Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Released: May 1984

Run-Time: 118 Minutes

Rating: PG

Cast:

Harrison Ford: Indiana Jones
Kate Capshaw: Willie Scott
Ke Huy Quan: Short Round
Amrish Puri: Mola Ram
Roshan Seth: Chattar Lal

In 1981, audiences flocked to a new action-adventure movie: Raiders of the Lost Ark.  The film introduced us to a brand new hero, Indiana Jones.  While Tom Selleck was strongly considered for the role, contract obligations forced him to drop out, and Harrison Ford from Star Wars was brought in.  Now, when anybody hears the name Indiana Jones, it’s synonymous with Harrison Ford.  It’s rather hard to see anybody else play the character at this point.  Raiders of the Lost Ark was a phenomenal success with an amazing cast that featured Paul Freeman, Karen Allen, and John Rhys-Davies.  It was such a success that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas began work on a follow-up adventure, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Opening in 1935 at a nightclub in Shanghai, we are first introduced to the singer, Willie Scott(Kate Capshaw).  After a dazzling opening number, Dr. Jones shows up to exchange the remains of an ancient Chinese emperor for a particular diamond.  Double-crossed and poisoned, Jones fights through a Chinese gang and jumps out the window with Willie in tow.  Waiting in a car below is Indy’s sidekick, Short Round(Ke Huy Quan).  They attempt to outrun the gangsters and escape in a cargo plane full of live poultry.  On their way across Asia, the two pilots who work for the gangsters dump the fuel and jump out of the plane.  Jones and company use an inflatable life-boat to escape only to end up in India a short while later.  Greeted by a mysterious shaman, they are taken to a remote village that looks like it has seen better days.  They learn that a sacred stone has been stolen along with the village’s children, so the elders ask Dr. Jones and his friends to help.  The first thing that one would notice about this entry, is that Temple of Doom takes place in 1935.  Raiders took place in 1936.  So the follow-up movie to one of the greatest adventure movies ever is a prequel?  Okay, I can go with that.  After all, Indiana Jones has had plenty of adventures in his life, so why not?

While Raiders was somewhat serious, it was very playful and had a grand sense of adventure throughout the entire film.  Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom retains these qualities, but it clearly has a different kind of tone throughout the picture.  It’s darker and it deals with some fairly disturbing topics, namely child slavery and human sacrifice.  The film was criticized mainly because of the level of violence in the movie.  Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom may be the most violent of the Indiana Jones pictures.  It certainly is bloody.  Watching somebody get their heart ripped out is something you don’t really expect in a PG film.  In fact, this movie is the reason why the PG-13 rating exists.  Steven Spielberg felt that the PG rating was too broad.  The level of violence in the film and the dark tone surprised and put off a lot of people.  They were expecting another grand adventure, but what they got instead was a borderline horror movie.  With that out of the way, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom still retained a good chunk of what made Raiders of the Lost Ark so memorable in the first place.  It’s got some very memorable characters.  I don’t care what anyone says, I liked Short Round.  He’s a better sidekick than Jar Jar Binks.  Roshan Seth does a fine job as the Prime Minister, but one of the real stars of the show is Amrish Puri.  This guy is terrifying as Mola Ram.  Mola Ram is probably one of the most evil characters that Indiana Jones has come across.  Unfortunately, one of the weak links in this movie is Willie Scott, played by Kate Capshaw.  I’m not faulting Kate for her performance of the character.  I’m faulting the writing that made the character an irritating shrew.  Constantly whining and screaming, she pissed me off a number of times.  Funnily enough, Dr. Jones makes note of her constant noise.  That’s pretty funny.

This is an Indiana Jones film, so there has to be action.  The action scenes in this movie are fantastic.  From the brawl in a nightclub that opens the film to the thrilling mine car chase to the bridge sequence, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom delivers on the action that helped define the character.  While this is a very dark film, it still has a sense of humor.  The film does get disgusting at times.  The dinner sequence is just revolting and has no place in an Indiana Jones movie.  There’s also a scene that deals with bugs, lots of bugs.  That was creepy.  If you can get past some of the main issues dealing with the story and the tone of the movie, there’s still a lot of fun to be had in this movie.  It is Indiana Jones.  While it is a dark film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom has some pretty iconic moments.  That whole mine car chase sequence that mentioned, was actually supposed to be in the previous film, but they didn’t have time to film it.  Indiana Jones facing off against the giant guard is probably one of the best fight scenes in the series.  The bridge sequence is nothing short of brilliant.  When you see that thing collapse, that was done in one take with multiple angles.  It was quite an achievement.

Growing up, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was actually my favorite Indy film, even though it was clearly inferior to the previous picture.  I loved it because it was action-packed and it was fairly gory.  I’m a bit of a gore-hound so stuff like that doesn’t really bother me, even though I can see why some people were turned off by it.  But I think the violence actually added to the peril that Jones was in, and that made it even more intense.  When it comes down to it, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is not the worst movie or worst follow-up ever.  I’ve seen much worse.  But in the Indiana Jones series, it’s by far the weakest link, because it’s such a huge departure from the light-hearted and adventurous tone of the first film.  Some of the grotesque stuff like the dinner sequence really didn’t need to be put in there, and people in India were actually offended by how they were portrayed in this film.  Here’s an interesting tidbit: the government in India actually wanted Spielberg to change certain aspects of the movie, because they deemed those parts offensive.  So, instead of filming in India like Spielberg wanted to, he shot the film in Sri Lanka.  John Williams delivers on the music as it’s thrilling and spooky at the same time, but it still has that feeling of adventure that defines the Indiana Jones films.  Even at its worst, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is still a hell of a lot of fun.  I’m giving this one an 8/10.  Some of the glaring issues and departure in tone bring it down a bit.

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