Preview: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

• Poster: B; C-

Review:

A throwback to the posters for the original films, the full shot of Indy standing in front of, surprise, a Crystal Skull was utterly predictable and hardly noteworthy.

The first poster harkened more to the glory days of the original. This second poster is dismal, boring and flat. The colors don't blend well with the foreground image of Indy, creating a notable and irritating disconenct between the fore and the background.

• Trailer: B-; B+; B

Review:

The use of music in the trailer is probably the most irritating. Instead of making the music sound as if it's from the film, they've made it sound like they just pulled the theme from other films, failed to remaster it, and stuck it in front of a haphazard collection of scenes from the film. The trailer isn't terribly entertaining and the only thing of merit is the VERY brief snippets of Cate Blanchett as the film's villain.

I had the benefit of seeing the second trailer on the big screen right before Iron Man last weekend. On the computer it seems less impressive, but it's certainly a more effective trailer than the first. The one in the theater even gave us a full throttle aural presentation of the Indiana Jones score which made it all the more exciting.

The third trailer uses mostly the same footage as the second and what it changes is largely cosmetic and somewhat silly. The only majorly noticable difference is the use of "Jones" being called out by various people from within the film. This doesn't make it a better preview and just seems a touch more distracting.

Oscar Prospects:

From the trailer, I would say there wouldn't be much of a chance, but even Spielberg's lackluster War of the Worlds picked up some techs. I would prediction nods in Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, possibly Art Direction, Editing and Visual Effects.

Release Date:

• May 22, 2008

Full Review Synopsis:

A colossal disappointment by any measure, this latest Indiana Jones film focuses in on the character weaknesses of its creators George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

• Full Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

-Wesley Lovell (February 16, 2008) Original

-Wesley Lovell (May 4, 2008) Buy the Poster Enabled

-Wesley Lovell (May 11, 2008) New Trailers

-Wesley Lovell (May 25, 2008) New Poster

-Wesley Lovell (July 13, 2008) Film Review Posted