Starring Harrison Ford, John Rhys-Davies, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Denholm Elliott, Kate Capshaw, Jonathan Ke Quan, Amrish Puri, Sean Connery, Alison Doody
Written By:
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Studio: Paramount
Buy on Amazon.com link

Who didn’t see this one coming? I just knew Paramount, Spielberg and Lucas were going to re-release the Indiana Jones boxset when the new movie was close to release date. I didn’t mind reviewing this DVD set because it meant getting to watch the movies again before Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls comes out on Memorial Day Weekend. This DVD has a few new extras but not sure people want to upgrade if they already have the other boxset.

I’m pretty sure most of you know about the Indiana Jones movies. If you haven’t seen one of these movies, well what the hell are you doing on this website?! Seriously, stop what you’re doing immediately and go rent/buy Raiders of the Lost Ark. In a nutshell, the Indiana Jones trilogy follows the adventures of famed archaeologist Dr Henry Jones, Jr..aka Indiana “Indy” Jones! Just don’t call him Junior or put any snakes near him. Other than that, he’s a man’s man who’s battled the Nazis, and a creepy Indian Cult. Each movie, Indy has his fair share of love interests, some being more annoying than the other. One ended up being associated with the Nazis, so obviously she wasn’t a keeper. Elsa was the most prettiest one of the group though! Besides the ladies, Indy has fun sidekicks to go along with him on his journeys. Sallah appeared in Raiders and Last Crusade, and Short Round was in Temple of Doom. I wish he came back for another movie, I doubt he makes a cameo in the new film though. Marcus Brody was another great character, who really shined in the Last Crusade movie. Of course we can’t talk about Last Crusade if we don’t talk about Sean Connery! He played the perfect Father to Indy, even though Sean wasn’t much older to Harrison Ford in real life. He was interesting, funny, and you can tell where Indy got his charm and knowledge from. Each movie has a “MacGruffin” that is quite intriguing. In Raiders of the Lost Ark its the Ark of the Covenant; Temple of Doom its the the Sankara Stone. In the Last Crusade, and I think the most interesting, is the holy grail. The next movie will be about the Crystal Skull (obviously). But I’ve heard its about aliens as well.

Every 6 months or so, I have to watch all the Indy movies together. Since I’ve been waiting to see the movies until it got closer to the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull release date, I was really waiting to watch this DVD set. I watched all 3 movies in 2 days; Temple of Doom and Last Crusade were watched in the same day. After seeing the movie a billion times, I think I have to say Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is my favorite. I just love all the different places they went to, I loved Sean Connery as Indy’s Dad, loved Sallah and Marcus being in the movie more prominently and the story was really interesting to me. We can’t forget all the action and comedic stuff in that movie as well. “No Ticket!” Raiders of the Lost Ark is a classic movie that started off this franchise, but I’m not sure if it’s my favorite movie out of the batch. I liked Temple of Doom better for some reason. I liked the darker subject matter, and found it hilarious how Indiana responded and acted towards Willie Scott. My favorite moments from that included Indy and Short Round in the room with the spikes, and Indy is telling Willie they “are going to die!” Plus who can’t forget that bridge at the end! That was such a fantastic moment; it also happens to be a moment I re-enact when I go mini-golfing and go over a bridge. But back to Raiders, there are so many great moments in that film that its really hard to figure out which movie is the best one. They are all different and great in their own way. It’s really hard to talk about 3 movies in one review, because there are so much you could talk about. I just love these movies and they definitely are my favorite movies ever (among Lord of the Rings and Star Wars). I’m just really really really happy they FINALLY did a new movie after all these years. I seriously can’t wait to see it!

The bonus features on this DVD set are new, and many of the interviews are from the Crystal Skull set. I believe there are 12 features in total, and each one goes about 5-8 minutes long. Each film has new introductions by Spielberg and Lucas, along with some interviews by Harrison Ford and others. They talk about each movie, some of their favorite scenes or lines, stuff like that. The featurette on Raiders is “The Indy Trilogy: Crystal Clear Appreciation” and it’s the cast of the new film talking about Raiders of the Lost Ark. It has some good interviews and quotes in there. Also on the Raiders DVD, there’s a featurette on the melting faces, and the guy who developed that effect talks about how it was done. Besides that, there’s a game trailer for Lego Indiana Jones, galleries and Storyboard for the Covenant Room. The extras for the Temple of Doom DVD include a featurette on the locations, one about the insects and creatures in the movie. Plus there are galleries, and another storyboard featurette; this time it’s for the Mine Cart Chase scene. The Last Crusade DVD’s extras include a featurette on Indy’s women, Indy’s friends & enemies. Plus there are galleries, and the storyboard for the opening scene. I thought all these extras would be re-hashed but this stuff was pretty good!

If you never owned the Indiana Jones boxset, be sure to get this one. The interviews are updated but the only thing is, these extras might not be long enough for the die-hard movie fan like myself. So I’m not really sure if this is worth upgrading or not. If you want to see just the extras, maybe just rent this DVD set then? Either way, these movies are timeless, classic and should be seen by all. Bring all the new movie!

Features:
– New Introductions to Each Film by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas
– The Indy Trilogy: A Crystal Clear Appreciation
– The Mystery of the Melting Face
– Snakes Alive!
– The Well of Souls Storyboards
– Creepy Crawlies
– Discover Adventure on Location with Indy
– Hold Onto Your Hat!: The Mine Cart Chase Storyboards
– Indy’s Women Reminisce
– Indy’s Friends and Enemies
– The Birth of an Action Hero!: The Last Crusade Opening Scene Storyboards
– Spectacular Photo Galleries for Each Film
– LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures Game Demo

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Stereo
FRENCH: Dolby Digital Stereo

Video:
Widescreen 2.20:1 Color

Subtitles:
English, Spanish, French

Favorite Scenes: Opening scene, Map Room/Covenant scene, Airplane fight, The ending; Temple: card game between Indy and Short Round, spiked room, Bridge scene; Last Crusade: Opening scene, Venice boat chase, Indy and His Dad escape the Nazis on motorbikes, battle tank fight scene, the ending
Rating: PG
Running Time: 359 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: