Movie Notes: Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom

May 28th, 2008

= 4 stars

Starring Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Jonathan Ke Quan
Directed by Steven Spielberg

Synopsis

After eluding Shanghai gangsters, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), nightclub singer Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw), and Short Round (Jonathan Ke Quan) find themselves in India as prisoners of the mysterious Temple Of Doom.

The Good

• Several exciting set pieces: the initial night club tussle over some antidote and a lost diamond, one scary room with spiked ceilings and a bug-infested dark passageway, mine-cars speeding through subterranean tunnels, and a tense standoff on a rope-bridge with baddies on either side.
• Indy and the kid Short Round play well off each other.
• The series’ morality comes into play as all of the turmoil in the latter half of the film is a result of Indy greedily trying to steal the Sankara stones. Also, evil Thugees who enslave innocent children and perform human sacrifices must pay.
• The sense of humor I loved in Raiders is somewhat intact, namely Willie screaming at jungle creatures while Indy and Short Round ignore her, and a particularly disgusting dinner.

The Bad

• Willie Scott is rather one-dimensional and borderline sexist, as she mostly just complains and screams.
• The Sankara Stones aren’t as appealing a treasure as the Ark or the Holy Grail, and without a compelling quest, the adventure is reduced to mere survival.
• The middle parts are almost too dark, namely where Indy loses his mind after drinking blood, and the “manual heart extraction.” This may be why I find the film’s conclusion less uplifting than the other Indy films.

Conclusion

I don’t find Temple Of Doom as solidly entertaining as Raiders, but it still contains some impressive action pieces and holds my interest throughout. Harrison Ford is a huge reason for the film’s success, as the inimitable manly man tolerating all the nutty hits and misses Lucas and Spielberg can throw at him — Willie Scott included.

IMDB: Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom
Wikipedia: Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom
Rotten Tomatoes: Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom