October 13, 2008

18 years have passed since we last saw Indiana Jones on the big screen. There has been a TV series (which made it to DVD earlier this year) and several paperback books to satisfy most Indiana Jones fans, however nothing quite beats seeing a whip-toting Harrison Ford outwit the Nazi's on the big screen. Rumors have been flying around for years about a new Indiana Jones movie. Most proved to be wishful thinking, but over the past couple years the rumors began to become more frequent and eventually were confirmed that a script was in the works. It took some time but eventually George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford all agreed on a script and started filming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in semi-secret in the deserts of New Mexico.

In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, we find Dr. Henry Jones Jr. has been kidnapped by a new adversary. This time it's the Russians. They want information on a secret and apparently Indiana Jones has intimate knowledge. As usual he gets beaten up frequently by new nemesis Dovchenko (played by former Moscow Circus performer Igor Jijikine), as female Russian Col. Irina Spalko (Kate Blanchett) tries to read Indy's mind. I realize the time period of the movie necessitates having Russian bad guys instead of the usual Nazi's of the good Indiana Jones movies, but the Russians just don't seem that menacing. The Russians are kind of our friends now, and the Nazi's will always be the Nazi's. It's just feels completely different.

Indy of course escapes and heads back to Marshall where he becomes a 'suspect' commie and is sent on a “vacation” after the government baddies come calling. Shortly before his train leaves the station a Marlon Brando wannabe punk (Shia LaBeouf) asks for his help finding an old colleague and the adventure begins. Off they go to Peru to find Harold Oxley (John Hurt) and stumble across Indy's old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen). The adventure continues from there to an incredibly unsatisfying yarn about aliens and other dimensions. Yes, that is correct, and yes, it is an incredibly unfortunate right turn.

Filmmaking: 6
I saw this movie in the theater and my opinion hasn't been changed by the DVD. With all the time and effort put into this film before it was approved, why couldn't they have come up with something better than this? Several of the paperback books would have been far more entertaining... such as Indy going after Noah's Ark. Instead we got a patchwork of entertaining reunion clips, a handful of good character moments, and some incredibly bad film making choices. In the Pre-Production special features, Steven Spielberg goes on and on about how George Lucas had to convince him to let this movie be about aliens. Spielberg strongly resisted – and it's too bad he didn't prevail. Instead he caved in and made this mess. It looked like they had a lot of fun making it, but I guess they were having too much fun to see that this was almost as bad as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Almost.

The movie isn't a total loss. Some of the few good reasons to see this film are to see Indy interact with Marion again. But so many others could have been included. There is a brief nod to Marcus Brody who has passed on (as had the actor, Denholm Elliot who died in 1992), and Indy's father Henry Jones Sr. (played wonderfully by Sean Connery who couldn't be lured out of retirement for the movie). It was unfortunate to not see others such as John Rhys-Davies as Sallah. There was just so much potential for a really fun adventure movie, but I left feeling like I got a very small fraction of what could have been. I know it's nearly impossible to meet everyone's expectations with a character like Indiana Jones, but this was just a sad and unsatisfying mess.

Visuals: 8
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was filmed (really filmed, not digital) in the same manor and 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio as the original Indiana Jones movies. The image looks wonderfully detailed and crisp. A few of the overly bright desert scenes have some slight pixilization and grain in the image, but overall this disc is very good. I understand and almost approve of their desire to make this film look and feel like the previous three movies; however I would much rather have a pristine image on my TV to show friends. Indiana Jones approaches greatness, but it doesn't hold a candle to the image quality of Iron Man or other recent blockbusters.

Sound: 9
What would Indiana Jones be without his iconic hat, whip, and music theme? Along with much of the previous crew, John Williams returns to score another Indiana Jones movie. By and large there isn't a lot of new material here for John Williams to score. He does have three previous movies to draw from, so there are a few variations on the main music theme, plus the usual Indy and Marion love theme. It's still great to hear after all these years.

