Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. The Dolby Vision disc became a strong visual presentation.
With only a few mild exceptions, sharpness worked well. The vast majority of the film came across as accurate and well-defined, with only the lightest softness on display.
Jaggies and moiré effects failed to mar the presentation, and I witnessed no edge haloes. I didn’t sense heavy-handed digital noise reduction, as the movie retained light grain and kept elements like smoke and mist intact. Print flaws weren’t a factor in this clean transfer.
The settings offered a nice mix of hues, and the 4K UHD replicated these well. The colors consistently came across as vivid and vibrant, factors that got a nice boost from the disc’s HDR.
Black levels were deep and rich, and low-light shots appeared clean and appropriately defined. HDR bolstered both contrast and whites as well. I thought highly enough of the presentation to give it an “A-“.
Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom also fared very well. As one might expect, the mix offered a lively and involving experience.
It came across as a little less active than the audio for Raiders, but that stemmed from its lowered level of action. A substantial portion of Temple passes without a big sequence, whereas Raiders provides pizzazz more frequently.
Even during the quieter bits, though, the film offered a nice sense of place, with cleanly localized elements that melded together well. Music showed good stereo imaging and the effects meshed smoothly.
The surrounds added a nice sense of atmosphere, and they kicked into action well during the livelier sequences. The star of the show was the mine car chase toward the end.
This used all the speakers well and created a vivid environment. The track seemed pretty smooth and cohesive, especially given its vintage.
Audio quality almost never showed its age. Speech was nicely natural and distinctive; with no edginess or issues connected to intelligibility.
John Williams’ score remained tight and vibrant, as the music sounded quite well produced and dynamic. Effects showed virtually no signs of distortion, as they were concise and accurate.
Bass response worked well, as the film included plenty of deep and firm low-end material. All of this led to an age-adjusted “A-“ for audio.
Note that this 2023 4K UHD release of Temple simply reissues the 2021 disc. It came only as part of a four-movie collection, so this acts as the film’s first 4K UHD solo release.
2022 produced Temple on its own via a steelbook edition as well.
Because the 2021 release came as part of that five-disc/four-movie collection, almost no extras show up on the Temple 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.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom does not compare favorably with its predecessor, but what does? Temple acts as a mildly flawed but generally exciting and entertaining action flick whose main problem is that it is not an all-time classic like Raiders.
The 4K UHD delivers excellent picture and audio but this solo release lacks bonus materials. Temple will never be my favorite Indiana Jones adventure, but I do enjoy it, and I feel that the 4K UHD reproduces it in fine fashion, though fans who want copious extras will need to splurge for the four-movie package.
To rate this film visit the DVD review of TEMPLE OF DOOM
