Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull Limited Edition Steelbook

This movie is much-maligned, and rightly so. It's definitely the weakest of the series (er, "quadrilogy"?). But it still has some good moments and I'm unwilling to completely toss it out. Everybody focuses on the bad, and I will too. But first I want to point out some of the good stuff:What the Movie Got Right:1. Advancing the time era along with Harrison Ford's age. Made it seem more authentic.2. The 50's nuclear weapons tests.3. The Cold War mentality of that era.4. Along with that, having Russians as the enemy. I thought this worked well.5. Harrison Ford still does pretty good as an aged Indy.6. Cate Blanchett rocked as a villain.7. Bringing Karen Allen back was a good idea. That's always something I didn't like about the former movies. They bounce around with a different love interest every movie, and in that way weren't very cohesive.8. The IDEA of an Amazon jungle setting was good, even if the execution was off.9. Similarly, the idea of having one creepy-crawly (first snakes, then bugs and rats, now ants) was good, even if it was done stupidly.10. Indy wanting to settle down. Personally, I thought this was a nice touch and kind of realistic.11. Centering the movie around a "possibly real but still sort of mythical" historical object. In this case, crystal skulls. There are crystal skull objects which are real. It's too bad that right as this movie was released, the whole crystal skull thing was proven to be a big hoax.12. Still entertaining.13. It was not directed by Michael Bay.Things that Many People don't like but I think are Okay:1. ESP. I thought this was kind of cool, and I was okay with it. I realize it isn't real, but neither are angels, magic rocks, and magic cups.2. Similarly, aliens. Seriously, why does this part of the movie bother people? I mean, the Indy series was somewhat X-files like anyway in that it usually involved classified information. And there was always a historical tie-in. In this case, the tie-in for aliens was crystal skulls. Those really do exist, but are not ancient at all and are hoaxes. But to get worked up over aliens... I don't get it. We've got God in the first movie, some Hindu gods in the second, God again in the third - why not aliens? We were all created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster, after all.3. The "Son I never knew I had" story. I thought it worked well.4. Mutt. The character was good to me. Could they have gotten a different actor? I wish.5. The ending. Yeah it's kind of odd, but where else could it go really?6. The cameo appearance of the ark. Meh. I would have prefered they left that one hidden forever.Things that make you want to strangle the filmmakers:1. Too much exposition. There's one character especially who's sole purpose in the movie is to explain everything. And if you see something in the movie you don't understand, don't worry because he'll explain it to you. This drags the movie down, BIG TIME.2. CGI Groundhog. I mean, come on... seriously? George Lucasitis at its worst.3. CGI Ants. That act in a way that is completely different from ants in real life.4. CGI Jungle.5. CGI Monkeys. Swinging through the trees with Shia LaBeouf, no less.6. CGI. In fact, pretty much every scene in this movie involving CGI is a complete fail. It looks fake. It looks stupid. It seems gratuitous. You can pin this on Georgie Lucas's personal addiction to CGI. He has rose-colored glasses when it come to the stuff. Insisted on making 3 movies filled with it, and probably would have taken the human actors out of those too if he could. When confronted with how fake it looks, he just says, "It's no faker-looking than using a puppet." No George, you're wrong. It IS faker-looking than using a puppet. MUCH faker! So he throws it into his Indiana Jones movie. Why? No reason, really. The groundhog is a good example. It's just there for atmosphere, apparently. He couldn't put womp rats in because it's not the Mos Eisley spaceport, so he settled for groundhogs.7. Snake scene. Yes, I realize this was meant to be funny. However, it wasn't funny. It was dumb.8. Driving over a cliff. I don't know. I realize we had similar moments in the other movies. Just seems like this one wasn't done as well. It just seemed off.9. The refrigerator scene. Like many others, this one threw me off from the very beginning. Now I realize we had a similar incident in Temple of Doom... Where Indy jumped off an airplane with a raft, landed on the side of a snowy mountain, slid down the mountain, went off a cliff, landed in the water, etc. And even though that too was unlikely, it still seemed SLIGHTLY plausible. But flying hundreds of feet through the air in a refrigerator, crashing to the ground, and then walking right out? I'm sorry, it's just too much of a stretch for me. (Sequels sometimes have this problem, where they are trying to push the envelope but end up pushing it too far. I felt the same way about some of the goofier scenes in Live Free or Die Hard.)10. Shia LaBeouf. Need I say more?So there you have it. Yeah, there's a lot of bad but I did want to also point out the good. This movie is a low point, but it's still better than the boring TV series. (Okay TV series fans, there. I said it. Feel free to trash me now!)There are several things that go wrong in this movie and it is difficult to pin down exactly where it failed the worst. It's hard to say it's the story, because Temple of Doom had a similarly non-epic story, and it's a great movie. To me a lot of it is the overuse and reliance on CGI. This was something that was new to the Indy series. A little bit - where needed - would have been okay. But in usual George Lucas fashion, he went over the top with it. It really hurts the movie, I think.So what if you take out / ignore the bad CGI? Is it a good movie? I dunno. It fails when it comes to the humor quite a bit, also. And I have to say, the story is pretty random and hard to follow.Well, so much for saying good things about this movie. I gave it my best, folks!-----------------------UPDATE: So I've watched this movie again, 5 years after the first time I saw it. I have to say, it has aged pretty well. I am upping my review to 5 stars.Also, I believe that I complained too much about the CGI. Seeing this again, it wasn't as bad as I had remembered. It was all done quite well, actually. It all looks very real.The main thing to me is that in hindsight, this movie "fits" just right. It wasn't the greatest but it certainly wasn't bad at all. The movie was absolutely action packed, and my kids and I both enjoyed it.I think this movie came across to me the same way The Last Crusade did. The first time I saw that movie, I wasn't all that thrilled with it. But over time, it aged well. And I grew to love it. I think I'm finding myself in the same place with the Crystal Skull.Thanks for the all the comments below! Have a good day :)

Finally got completed the individually Steelbook offering with original art. These are going out of print, and they are a rare gem for collectors. If you are in to Steelbooks these are the ones to get, if you aren't the you can buy any other edition of the previous 4K or the forthcoming releases this summer. They are the same discs on every package.

