'Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures' - High-Def Digest Review

[Krawk]

I consider this a must own set, but not a strong enough must to preorder and pay whatever the going rate is. I will watch for a bargain on this one.

[Landy]

Sorry, but the fourth movie is as bad as people make it out to be. It isn't about nostalgia or even believability. It's about the hideous CGI scenes that would have been better left on the cutting room floor.

They are so bad that all they do is pull you out of the movie rather than into it. The ants, the monkey swinging, I don't think any movie had more WTF moments since the Star Wars prequels. It would have been different if these scenes were at least moderately entertaining, but they are groan inducing more than anything.

I ordered the UK Limited Edition set though since I love the first three movies. But that doesn't mean I don't hate myself for buying Crystal Skull twice.

[Bouncy X]

i was keeping my Crystal Skull copy anyway since i got the steelbook version but seeing just how much of the extras they omitted, i would be keeping it regardless. not sure why they did this, they could have easily made it 2 discs of extras by using Disc 2 of the Skull set. but i'm not entirely surprised and was sorta expecting this after Star Wars and the hours of extras they skipped over for that collection. and unless its just been renamed, it seems that 2hr doc on the trilogy from the dvd collection is missing as well?

so now i gotta keep that too? my word!!! lol seriously, if they want blu-ray to become the standard then port over everything that the dvd editions of movies had to the blu-ray release. considering most of that stuff is in SD and blu has so much room, it shouldnt be an issue. i don't mind double dipping if it means moving from dvd to blu-ray but dont give me any reason to keep the dvd as well.

anyway all that pointless whining aside, the set sounds pretty fabulous. even if someone doesnt own these movies in any other formaT, this is a fine and filled up collection. the set of extras actually seem worth it compared to the Star Wars collection. :P

EDIT : so i re-read the extras review and it seems the stuff from that trilogy doc is indeed on here so thats good and was a pointless rant...but the idea behind the rant still stands for releases in general. :P

[davcole]

4th Film had potential with the Mud and Marion storylines, however the entire Crystal Skull story was poor, as well as characters as Mac and John Hurt's character.

[zap3nc]

4th movie is much better than the 2nd movie...
Temple is/was a real letdown.

[CaptainYoshi]

Is the size of the packaging itself comparable to that of the 'Alien Anthology' and'Star Wars' sets?

[eNoize]

I'm not at home right but yes, I believe the box is same size. I'll check again when I get home.

[CaptainYoshi]

Not that it's an issue for me. This is a day 1 no brainer for me.

[eNoize]

Just checked. Yes, it's the same size in height as 'Alien' and 'Star Wars' boxes.

[CaptainYoshi]

Damn, that's going to be a sexy looking area on the shelf!

[damonous]

...One of my biggest problems with the film is that you actually see the Alien. That should have not happened. Every Indy film has been "glimpses" and hints to the other side. This was like, BAM! I don't know...it was very un-Indy in that regard...

Indy 1 showed the spiritual contents of the Ark.
Indy 2 showed hearts being pulled from chests and people still living.
Indy 3 showed the hundreds-of-years old guardian of the Grail.

I guess, given that context, showing the Aliens in Indy 4 isn't that out-of-line.

Nevertheless, to me there are only TWO Indiana Jones films: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Temple of Doom.

Everything else just diminishes the Indy character (his crotchety dad, Connery, belittling him in #3, and his son, La Beouf, belittling him in #4). Plus, falling out of plane in an inflatable raft is peanuts on the unbelievability scale next to the guardian of the Grail in #3, the space Aliens, the nuclear-safe fridge, and the car saved by the tree on the side of the cliff in #4. Plus, #3 and #4 present the added 'bonus' of being dreadfully boring, and neither having a memorable action scene worth waiting for.

Seems that I'll probably be waiting for a while to own these: Raiders & Temple are only worth about $40-50 total to me.

[Onslaught X]

Indy 1 showed the spiritual contents of the Ark.
Indy 2 showed hearts being pulled from chests and people still living.
Indy 3 showed the hundreds-of-years old guardian of the Grail.

I guess, given that context, showing the Aliens in Indy 4 isn't that out-of-line.

Nevertheless, to me there are only TWO Indiana Jones films: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Temple of Doom.

Everything else just diminishes the Indy character (his crotchety dad, Connery, belittling him in #3, and his son, La Beouf, belittling him in #4). Plus, falling out of plane in an inflatable raft is peanuts on the unbelievability scale next to the guardian of the Grail in #3, the space Aliens, the nuclear-safe fridge, and the car saved by the tree on the side of the cliff in #4. Plus, #3 and #4 present the added 'bonus' of being dreadfully boring, and neither having a memorable action scene worth waiting for.

Seems that I'll probably be waiting for a while to own these: Raiders & Temple are only worth about $40-50 total to me.

[DeathKnight]

I did have this on preorder for quite a while. I decided to cancel though. Can't really justify the price right now. This will definitely be a buy for me when the price comes down in the future.

[Sim_Mat]

Going to wait until Raiders of the Lost Ark is available separately. Its the only real Indiana Jones movie. Might pick up Temple of Doom too. But that's very much at odds with the style of Raiders but I like it for its own brand of pulp thrills.

They can keep Last Crusade and Crystal Skull, those are easily two of Spielberg's worst films.

[Dark_Light]

Personally, I didn't notice any significant tweaking in the color timing. There's maybe a slight teal & orange push, but it's negligible far as I'm concerned. Here's a pic of the scene I know everyone seems most concerned with:

I would say the change in color timing is quite significant. You can see some comparison shots with the DVD on caps-a-holic.com (click HD / SD VERGLEICHE on top). I think the orange nazi flags you mentioned in the review are a result of this as well.