On DVD: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull arrives on DVD and Blu-ray this coming Tuesday. Just a little while ago I finished previewing the Blu-ray edition. I'm now here to say that the fourth Indiana Jones feature adventure on home video is so reference-quality in its presentation, and is so packed with bonus features, that -- this is saying a lot -- it almost makes me like the movie. I'm fully aligned with my Film.com colleague Laremy when he peeled this empty banana, and would go so far as to say that his "C" grade was generous for such a spiritless, three-rings-from-the-bull's-eye miss. A recent South Park episode came close to summarizing my feelings on this latest and, I now hope, final entry in a classic series I've loved for -- hoo boy -- quite a few years now.

But I can't dismiss the fans, old and new, who loved the movie in the theaters (and, man, you told us you're here). If you're one of them, it's my pleasure to report that you will not be disappointed when you bring it home on DVD or (especially) Blu-ray. Paramount Home Entertainment's DVD options include a single-disc edition, a two-disc Special Edition packed with bonus features, a Spanish Edition (nice touch, that), and even the Complete Adventures Collection, with all four films in a matching boxed set. When it comes to Blu-ray, the two-disc Special Edition gives me another chance to repeat a growing cliché here at Film.com -- here's another title that will generate plenty of sales in Best Buy's Blu-ray player department as it pushes fans to take the technological plunge into next-gen home video.

How does it look?

Given the powerhouse technical and financial forces behind this A-list franchise movie, we should expect nothing less that a treatment that strives for the current level of home video perfection. And to my eyes this one does. Picture quality is superb, from the rich blacks and vivid color to the brilliant clarity and detail revealed even within the surprising amount of soft-focus photography. The Blu-ray edition's 1080p transfer looks sensational, and I fully expect that the DVD does as well. (DVD Beaver offers comparison screenshots between the two disc types. Feel welcome to chime in with your own evaluations in the comments section at the bottom of this page.)

What does it sound like?

Coming through via Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVD, and TrueHD 5.1 on Blu-ray, Crystal Skull's soundtrack provides a robust and immersive home theater experience that wrapped around my head quite satisfactorily. The directional effects are fully engaged but not overdone, and the bass and subwoofer kick in with fridge-nuking gusto. And hey, you can't beat a John Williams score when it sounds like the orchestra is in the room with you.

How are the extras?

Both the DVD and Blu-ray two-disc Special Editions deliver the same roster of extras. What makes the Blu-ray edition, with its greater information storage capacity, require a second disc is that it upgrades nearly all the extras to high-def along with the movie. Even the trailers on the Blu-ray are in HD, and its only exceptions are the galleries of production art and photos at the end of Disc Two.

Fans who want to dive into ample and well-made behind-the-scenes "making of" features are in for a treat here. The big hitter is the 80-minute Production Diary: Making Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which -- while obviously manicured with the intent of promoting the final product -- provides a full chronicle of the production, with on-location footage mixed with interviews from the cast, Spielberg, Lucas, and other participants. Leading up to the Production Diary, and every bit as manicured, is The Return of a Legend, a 17-minute retrospective on the years-long, often troubled path that Spielberg, Lucas, and star Harrison Ford took to get Indiana Jones back on the big screen.

Other featurettes take us through pre-production planning and post-production polish, with entertaining footage and info on the locations, sets, sounds, special effects, giant ants, makeup, John Williams' scoring, and other nitty-gritty. The lore and dubious history behind the concept of the Crystal Skulls, and the workmanship that went into the props, are given a ten-minute menu item on their own. In The Effects of Indy, ILM digital artist Paul Huston tours us through his work that moved from the live-action and practical effects of the previous films into the new digital creations employed so irksomely and obviously in Crystal Skull. The galleries of stills cover "The Art Department," "Stan Winston Studio," "Production Photographs," "Portraits," and "Behind-the-Scenes Photographs."

Also here is an Xbox 360 demo for the Lego Indiana Jones video game.

In a nutshell

While the movie induced a flashback to my Phantom Menace funk, its presentation on DVD and (again, especially) Blu-ray is everything a fan would expect from Paramount, Lucas, and Spielberg. There's no faulting the way Crystal Skull presents on home video, and the extras give behind-the-scenes junkies like me everything we could ask for (plus the expected amount of promotional gloss and rah-rah).

If you loved the movie, you'll love these discs. And yeah, if you love the movie and are still on the fence about switching to Blu-ray after recent oh-hell-yeahs such as Iron Man and The Godfather, just put on your fedora, grab the golden idol, and head to your nearest video outlet to check out the goods. Or ask your Marion to give you one for the holidays. Trust me.

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