Indiana Jones IV trailer

You may have seen it by now, but in case you missed it, here is the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull trailer.

I hate to be on any band wagon, but this could be a great film. Many key moments in the trailer are evocative of Raiders of the Lost Ark (lots of dust, Nazis, using a whip to get out of a tight spot and elbows to the face) and that is a very good thing.

To be honest, Raiders is  the only Indiana Jones film on all three that I am interested in seeing. The second one (Temple of Doom), while not as bad as its reputation, is marred by the child actors and musical numbers. The third film (The Last Crusade) is marred by bad special effects and a near constant self-awaredness. The film is very aware that it’s a big blockbuster finale to a successful trilogy.

That said, there are some very dodgy looking explosions in this trailer. In short, parts of the trailer remind me of the greatness that is Raiders, while others look like the excessive glam that is Last Crusade. But it has my hero Ray Winstone in it!

All I ask is that the film meets in the middle of those two.

When the first Indiana Jones film graced the silver screen, it was a prime time, wasn’t it?

Star Wars was gone and nothing had really taken its place in the hearts and minds of kids around the globe. Raiders of the Lost Ark succeeded in many ways in capturing the raw unbridled excitement of a straight-forward action/adventure film that I don’t think Hollywood has seen since.

I’m well aware that the film was an homage to the serials of the past, but I’m still in awe at how well the experiment worked. Modern day adventure films are either soulless or too full of themselves to actually deign to think of themselves as movies - they have to be trilogies or concept films. Raiders of the Lost Ark, before it became the first of three (now four) films, was a different creature altogether.

Maybe this latest film will recapture that lightning.

I still haven’t seen Transformers. Is this LaBeouf kid any good?

The release date for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is May 22nd.