DVD review: 'Indiana Jones, Crystal Skull'

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" comes to DVD and Blu-ray with authority, but without many surprises. Kind of like the movie itself.

Reminds me of fast food. On the DVD, you get familiar packaging and predictable ingredients. Reliably good audio and video that fill up the viewing room. A promo push or two. Slick extras that unspool just like the extras that went before.

Sure, the calories are mostly empty, but you've gotten your money's worth.

The "Crystal Skull" DVD fits right in with the "Indiana Jones Adventure Collection" of last spring. They've even reissued that set to include the new Indy Jones title. You like one, you'll like them all. Guess that's why it's a collection.

Let's return now to the days of early summer. The highly anticipated popcorn movie "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" debuted to a mixed critical reaction, for good reason. While the gang was all there -- Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Harrison Ford and a delightful Karen Allen -- there wasn't much of a sense of adventure in the adventure.

Compare and contrast with "The Dark Knight," the mind-blowing continuation of a superhero movie franchise that'd seen its ups and downs.

Eighteen years ago, when we last saw Indy Jones, the whip-smart hero rode off into the sunset. Director Spielberg went for the iconic ending to "Last Crusade" because he'd figured we'd "seen the last of Indiana Jones" -- the franchise had run its course.

Ford and Lucas decided two decades later to give the series another try, eventually convincing Spielberg to direct. "Star Wars" creator Lucas had a fresh concept: to move the franchise from 1930s serial adventures to 1950s science-fiction B-movies -- a shift "age appropriate" for Indy/Ford.

In the "Crystal Skull" DVD release's best extra, "The Return of a Legend," Spielberg talks about how he tried to steer Lucas away from the extraterrestrial plot. Having done "E.T." and "Close Encounters," Spielberg said, "I didn't want to do any more aliens." Even Ford admits, "I'm not a big fan of little green men."

Lucas got his way, sort of, remodeling the aliens as "interdimensional beings" that show up in the last act. Indy Jones did his thing, but never made it to Flash Gordon territory.

Spielberg says Ford's age was a major concern, of course, with the filmmakers wondering if he could pull off the role at age 55 -- his age when they started to talk about a fourth film. 

Now, Spielberg says, of course Ford could do it. And he did it in his middle-60s. 

Ford certainly should consider "doing something similar" if he likes, Spielberg says, not taking the bait on a fifth Indy film. (Spielberg doesn't do commentaries, but has plenty to say in the extras.)

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" has a bit more of an amber tone than I remembered from the theater, could be wrong. The post-production extra feature notes that "Crystal Skull" was shot and edited on film, unusual these days and most welcome in the viewing room.

At times, the movie's images have the feel of an slightly aged comic book page. Primary colors stand out, as in the nuclear test site scene. 

The Blu-ray's video presentation is state of the art, although the TrueHD 5.1 audio came across too tame -- a playful surround sound stage would have worked wonders. The DVD version of the film looks and sounds just fine, especially upconverted. If you have both formats, spring for the Indiana Jones Blu-ray.

The documentary extras are in 1080i (on the Blu-ray), crisp and clear. The main making-of docu runs 80 minutes, covering the domestic locations, shooting in Hawaii and the extensive set work done on the Universal lot for the ancient city of Akator.

Unit production manager Denis Stewart talks about how hard it is now to find "primeval untouched jungle." After a frustrating search, the production ended up using relatively feral private land near Hilo (in the Big Island's volcano region) to stand in for Peru.

(Spoiler next paragraph) 

The last scene shot was the Indy-Marion wedding, which Karen Allen says brought tears to her eyes, for her character's happiness. "They should have married in the first place," Lucas says. So the wrap party was also a wedding party for the characters.

Disc 1 of the Blu-ray has an interactive time line, which tracks the production as well as the history of the events cited in the film, a mix of reality and fiction. You can click on a dead poet's profile to find out what John Hurt's crazy professor was reciting in the jungle.

Well worth a stop is the short feature on the Indian warriors' elaborate makeup, which required about six hours of prep -- as well as removal of all body hair. Yuck and ouch. 

Pre-production, galleries, HD previsualization sequences and effects breakdowns fill out the package. The DVD (only) has an Xbox 360 demo of the tie-in Lego game.

Comments

[Brad hansen]

Speaking of Karen Allen, I wrote an unsolicited script for a Starman sequel back in 1998. It was my first script and I quit college to finish it. It’s been gathering dust ever since. I sent it to Jeff Bridges and John carpenter, although I would prefer if Carpenter didn’t direct a sequel. I wrote some good f/x sequences and some interesting characters. I’m pretty sure I’ll never be involved, but I’d to see the f/x scene from the beach being incorporated, (Jeff’s manager Neil will know the one, totally plagiarised from another movie, but it would look great on film today). If anyone has any questions, email me at hansenfilm@yahoo.ie and I’ll answer them. (Although I won’t give away any plot points. And yes there is a son and indeed, I actually have the perfect casting suggestion!!