The Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures is a great set for fans of the franchise. Each of the film’s 1080p HD transfer is amazing to go along with the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio tracks. The only drawback is that features from the previous releases, including Kingdom of the Crystal Skull were not ported over.
Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures (1981-2009)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Paramount | PG/PG13 – 481 min. – $99.98 | September 18, 2012
MOVIE INFO (Raiders of the Lost Ark):
Directed by: Steve Spielberg
Writer(s): George Lucas (story), Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz (screenplay)
Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott
Theatrical Release Date: June 12, 1981
MOVIE INFO (Temple of Doom):
Directed by: Steve Spielberg
Writer(s): George Lucas and Philip Kaufman (story), Lawrence Kasdan (screenplay)
Cast: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan
Theatrical Release Date: May 23, 1984
MOVIE INFO (Last Crusade):
Directed by: Steve Spielberg
Writer(s): George Lucas and Philip Kaufman (characters); George Lucas and Menno Meyjes (story), Jeffrey Boam (screenplay)
Cast: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott, Alison Doody, John Rhys-Davies, Julian Glover, River Phoenix
Theatrical Release Date: May 24, 1989
MOVIE INFO (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull):
Directed by: Steve Spielberg
Writer(s): George Lucas and Philip Kaufman (characters); George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson (story), David Koepp (screenplay)
Cast: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent
Theatrical Release Date: May 22, 2008
DISC INFO:
Features: Featurettes, Trailers
Number of Discs: 5
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), Portuguese (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.35
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Disc Size: 36.9 GB/37.7 GB/40.4 GB/35.0 GB
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A
THE MOVIE – 4.0/5
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1980) — ****½/*****
Indy (HARRISON FORD) and his feisty ex-flame Marion Ravenwood (KAREN ALLEN) dodge booby-traps, fight Nazis and stare down snakes in their incredible worldwide quest for the mystical Ark of the Covenant.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1983) — ***½/*****
Indy, his sidekick Short Round (KE HUY QUAN), and nightclub singer Willie Scott (KATE CAPSHAW) go from high-flying action above the Himalayas to a nail-biting runaway mine car chase and finally a spine-tingling escape from a fortress-like mine in India.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) — ****½/*****
Indy’s Nazi enemies are back and have kidnapped his father, Professor Henry Jones Sr. (SEAN CONNERY), to get help in their search for the Holy Grail. Following a trail from America to Venice to the deserts of the Middle East, it’s up to Indy to save his father, save the Grail and save the day.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2009) — ***/*****
The latest outing finds Indy trying to outrace a brilliant and beautiful agent (CATE BLANCHETT) for the mystical, all-powerful crystal skull of Akator. Teaming up with a rebellious young biker (SHIA LABEOUF) and his spirited original love Marion (KAREN ALLEN), Indy takes you on an action-packed adventure.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 4.0/5
Note: Some of the features from the respective Trilogy editions were not ported over and a good chunk, if not all, of the features from the special edition DVD and Blu-ray weren’t either.
This Blu-ray comes housed in a book-style case with each of the 5 discs in side slits which are easy to remove and place back. The book is in turn housed in a sturdy outer case.
The four movie discs contain theatrical teasers and trailers.
Bonus Disc:
On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark (57:53) is a 2-part featurette – “From Jungle to Desert” and “From Adventure to Legend” – which has some old behind-the-scenes footage showcasing Spielberg’s directing and some raw takes. This isn’t one of those retrospectives with some new interviews but instead older stuff at the time of filming which is kind of cool to see.
Under Making the Films are 5 featurettes: The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (57:48), The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark (50:52), The Making of The Temple of Doom (41:09), The Making of The Last Crusade (35:03) and The Making of the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (28:49).
Each of these has some interesting behind-the-scenes footage intermixed with cast/crew interviews. Nice thing is, none of them are mere filler.
The Behind the Scenes section contains 12 featurettes: The Stunts of Indiana Jones (10:56), The Sound of Indiana Jones (13:21), The Music of Indiana Jones (12:22), The Light and Magic of Indiana Jones (12:22), Raiders: The Melting Face (8:12), Indiana Jones and the Creepy Crawlies (11:46)*, Travel with Indiana Jones: Locations (9:58)*, Indy’s Women: The AFI Tribute (9:15), Indy’s Friends and Enemies (10:10), Iconic Props (9:52), The Effects of Indy (22:34) and Adventures in Post Production (12:36).
While a bit shorter, they still expand more on the four movies with updated interviews. The featurettes marked with an asterisk (*) have optional pop-up trivia tracks.
VIDEO – 4.5/5
Raiders of the Lost Ark – ****¾/*****
The first movie in the franchise, now 31 years old, is presented in 1080p high-definition and its original 2.35 aspect ratio. According to the back cover, this one received a frame-by-frame full restoration and I can tell they did a fantastic job. Although it is the darker of the films, in terms of look rather than story, I was impressed with how clean it looked yet still retains the natural film grain that gives it the theatrical look I like to see.
Temple of Doom and Last Crusade – *****/*****
The next two films are even more impressive. Unlike Raiders, these “merely” received a color-corrected digital master transfer. The amazing detail level is what stands out the most while the color array looks about right without being pumped up or overly soft.
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – ****½/*****
The final installment comes storming to Blu-ray presented in its Original Aspect Ratio of 2.35 (AVC/MPEG-4) on a 50GB Disc. Right from the THX start (and it looks awesome!) you will notice just how well Indiana has made the transition into HD. Colors are very vibrant and blacks (for the most part) are very dark and inky. The only disappointment here is that sometimes the HD makes some of the CGI look just a little to fake (the monkeys). But other than that, you should not have any issue with this transfer.
AUDIO – 4.75/5
All four movies have been given a new 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track including Kingdom of the Crystal Skull where the original Blu-ray was Dolby TrueHD. There’s not a whole lot of difference between the movies which is a good thing given how great each lossless track is. John Williams’ amazing score blares through each channel, dialogue levels are nice and even while the action scenes shows off the tracks very nicely.
OVERALL – 4.5/5
Overall, the Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures is a great set for fans of the franchise. Each of the film’s 1080p HD transfer is amazing to go along with the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio tracks. The only drawback is that features from the previous releases, including Kingdom of the Crystal Skull were not ported over. Also concerning is the $99.98 MSRP and in-store price at around $65-70, is a bit excessive, although if you can snag this set for about $50, then it’s most certainly worth it.
The Movieman
Published: 09/20/2012
I can see three times the same screen caps from Raiders, but not Temple of Doom or Last Crusade.
Hmm, ok. I’ll look into it. Thanks for letting me know.
Alright, it has been fixed. Once again, thanks for bringing it to my attention.