Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. I felt pleased with this Dolby Vision presentation.
Sharpness usually looked excellent. The only notable exception came from a brief but odd blurriness that affected parts of the frame during a scene with Indy, Sallah and Henry in a car late in the second act.
This was evident on earlier versions as well and seems to be part of the source photography. Otherwise, the picture appeared nicely detailed and crisp.
Jagged edges and moiré effects remained absent, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt fairly natural, and I noticed no signs of any defects in this clean and distinctive image.
Colors looked solid. The movie didn’t present the world’s broadest palette, but it included a good enough range of hues that consistently came across as tight and vibrant. The disc’s HDR added heft and dimensionality to the warm, rich hues.
Black levels seemed deep and dense, and low-light shots demonstrated fine clarity and never became too thick. HDR contributed oomph and power to whites and contrast. I felt wholly happy with this appealing image.
Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade excelled as the mix offered a broad and engaging experience. Music showed nice delineation and spread, and the effects created a good sense of atmosphere.
A lot of directional dialogue appeared throughout the film, and those pieces popped up in a natural way. Effects seemed appropriately placed and blended together smoothly. Those elements moved cleanly across the channels to demonstrate a fine feeling of place.
Whereas both of the first two flicks offered occasional instances of split surround material, Crusade upped the ante in that regard. It didn’t seem to present more active rear speakers than the others - Raiders contributed an awful lot of audio from that realm – but the elements were more naturally blended due to the stereo nature of the surrounds.
These helped bring the back speakers into the flick in a more involving way, and they added a lot to the movie, especially during its many action sequences.
Audio quality appeared fine and never showed its age. Speech was distinct and concise, and I noticed no issues connected to intelligibility or edginess.
Music remained vibrant and dynamic, as the disc once again displayed John Williams’ score with vivacity and solid clarity. Effects were as clean and rich as ever, and they never suffered from any signs of distortion or other problems.
Bass response was deep and firm and brought good punch to the package. The audio of Crusade wasn’t just good for its age. This was an excellent soundtrack that almost never felt like something made 34 years ago.
Note that this 2023 4K UHD release of Last Crusade simply reissues the 2021 disc. It came only as part of a four-movie collection, but a 2022 steelbook issued the 4K movie on its own.
Because the original release came as part of that five-disc/four-movie collection, almost no extras show up on the Last Crusade platter itself. We get both a teaser and a trailer.
Initially I didn’t give the Temple 4K UHD a grade for extras because it existed in that collection. However, since this platter stands on its own, I awarded a “D-“ to represent that you get almost no supplements here.
While Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade doesn’t live up to the heights of Raiders of the Lost Ark, it definitely tops Temple of Doom, and it finishes the 1980s trilogy well. The movie boasts wonderful interactions between its lead actors and seems quite entertaining and enjoyable. The 4K UHD delivers excellent picture and audio. I enjoy the flick and feel very happy with this release, though fans who want copious extras will need to splurge for the four-movie package.
To rate this film visit the DVD review of LAST CRUSADE
