The Indy 4 Trailer: The Harder Questions - One Week Later by Tom Burns
Last weekend, if you noticed anyone walking out of the theater after just a few minutes of The Spiderwick Chronicles, it probably wasn't because they were afraid of the movie's menagerie of goblins and fairies or because their daily cute quota was overloaded by the presence of two Freddie Highmores on screen at the same time. (Like most British confections, he's just a bit sweeter than what we're used to in the States.) If you did see any early theatre bolters, it was probably because they snuck in to see the first teaser trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the most anticipated Lucasfilm preview release since 1999 when we bought tickets to go see Wing Commander - stupid, stupid Wing Commander - to see the inaugural coming attraction for Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Fans have been waiting for new Indy adventures since 1989, so when the trailer debuted in theatres, online, and on ABC's Good Morning America on Valentine's Day, it's safe to say that expectations were HIGH.
Now that we've seen the trailer - and by "seen," we mean, "watched incessantly until our Quicktime begged for mercy" - we have to ask ourselves some hard questions. For example: Did it rock hardcore? Or did it merely rock? Was anyone able to piece together the storyline (or what the heck the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is) from the trailer alone? How much does Harrison Ford's age really play a factor in Indy's new chapter? Is this really a new Indy for the 1950s or does it feel like classic Indiana Jones? What elements don't fit with the tone of the franchise? These are some of the harder questions we've pondered since the trailer's debut (though, we'll admit, we've also spent way too much time on the softer questions, like "What's the deal with Ray Winstone's neckerchief?" and "Who's cooler - Cate Blanchett or Karen Allen?").
To be honest, that little one minute and 52 second slice of movie-nerd heaven filled our hearts with lots of highs and lows, so we thought that the best way to discuss our feelings about the teaser trailer was with some good, old-fashioned Deadbolt-style coming attraction inspection, speculation and deeper investigation.
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL TRAILER:
INSPECTION - THE GOOD:
Now that we've had time to digest the new preview, let's get this out of the way first - Harrison... you look good, man. We were a little worried. You're old enough to be an AARP Gold Star member and those early set pics of you riding on the back of Shia's motorcycle weren't particularly flattering. But, even the most jaded Lucas hater has to admit that, once he's back in his ripped shirt and fedora, Indy looks like his old bad-ass self. There's a lot of debate regarding the "Damn, I thought that was closer" gag in the trailer, but we'll come out and say - we liked it. Okay, fine, Indy's whip does oddly disappear into the hanging light (more on CGI-weirdness later), but it was a fun, clever way to introduce an Indy-esque stunt (any canvas green truck action makes us longingly think of Raiders), which shows us that Harrison Ford is doing a surprising amount of stunt work and that Indiana's age can be addressed in a way that doesn't complete emasculate our favorite adventuring archeologist.
The other thing we really liked was the fedora reveal - an Army car drives down a desert road, pulls into a hangar, a man is thrown out of the trunk, he stoops down to pick up his fedora as we see him in shadow and... it's Doctor Jones! All of the Jones films have had great opening reveals of Indy, so, while this moment works great in a trailer, it makes us wonder - is that the opening of the film? Does the film open with Indy being tossed out of a trunk of a car? Or is that the first reveal of the semi-retired Indy in his full fedora glory? It seems odd that such a protracted reveal would be created just for a trailer, so it almost HAS to be one of those two.
This leads us into one of our favorite things here at The Deadbolt...
STORY SPECULATION:
Okay, obviously, one of the highlights of the trailer is the big truck chase action scene in the warehouse - a location that's strongly hinted to be the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. We know Marion Ravenwood, possibly Abner Ravenwood, and the warehouse where the Ark is kept are in the movie, we know that (according to the trailer) Indy and Cate Blanchett's villainous Agent Spalko end up in the warehouse, and we know the movie is supposed to be about Crystal Skulls and not the Ark. So what gives? How is the warehouse - presumably Area 51 - introduced and how do they address the Ark issue?
Does the film open with Indy in trouble with the Army because he and his pal/competitor Mac (Ray Winstone) are trying to break into Area 51 to steal the Ark back? Or does the film open with Indy completely retired and the "out of the trunk" reveal is the first time we see him in his iconic hat? And when and why do they go to the warehouse? Are they looking for the Ark, stumble upon the mystery of the alien crystal skulls, and change their direction? Or does Indy go to the warehouse to obtain info about the crystal skulls (possibly to beat the Russians to it) and there's a quick gag where he passes past the Ark crate and goes, "Heyyy...."?
Now that we've seen the trailer - and by "seen," we mean, "watched incessantly until our Quicktime begged for mercy" - we have to ask ourselves some hard questions. For example: Did it rock hardcore? Or did it merely rock? Was anyone able to piece together the storyline (or what the heck the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is) from the trailer alone? How much does Harrison Ford's age really play a factor in Indy's new chapter? Is this really a new Indy for the 1950s or does it feel like classic Indiana Jones? What elements don't fit with the tone of the franchise? These are some of the harder questions we've pondered since the trailer's debut (though, we'll admit, we've also spent way too much time on the softer questions, like "What's the deal with Ray Winstone's neckerchief?" and "Who's cooler - Cate Blanchett or Karen Allen?").
