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Soundtrack captures the fine nuances of the sound effects beautifully and naturalistically. There are little effects at times that I heard that I think were completely lost where I caught the film in a theater. French and Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtracks along with English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired and English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese Subtitles are encoded as options too.

The extra value materials contained within this two-disc set are among the most comprehensive I have ever seen for a single film on Blu-ray Disc. In some ways it reminds me a little bit of the Young Indiana Jones DVD sets because the Blu-ray Disc even delves into a bit of the real-world historical influences that are referenced in the film and not all of it based on crystal skulls. McCarthy era paranoia, Oppenheimer’s bomb tests and more are detailed in one of three interactive timeline features that are exclusive to the Blu-ray disc and also feature ways to tap into behind-the-scenes footage as well as scenes directly from the film that relate to the topic. In all there are three timelines. One focuses on historical information, another showcases key events in the film, while the other focuses on the actual production timeline from 1992 through to the present, including a reference to the actual production chronology both on location and in studio with direct behind the scenes HD video comparison. Next is a featurette focusing on the evolution of the film (17:34) as well as the first part of what can be seen as a multipart documentary that focuses on the production of the film beginning with a look at pre-production preparations (11:44) and continuing onto the second disc. Laurent Bouzerau, who usually works on all of the extra value documentation for Spielberg’s films on DVD and now Blu-ray Disc too, directs the material. These featurettes and so forth are all presented in high definition as well. The second (1:52) and third (1:55) theatrical trailers released for the film are also presented in high definition and wrap up the bonus features on disc one.

Disc two contains a multi part production diary totaling approximately one hour and 20 minutes and details location shooting in New Mexico (14:27), New Haven, Connecticut (10:23), Hilo, Hawaii (6:32) as well as on set action (27:30), production design for Akator (14:34), and the wrap up (7:25). Additional featurettes focus on the warrior makeup (5:34), crystal skulls (10:05), iconic props (9:59), visual effects (22:42), post production (12:44), closing team Indy (3:41), and complete pre-visualization sequences for the Area 51 escape (3:51), the jungle chase (5:47), and the ant attack (4:29). All of these materials are in HD too. Still galleries detailing The Adventure Begins, Cemetery and Jungle, Akator, Corpses, Skeletons & Mummies, Aliens & Crystal Skulls, Production Photographs, Portraits, and Behind-The-Scenes Photographs complete this exhaustive two-disc set.

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull: 2 – Disc Special Edition will debut Blu-ay Disc as well as on two-disc and single disc DVD releases on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 courtesy of Lucasfilm and Paramount Home Entertainment.

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