Paramount celebrated 40 years of Indiana Jones by giving all four films the 4K upgrade, and they’re ridiculously impressive.
We are firmly in the next stage of movie media with 4K Ultra HD and that means a bunch of films are making the jump to the latest and greatest. Movie lovers find themselves facing the choice to upgrade their collections for their favorites, but it’s not always easy…That’s where we come in!
With some of these older films making the transition to the latest media platform, there’s not necessarily a need to do a brand new “review” of the films. After all, many of these are movies you’ve already watched/enjoyed and there’s little reason to rehash what makes them great. Instead, we’ll kick off a new article series specifically for these kinds of titles to help you determine if the jump to the new format is worth picking up, or if you should stick with what you have for the time being.
The iconic franchise, which helped redefine how we thought about action stars and heroic adventures, has finally made it’s way onto 4K. I’m not going to sit here and belabor the greatness of these films, rank them, or attempt to convince you that Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is actually pretty good. There’s a good chance you’ve already formed your opinions on all of these films, after all they’ve been around for the last four decades!
That said, I would still encourage you to give each of the films in the collection another watch. To be honest, much as I love these films, there are only a couple of them I watch with any sort of regularity. Hell, I couldn’t tell you the last time I sat down to watch Temple of Doom….Until this set.
While it still isn’t my favorite Indy movie, and features some “yikes” moments, the time away from it certainly softened my view on it. That’s not to mention the fact that I thought my eyeballs were going to melt. Seriously, it felt like I was watching a movie that was made just yesterday rather than decades ago.
Every single film in this set brings the same level of quality, mostly because the 4K transfers were done using the original film negatives. So this is about as clear and unfiltered Indiana Jones as you can get. Hell, even Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the newest of the films and the first to hit Blu-ray, looks leaps and bounds better than any previous release.
While I always enjoyed the fourth film (I know it has many issues), the biggest complaint I’ve always had is that something about the picture just didn’t feel like Indiana Jones. It’s always been difficult for me to explain and pin it down exactly, but I was floored at seeing the 4K transfer eliminate this issue. Seriously, it feels in line with the previous films (visually) in a way that it hadn’t before.
All around, the technical aspects of this re-release is stunning. The visuals are impeccable and the surround sound mix is spot on. Even better, the films come with all of the previously released special features. So if you missed out on those versions of the movies, you can get everything here in this one swanky set. The collectible booklet is a neat addition as well, offering some behind the scenes images from the making of all the films.
All in all, the 4K Ultra HD collection is everything a fan could want and more. The packaging is slick and great for collector’s, while the transfer of the films itself are among the best I’ve seen. Even if you’ve convinced yourself that you only like certain Indiana Jones films, this boxset is more than worth the purchase price. It’s the best these films have ever looked.
Indiana Jones 4-Movie Collection is available now in 4K Ultra HD.
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