I really like the packaging. The Photo Book is inside a nice cardboard sleeve, and it pulls out from the left side. The book is a good quality hard cover with a plastic tray for the two discs. The tray is located inside the left hand cover, and on the right is the 80 page Photographic Chronicle with pictures taken by Unit Photographer David James.There is also a preface by Steven Spielberg, where he talks about the importance of Still Photography on the set of a movie, a forward by Harrison Ford, and an introduction by David James.The photos in the book are really nice. Included are shots of scenes from the movie, production shots, promotional shots, etc. Every chapter begins with a brief description by David James about what was being shot and some facts about the films productionVIDEO & AUDIO:"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is featured in 1080p High Definition and right off the bat, this film looks incredibly gorgeous on Blu-ray. The film sports vibrant colors, detail is just amazingly clear, everything about the film showcases detail. May it be the surroundings of the Mayan jungle, the skeletons, the clothing, the people... You name it, detail is clear and the transfer is just amazing. Definitely one of the best looking Blu-ray video transfers among the many Blu-ray releases of 2008!As for audio, audio is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. and the lossless track is just as equally incredible compared to the picture quality. With the number of action sequences included in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", audio is immersive as front channels showcase the action sequences and musical score, center channel showcases the dialogue which is nice and clear. LFE showcases the booms from the many explosions seen in the film and gunshots and vehicles whizzing and featured through the surrounds are also in abundance.Personally, for a film of this caliber, I was not expecting anything less than magnificent for picture and audio quality and Paramount delivers with this awesome Blu-ray release. Audio and Videophiles should definitely be happy with this Blu-ray release.As for subtitles, the film is featured in English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese.SPECIAL FEATURES:If you thought picture and audio quality was fantastic, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is loaded with special features. Special features can be found on both discs. Here is what is included:DISC 1:* Indiana Jones Timelines - This timeline showcases the creation of the "Indiana Jones" films. From the beginning of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" up to the end of this fourth film. A pretty cool feature (with text and images) for those interested in learning about the timeline of production, the history of the film and more.* The Return of a Legend - (17:34) Interviews with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Harrison Ford and the executive producers of the film in regards to bringing Indiana Jones back to film. Featured in High Definition.* Pre-Production - (11:42) Interviews with the main staff and talent about working together, working with talent such as Shia LaBeouf, interviews with Daniel D. Gregoire (Pre-Visualization Supervisor) and Harrison Ford getting reacquainted with Indiana Jones whip. Featured in High Definition.* Trailers - Featuring "Trailer 2' (1:52) and "Trailer 3' (1:55) for the film.DISC 2:* Production Diary: Making "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - (1:20:52) An informative making-of with plenty of detail on the making of the film and interview with various crew members in their department. From the various locations where the film was shot, the amount of work it took in creating the set and much more. Overall, an informative and enjoyable making-of featurette. Featured in HD, the diary can be viewed by playing all or selecting the following:- Shooting Begins: New Mexico- Back to School: New Haven Connecticut- Welcome to the Jungle. Hilo, Hawaii- On-Set Action- Exploring Akator- Wrapping Up!

The "step-child" of the Indiana Jones series; I really disliked this movie the first time I saw it. An invitation to record "Secrets of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" for SQPN required me to revisit and rewatch the movie. Surprise! I liked it much better in 2022 than my original in-theater viewing all those years ago. Brought forward into 1957 and presented in the sci-fi thriller B-movie style, it holds up surprisingly well. Lots of easter eggs and after bland or disappointing female "interests," he's back to his original match up with Marion Ravenwood. Henry Jones, Jr. sounds an awful lot like Henry Jones, Sr. at times. Still not a fan of the whole interdimensional aliens or surviving a nuclear blast in the lead-lined refrigerator, but this time around I can laugh at the campy style.

I like all the Indiana Jones adventures such hood all round adventure and entertainment.Reallly like the strong female roles too.

Product -- Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, arrived early than promised. We enjoyed watching it just like we did the first time. This version on Blu-Ray comes with 2 disks. It was rendered quite well -- with no problems. Have not seen any of the extras, as we just watched the movie today. Price was decent, but that could change over time.

Special effects and good over evil not every ones cup of tea but enjoying

Good film, shame about Shia LaBeouf, not a very good at anything, acting like a Z personwhile every-one else is an A-lister. Harrison was looking old, but acted this on off the thescreen every time, with-out trying.

what can i say it has its silly bits like indiana being blown in air in a refridgerator but its still a good movie to enjoy on a sunday afternoon.

Great film lot of action funny just what you expect

As all Indiana Jones films this is a fun and easy watch if rather cheesy. Good for the long winter nights when you just want a bit of fuss free entertainment to chill out at the end of a long day.