“Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Skull”
DVD Review by Pony R. Horton

October 16th, 2008

Well, it’s finally hit the streets: the DVD release of the fourth film in the landmark Indiana Jones film series, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL came out Tuesday, October 14th.

I picked up my Deluxe Edition copy at Target, and I was not disappointed. The price was an affordable $22.95 (Standard-Def DVD), and what’s more, this edition (possibly only available at Target) is packed in a wonderfully-produced hardcover book of on-set photographs by the film’s publicity photographer David James. These images are masterfully-shot and the book is nicely edited, with a preface by Steven Spielberg and a foreword by Harrison Ford.

Now, as to the film itself, I’ll keep this review brief, as it’s already been done to death by many others on many websites, and there will always be a great deal of disagreement over this film’s merit as an Indy film as well as a stand-alone movie.

I liked the film from Frame 1.

I especially loved the spirited, stylish, and exuberant opening title sequence, using Elvis Presley’s HOUND DOG to underscore the race across the desert between a roadster full of kids and a convoy of Army vehicles (full of terrorist Russian soldiers) on their way to Area 51 in Nevada. It was a rollicking way to introduce a film that was meant to be a fun, rock-and-roll gift to two generations of fans.

YES, the film does have it’s incredibly unbelievable moments, such as the scene where our heroes in the Russian duck (an amphibious vehicle) go over three huge waterfalls unscathed (I used to be a kayaker, and sorry, it ain’t happenin’) or the moment where Indy and Dovchenko are fighting atop the glass roof over the rocket sled room and they crash through to fall a good forty feet to a hard landing atop another hard surface and don’t break every bone in their bodies. But ya know what? TEMPLE OF DOOM had even worse moments of incredulity (falling in a raft hundreds of feet through the air from a plane to land safely on a snow-covered mountain only to fall even farther from a cliff into the river? C’MON!) And to those moments, I say, WHO CARES!? It’s not a serious film, it’s an action-adventure serial. But then, I loved HUDSON HAWK, so I may not be the most discerning of viewers. I will take issue with many of the folks who hated the Doom Town scene, saying Indy could not have survived that. I have known two different people who have been in CLOSE proximity (within ¾ of a mile to 1 mile) of atomic bomb detonations; one was a film maker working for either the Army or the DOE, and he described, IN DETAIL, exactly what it looked, sounded, and felt like in those trenches during the moments of the tests. It was not fun. The other was a woman who lived as a schoolgirl in Hiroshima when the U.S dropped the atomic bomb on that city in 1945. She was less than a mile away, and was one of the few survivors in such close proximity. So, maybe Indy COULD have survived, although, again, the concussions of being thrown about in that King Kool refrigerator would likely have done an Evel Knievel on his bones. But again, it’s an Indy movie. You come to expect such narrow misses and close calls. Besides, I just love the Doom Town sequence in general. It’s so surreal seeing Indy in such a domestic setting as a 1950’s suburban tract home while dressed in his rumpled, khaki glory as Howdy Doody is playing on the TV, and the visual effects of the nuclear blast and the mushroom cloud are some of the best I’ve ever seen.

For me, the best stuff in the film are the relationships and interactions between the characters. Mutt and Indy are wonderful together, and the chemistry between Indy and Marion is screen magic. I’m so glad Karen Allen came back for this film. She was not just along for the ride; she contributed to every scene she was in, and the film is stronger for her being in it. Harrison Ford is powerful while never upstaging his fellow actors, and as a result everyone gets their moments to shine.

Of course, the two primary villains, Spalko and Dovchenko, are wonderfully luscious in their villainy, every bit as despicable-yet-intriguing as the villains in the past films.

The film is wonderfully photographed by Janusz Kaminski (who once gave me a hearty, playful smack on the shoulder during one of my days as an “extra” on THE TERMINAL, so I’ll always like him) and there are several photographic nods to Douglas Slocombe’s inspired cinematography. Of course, Michael Kahn’s editing is as adroit as ever, and John Williams’ music… well, need I say anything? It’s JOHN WILLIAMS, for crying out loud!

I do want to address the people who have enjoyed tearing Harrison Ford down as being “too old” to play Indy anymore: HOGWASH! He’s in many respects better than he ever was, playing the character with a level of depth and resonance that he was only beginning to show on LAST CRUSADE, which is to be expected as an actor ages and matures. Ford has done so with grace and style; he’s infused Indy with a level of subtlety and expected character maturity that we would expect from him twenty years later, and I do hope to see the group of Spielberg, Lucas, Ford, and Allen make some more of these films over the next ten years.
I firmly believe they will all be up to the challenge.

The Disk

Now, to the DVD itself…

The deluxe edition from Target comes, as I said, with a very nice hardbound book. It contains two disks; the feature film in 2:33:1 ‘Scope (on the standard-def DVD. I don’t yet own a Blu-Ray system. Sorry.) with a Special Feature – THE RETURN OF A LEGEND and PRE-PRODUCTION which includes several short features. The second disk contains nothing but more special features, including a multi-part Production Diary which is quite detailed; Pre-Viz sequences of three major action scenes; and Production Photo Galleries. As well as a Lego Indiana Jones Game preview.

The features and behind-the-scenes videos are wonderful and very complete, with interviews of all the major players. The featurettes about the visual effects are, as expected, quite fulfilling, and there were aspects shown to be CGI assists that even MY trained eye would not have picked-up had they not mentioned them. There are also a number of nice, though brief, shots of Harrison Ford practicing his bullwhip skills. Again, in all, I found the special features to be quite satisfying, although there were a few facts as to certain elements of props and costumes that were glossed-over, or omitted outright, and I can say this as I have some small connections with certain people who supplied such elements and I am disappointed that they were not given any credit.

But, that’s show biz.

The feature film, I must say, seemed as though it was printed in a more contrasty manner than the film I saw in the theaters, and as such, there seemed to be some loss of detail in the highlights, and the credits were very hard to read in the opening. The audio was acceptable, but again there seemed to be a certain lack of discreet-ness to the channel separation at times, although certain subtle sounds (especially the sounds associated with the Crystal Skulls themselves) were very clear in a way that WAS NOT so audible in the theaters. This was very intriguing, although it could also be a bit distracting when heard through a headset. I have viewed the disk three times now, with speakers and headsets, and there are good and not-so-good aspects of each. I must say, though, that I listened to the film in 2-channel stereo, and not 5.1 Surround, and that may account for some of the audio differences. If you have a 5.1 system, your performance will probably be different.

In conclusion, I’m glad I have added this film to the shelf.

As far as I’m concerned, CRYSTAL SKULL just gets better with every viewing!

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent, Igor Jijikine. - Run time: 122 min

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