Rent Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz (screenplay by), George Lucas (story by)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan
Rated: PG [PG-13]
Watch the trailer
Plot
In 1935, Indiana Jones is tasked by Indian villagers with reclaiming a sacred stone stolen from them by a secret cult.
Verdict
It's not a bad adventure, but you could also watch Raiders of the Lost Ark or the Last Crusade instead. While it looks better in retrospective after Crystal Skull and the Dial of Destiny, it's a movie that trades story for action and comedy. Even the dramatic moments are always underscored with comic relief that dispels the tension. This tries too hard to top Raiders and instead stretches credibility without providing an artifact to chase and in turn ground the movie.
It depends.
Review
Free wheeling Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) makes a deal for a diamond. Guns, poison, and girls are just part of the day in the life of an archaeologist. Indiana escapes with his sidekick Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) and singer Willie (Kate Capshaw). Unfortunately their escape plane is owned by the club boss that poisoned him. The pilots jump out with the only parachutes, forcing Indiana and his crew to attempt an escape on an inflatable raft which conveniently lands on snowy mountains as they ride the raft to nearby jungle. It's almost too much. Indiana has always been lucky, but this is already far beyond the previous movie.
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| Harrison Ford plays Indiana Jones |
Willie is comic relief, completely out of sorts in the jungle while Indiana and Short Round are content to play cards unphased by animals in the jungle. They end up in India where Indiana is tasked with finding a village's sacred stone. The trio heads to the nearby palace where Willie and Short Round find the local cuisine unappealing, while Indiana attempts to gain information. The best of the Indiana Jones movies balance the action and the puzzle solving. With this movie Indy doesn't need a map or his instincts. It doesn't help that this movie takes place in one setting. Part of what makes the franchise fun is following clues around the globe.
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| Ke Huy Quan, Kate Capshaw, Harrison Ford play Short Round, Willie, Indiana |
There's plenty of tension between Indiana and Willie. They have a confrontation and he leaves, each expecting the other to relent and come back. When he returns to her room she assumes it's for her, but he's concerned there's an assassin. It's a comedic scene due to the lack of communication. The problem is that Willie is always a comedic contrast in every scene which makes scenes featuring her less dramatic, stealing every bit of tension. All of that comedy is concentrated in the beginning of the movie.
The most unforgettable scene may be the sacrificial ceremony where a priest removes a man's heart. It's unsettling, setting up tension when we see the priest in the same room again. I do doubt that a person would live after their heart is removed as depicted.
The first movie had the Ark and the third the Holy Grail to help set those movies in reality. This doesn't have anything similar to ground it. We're not chasing an object, we're following the action. I'd guess part of it is hinting that Indiana is always on some kind of adventure, and it's not always a treasure hunt. In trying to be a bigger and better sequel this focuses on action and comedy. The second half is all action that veers towards the improbable. It's fun enough, but once the action starts it never slows down enough to provide fun moments of discovery. It's an adequate sequel, but there's almost no way to match an absolute classic Raiders of the Lost Ark, and it was followed by The Last Crusade that corrected the mistakes of this movie.
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