The Canadian Cinephile’s Reviews and News

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is actually a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Released in May of 1984, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was based on an original story by George Lucas and once again featured Steven Spielberg in the director’s chair. The sequel is much darker than Raiders of the Lost Ark, due to Lucas’ idea to make the film a sort of adventure/horror film. Lucas made the film a prequel as he didn’t want to repeat the idea of the Nazis as villains and had several ideas concerning a haunted castle and ancient Chinese classical character the Monkey King. In the end, however, Lucas wound up creating the Sankara Stones for the tale.

William Hyuck and Gloria Katz were brought on to help write the script due to their knowledge of Indian culture. The script was made darker and more personal, with more gruesome scenes included. Some of the rejected sequences from Raiders of the Lost Ark were put to use in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, including the mine cart chase and the fall out of the plane on to the raft. Spielberg and Lucas also wanted to continue the series’ now-famous usage of “creepy crawlers,” so they utilized several large bugs and worms for the film’s catacomb sequence. All of the bugs used in the film were harmless, but certainly were still creepy and crawly. Yuck!

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and some of the scenes in other PG-rated films like Gremlins caused uproar among the public because many people felt the scenes were too gruesome. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom had upset many parents who had taken their children to see a film that had recommended “parental guidance” only to come out of the theatre having seen a man pull out another man’s heart from his chest. With sequences like this in the Spielberg-directed Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and with similar sequences in the 1984 Spielberg-produced Gremlins, a light was shone on the fact that there was no middle ground between the PG-rating and the dreaded R-rating. The PG-13 rating was created and we can thank Spielberg for that.

Harrison Ford is back as Indiana Jones, only this time we find him a year before the events in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He’s in a Shanghai nightclub, dressed up like James Bond, trying to get his hands on a large diamond by dealing with a gangster. As with most things Jones, it all goes wrong and before we know it, a fight erupts and Jones is off and running with nightclub singer Willie (Kate Capshaw) in tow. An ally of Indy’s, Short Round (Ke Huy Quan), assists in the getaway and the trio attempt escape in a plane. The plane is, of course, not a good idea and an escape from the plane before it crashes into a mountain is in order. This leads to one fun ride after another before the trio finds themselves in a desolate village in India. The villagers there dispatch Jones to recuperate a sacred stone to restore peace to their village, according to a legend, and the hunt is on.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom also covers elements of child slavery, as the village’s children have all been taken captive to work in the mines at Pankot Palace. With a rather gruesome meal over and done with, Indy and his pals search Pankot Palace for any signs of the children or the stones and eventually find both, leading to several raucous adventures and thrilling sequences. The film is a non-stop rollercoaster ride with several “out of the frying pan, into the fire” sequences that are highlighted by some dark humour and some great cinematography.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is often considered the weakest member of the trilogy, which may be true, but it is still one hell of a fun movie. It is also a scary film, with lots of eerie segments involving human sacrifices and the aforementioned retrieval of one man’s heart directly through his chest. The film has a creepy villain, some brilliant chase sequences – especially the alarmingly fast and exciting mine cart chase – and some good visual effects. It is also important to note that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is not simply a sequel retread of the same stuff from the brilliant Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The two films are, in fact, very different and are, thus, very complementary to one another. Raiders of the Lost Ark serves as a sort of road film adventure, with lots of exotic locales and a Saturday afternoon serial inspiration guiding the way. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, mind you, belongs to the tradition of the great impenetrable fortress genre. With most of the action taking place in one location, this film features a series of bizarre traps and hideaways, usually found in other films of the James Bond genre buried beneath a volcano or under the sea. In the case of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, this peculiar fortress is beneath a rather normative looking palace, adding to the uncanny inscrutability.

Harrison Ford is great here, possibly at his best in the whole series as a single performance. His double takes and quick wit is often literally on fire, as he plays an exuberant yet frequently tired and flawed hero in the film. His Jones often finds himself in trouble, needing a rescue from Short Round or a hand from Willie, the nightclub singer. Ford’s performance matches the film perfectly, providing compelling escapism and nifty dark humour at all the right moments. Capshaw and Ke Huy Quan are great sidekicks and Amrish Puri is downright sinister as villain Mola Ram.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is an unremitting, bloodcurdling, spine-chilling, and ghastly action/adventure/horror/thriller with tons of fun and humour. Spielberg’s film is riveting, shadowy, and gripping in all the right places, making for the ideal film experience. The visual effects are impressive and the adventure is more contained, making for a claustrophobic and startling ride in many sequences. It’s worth seeing for the mine cart sequence alone, in which villains come from the side, top, bottom, and everywhere else. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom may be considered the weakest in the series, but it’s still a wonderful adventure film.

10/10

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