INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE
OF DOOM
Review By David Wilcock (C)1998
Running Time: 118 minutes (1 hour 58 minutes)
Starring Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw and Ke Huy Quan
Directed By Steven Spielberg
OSCAR(R) Nominations: Best Music, Visual Effects (Won)
Steven Spielbergs headache inducing, if not pariculary exciting,
second Indiana Jones adventure. A prequel to Raiders of the
Lost Ark (1981), this film sees intrepid archaeologist/adventurer
Indiana Jones (Ford) plunged into a dark world of child slaves,
thugees and dark rituals. It's up to Jones, and his child friend Short
Round (Quan) and singer Willie Scott (Capshaw), to save the
kids, and stop the thugees from finding two diamonds that could
give them a lot of power.
Temple of Doom starts well enough with a well directed
performance of 'Anything Goes', performed by Willie. We then
have one of the greatest opening sequences ever when Jones
bargains with two Chinese over a diamond. Naturally, the
bargaining goes wrong, and the sequence turns into a slapstick
routine with Jones trying to find the diamond which is being kicked
all around a restaurant. It's a very well directed scene, and features
even more chaos than Speilbergs own 1941 (1979) jitterbug
scene. After this, there's an exciting plane crash. But after the plane
crash, the film starts to go downhill when Indy is set on his quest.
The main problem with the film is that it tries to out do Raiders of
the Lost Ark on every level. The film features more 'gross out'
gags, more stunts, more explosions and more gory deaths, but
strangely it all seems 'dead.' It all seems to be in there just for the
hell of it. Unlike Raiders, where all the big chases and stunts were
exciting, Temple of Doom piles on so many deaths, explosions
etc. it just cancels itself out. The film is trying so hard to make the
audience excited, it just falls flat on it's face.
Also, the heroine in this picture is pathetic. She just shouts and
screams, and points out the obvious. She seems to just ask 'What
is it?' questions, so Indy can explain to her, but mainly to the
audience, what is going on in the film. From the start, Capshaw is
terrible, just shouting and screaming and being really annoying. If I
were Indy, I would of tried to dump her as quickly as possible.
Had the screenwriters wrote her part better, her whining and
screaming could of been funny. However, like everything else in
this film, she is hugely exgrarated, and almost seems pointless in
this film. The child sidekick, though, is nowhere near as annoying,
and is good fun. He has some good lines, and even gets the chance
to kick some thugee butt. Ford, as usual, is fun, although he was
better in Raiders, and even Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade (1989).
Spielberg's direction, however, is too frantic. The film belts along,
and never lets the audience catch up. He never gives the audience
a chance to enjoy a stunt, because the picture moves along too fast
to let the audience enjoy it. It's a shame, because there are some
good stunt scenes in there, including a amazing mine cart
sequence. It's just on the first viewing, the audience will never
catch up on them. Also, the script is weak. It's mainly just
references to the first film (even though this is a prequel) and the
dialogue between Indy and Willie is dud. The script only really
works with scenes between Indy and Shorty, but they work more
on the strength of the actors than the script. Also, the film is a bit
too violent for young kids, the target audience. If your child can
stand watching hearts ripped out and men crushed by rock
crushers, they may enjoy this film.
It's not all that bad, though. Some of the action scenes are good,
and the film has a great sense of humor. Some of the scenes made
me laugh out loud. But, overall, it just isn't much fun. It's too dark,
too eager to excite us, and Indy has hardly any character in this
film. Temple of Doom, then, is disappointing, and the weakest of
the Indiana Jones trilogy.
OVERALL RATING=3Dout of
REVIEW BY DAVID WILCOCK
DAVID WILCOCK
david.wilcock@btinternet.com
Visit the Wilcock Movie Page!
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Have I seen this movie: Yes
And what did I think: In 1984, three years after the classic Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Indiana Jones returned to the silver screen for a sequel. This time he winds up in Indiana with a lounge singer named Willy Scott and a Chinese kid called Short Round who he supposedly took under his wing. The results were good, but not as great as Raiders. I think Raiders had a better story, better acting and better cinematography. