 |
| Lucasfilm, 1984 |
One morning of spring break, over ten years ago, I woke up to my first week day off and decided to turn on my TV to see if there was anything on cable. I turned to the USA channel on 3, and saw that The Mummy Returns was just about to end. After watching through the final battle and finale, I was about to change the channel after being initially disturbed with what I saw but another movie began shortly after fast scrolling credits. It looked like a musical sequence was about to start when the main title appeared and it was revealed that I was about to watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, having watched Raiders of the Lost Ark, I decided to go ahead and watch it. After finishing the film I also had even more disturbing thoughts but had a really fun time. To this day, I still think that Temple of Doom is the darkest Indiana Jones film, but dials up the adventure and over the top elements all the way up and still has really good moments.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise, and this one has an interesting reception, most fans love this film but some find it to be the least favorite of the trilogy (Before Crystal Skull) as it has some of the most disturbing scenes in cinema and was one of two films, the other being Gremlins, to convince the MPAA to develop the rating of PG-13. Joining Indy, reprised by Harrison Ford, in the second film is his little sidekick, Short Round, played by Jonathan Ke Quan (mainly known for this and Data in The Goonies), and Willie Scott, played by Kate Capshaw (Steven Spielberg’s wife). This film is actually somewhat, a prequel as it takes place in year 1935, while Raiders took place in 1936. Even though it’s a really dark film, it still has those great sequences you find in this franchise. The characters in this film are mostly good but there are some that range from somewhat annoying to incredibly annoying. It’s pretty clear that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas still are committed to paying tribute to adventure serials and it still pays off in this second film.
For those that haven’t seen it, here’s a brief rundown. Indy, Short Round, and Willie Scott are fleeing from Shanghai and they end up crashing down somewhere in India. There they come across a local poor village and learn that it is suffering from some sort of evil curse and that the villages children have been taken by a cult that has also taken their sacred stone that “protects,” the village. After being somewhat convinced, Indy decides to take the trio to Pankot Palace and investigate these disturbing claims when they stumble upon an underground temple of the evil Thuggee cult, lead by the evil Mola Ram. Indy discovers that they are sacrificing innocent people to their demon god, that they stole the stone from the village because it is one of the five sacred Sankara Stones that can potentially threaten the world with their powers, and that the village children have been enslaved and are forced by the Thuggee cult to try and dig up the other two Sankara Stones. Indy and the gang are caught up in this cult, to the point where Indy becomes evil and Willie is almost sacrificed, but later escape and fight back against the evil cult to free the village children, recover the villager’s Sankara Stone, and escape from the titular Temple of Doom.
Like I said before, Temple of Doom does have really dark moments like the infamous Thuggee ceremony scene where the crazy cult leader, Mola Ram, rips the heart from a sacrificial civilian and lowers him into pit of lava, the same thing almost happens to Willie later on. The other dark moments include scenes where the village children are tortured by the thuggee cult, and when Indy is brainwashed to be part of the cult for a short time. Even then, Temple of Doom has everything that an Indiana Jones film should have; adventure sequences like the iconic mine cart chase, over-the-top moments like a dinner scene that stereotypes India but still is funny to watch, and overall fun to watch moments.
The characters in Temple of Doom are memorable, but some are memorable for being annoying. I’d say that the most annoying character is Willie as she screams so much in the film and has dialogue that can be grating to listen to, she’s my least favorite Indy girl in the series. 
Short Round is somewhat annoying as a lot of child characters back in the 80’s were mostly annoying, but honestly, I like seeing him and Indy interact with each other, a partnership/friendship if you will. He has some funny lines like, “Hey Dr. Jones, no time for love. We have company.”
Mola Ram is a good villain, he’s like a villain in a cartoon and has his moments like when he rips out a person’s heart and has Indy and Short Round tortured into submission. Amrish Puri was clearly the best choice for Mola Ram. The minor characters in this film are a little too brief in the film, but they do their job and there is not much more to say about them.
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ collaboration once again payed off as this film an exaggerated adventure film that ups the stakes and make it feel like a B-movie with a very high production budget. John Williams score is once again great as he pumps out more memorable scores like the Slave Children’s Crusade, Slalom on Mt. Humol, Short Round’s Theme, and The Mine Cart Chase, with my favorite being Slave Children’s Crusade. The production design in the film is still on point and the scenes in the actual temple highlight the best of the design. Once again, the Visual Effects are great, the best visual sequence in the film has to be the Mine Cart Chase. Watching it today, it is still one of the most visually impressive effects sequence that was shot in the film (below is the sequence).
I’ve listed some problems with the characters, but my main problem with the film was that it was too dark and was somewhat less exciting than Raiders. The dialogue in the film can be cringeworthy, most of it comes from Willie and Short Round and it also has ridiculous scenes such as the evil plot for the Thuggee to rule the world through these magic rocks and when they brainwash Indy, I felt that part in particular was unnecessary. Also, I feel that Harrison Ford sounded a little underwhelmed in most of this second film, I know that he sounds like that a lot in other films, but it’s the tone of his voice that was noticeable, unlike Raiders and Last Crusade. Everything problem-wise would be greatly improved by Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade in the future.
Even with the problems, I still enjoy this film a lot. Temple of Doom is a pure Indiana Jones adventure and it still has it’s magic that suck me in to these films. There still are great moments of fun and it’s a roller coaster from start to finish. It’s my third favorite Indiana Jones film and is still rewatchable to some extent.
