The Blu-ray Disc
As is to be expected, the transfer is spectacular on a disc that will likely be one of the highest selling Blu-rays of the year. Indiana Jones gets the technical treatment he deserves, with a picture that features highly saturated colors and deep blacks. Spielberg employs a lot of deep focus shots in the film, and the HD picture faithfully reproduces these shots, keeping even the farthest background elements of a shot in sharp definition.
More than any other Indiana Jones film, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull features palettes of bright colors, like in the scene where Indy finds himself in the manufactured town about to be annihilated by the nuclear test. The vibrant pastels come through clearly and beautifully, making the film easy on the eyes at least.
In addition, the 5.1 Dolby TrueHD sound is well-utilized in a film that includes its fair share of car chases and explosions. The sound design by Ben Burtt is typically brilliant and deserves to be heard like this.
Special Features
There are several special features on disc one, including an interactive feature that combines the production, historical, and film timelines, allowing users to compare the three and see where they overlap. There are also two featurettes focusing on the pre-production aspect of the film, both of which are fairly interesting.
Disc two is loaded with nearly three hours of featurettes which, surprisingly, are almost all worthy of note. A six-part production diary documenting the making of the film is a definite highlight, as are three pre-visualization sequences showing computer renderings of three key scenes the way they were envisioned before filming began. The rest include looks at the makeup design, sound design, props, and post-production, as well as several different photo galleries.
Presented in HD, the special features are interesting regardless of your opinion of the film, as they present a well-rounded look at most of the elements of producing a feature film, particularly a high-budget blockbuster like this one.
The Final Word
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on Blu-ray is worth the purchase simply because it’s Indiana Jones… I mean, you have to have a complete collection of all four films, right? It’s a beautiful transfer and the special features are engaging, which helps you forget the film itself is nothing special.
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