As promised, the trailer for Crystal Skull is now online. You can see it at the official website, or I imagine it’ll be all over the Interwebs by afternoon (if it’s not already).

I’ve watched it three times already and, as trailers go, it’s a good one. Not surprisingly, it plays very heavily on audience nostalgia, easing us into the proper mindset with scenes from Raiders, Temple of Doom, and Last Crusade before a classic “intro” shot involving the hat, the music, and a familiar silhouette. What follows is non-stop action with a few humorous one-liners and very little clue for the non-obsessed as to what’s going on. The trailer does confirm that there is a big set-piece inside The Warehouse, the “TOP SECRET DO NOT OPEN!” crate does not contain the Ark (if you freeze-frame at the right moment, you can see that it’s filled with files), and there is, as much as I hate to say it, a Roswell connection.
That said, there is no sign (in this trailer at least) of Greys or flying saucers, and there is plenty of whip-cracking, truck-smashing, bone-crunching punches, ancient jungle temples, and naked tribesmen. It feels, in short, very much like one of the classic Indiana Jones flicks. And there are even a couple of gags relating to Indy’s advancing age, so they’re not trying to pretend the years haven’t taken their toll on him. (It’s not an age joke, but I really like the exchange right at the end of the trailer between Indy and Indy, Jr.: “You a teacher?” “Part-time…” There are echoes there of exchanges between Indy and his dad…)

Maybe it’s just a Pavlovian reaction, but when I saw the fedora lying in the dirt and heard the “Raiders March” begin, I broke into a big grin. I’m still a bit wary — I keep thinking of how awesome a trailer for a certain other revisit to my childhood was compared to the finished product — but I’m definitely excited for Memorial Day weekend now…