New Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull trailer

Posted by Chris

May 5, 2008

The weekend’s second big trailer release, which also occurred in theaters in front of Iron Man, is for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

This new spot ditches the nostalgic beginning of the first one and dives right into THIS movie and is a little stronger for it. We’re taken immediately into the plot thanks to some voice-over narration by the title character, who speaks of a crystal skull that brings unlimited power to the force that finds it and returns it to its rightful place.

That explains nicely why the Communists we’re shown later throughout the trailer are trying to either enlist Jones’ aide in finding it or kill him before he can grab it himself.

There’s a bit more action than the first trailer contained and a few more characters, including our first trailer-based look at John Hurt’s character and a little more from Ray Winstone. We also get a look at the motorcycle chase with Indy riding on the back of Shia LaBouf’s cycle. Finally, Karen Allen, who we’ve seen in earlier trailers, is at last allowed to speak, explaining to LaBouf the fact she doesn’t think Indy “plans that far ahead,” a nice call back to the first movie and some of its most famous dialogue.

It’s a damn good trailer but, aside from showing us a little more background into the plot of the movie, I’m not sure what it actually accomplishes. The people who are going to see this movie have already scheduled May 22nd to see it. The people who aren’t interested are not likely to be drawn in by talk of ancient cultures and undead guardians. I’m not saying the spot doesn’t work – far from it – just that it isn’t going to change anyone’s mind. Perhaps that’s why it’s being released so close to the movie’s release, when minds have already been made up.

Click over to the official site to watch it in high-quality.