Ben Burtt also returns as the sound designer and does his usual impeccable job. That's probably why his resume includes all the Star Wars films, Pixar films and tons of others. This is one guy who knows how to make an incredible sound mix (with the help of Skywalker Sound of course).

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is presented in English THX Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. French and Spanish language tracks are also available in 5.1 surround. In typical Indiana Jones form, the surround is aggressive and stunning. Guns, whips, and punches are all heavy on impact and literally make you feel the movie. It doesn't get any better than this, for 5.1 surround. But the question is; why didn't they include 6.1 or 7.1 DTS-ES or Dolby Digital EX encoding?

Value: 9
Disc 1 contains the original PG-13 rated theatrical cut of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull running at 122 minutes. There is no feature commentary which is a slight knock on an otherwise great collection of supplemental material. Disc 1 also includes a retrospective The Return of A Legend (17:37) explaining the reasons for a new Indiana Jones movie. Interviews with Spielberg gives some clear indications of why this movie doesn't quite work. It's too bad they didn't watch this video before filming the movie. Also included is a piece on Pre-Production (11:47) going into the details of pre-visualization and 'look' of Indiana Jones. It is fascinating to watch Harrison Ford put on the jacket and hat again... there is certainly more gray hair, but he still is Indiana Jones.

Disc 2 contains the majority of the of the supplemental material starting with the Production Diary: Making “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, which is broken into 6 segments. All are interesting for any fans of Indiana Jones, however they seem somewhat lacking in depth compared to other big budget production special edition DVD's. Most of the material is interviews with cast and crew primarily speaking about how great it was to be back together again.

1. Shooting Begins: New Mexico (14:17) shot in June 2007, this follows the production of the “drag race” at the opening of the film near their version of Area 51, and
2. Back to School: New Haven, Connecticut (10:15) shot at Yale University which doubled for “Marshall College” and the downtown area. Introduction of Mutt Williams and the entire costuming process and stunts. Also shows some 2nd unit production.
3. Welcome to the Jungle: Hilo, Hawaii (6:24) July 2007 Hawaii doubled for the jungles of Peru. This shows a lot of location shots for some of the bigger chase scenes in the movie.
4. On-Set Action (27:21) shot in Los Angeles in four different studios, this deals with various interior stunt sequences on several sets. A lot of attention is paid about Harrison Ford doing his own stunts. Probably the most interesting part of this section is the numerous inside references to previous Indiana Jones movies and other cast ties.
5. Exploring Akator (14:24) inside the fictitious underground city of gold featured in the end of the film. Especially entertaining are the inside jokes the art department hid in the pictographs.
6. Wrapping Up! (7:29) chronicles the “surprise” ending.

The Effects of Indy (22:44) interviews model makers, a fake prairie dog, and how the technology has changed since the last Indiana Jones movie. It is amazing at how much movie makers now rely on digital compositing to bring their vision to life now. Adventures in Post-Production (12:47) talks about the final editing process. It still fascinates me that this movie was shot and edited on film to keep the 'feel' of the original movies. Ben Burtt returns as sound supervisor with his resume of pretty much every big movie in the past 30 years. Subtitle options on both discs include English, French, and Spanish. Disc 2 also contains an XBOX 360 demo of the Lego Indiana Jones game.

Overall: 7.9
I was really hoping for a huge final adventure with Indiana Jones. Instead we get some silly yarn about aliens and telepathic Russians. This movie is even more proof that George Lucas got lucky. He was in the right place and the right time with Star Wars. Despite all the plot holes and bad scriptwriting, he found what the consumers wanted. With Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, George Lucas once again shows us how well he can take a huge property and run it straight into the ground.

It's amazing what consumers will tolerate just to see their favorite characters again. Luckily, everyone wants to see Indiana Jones and all the other characters of our youth so he can make a bad film and still make lots of money. The saving grace of this DVD special edition is the wealth of behind the scenes material. It's interesting and fun to watch for everyone who likes to see how big budget films are currently made.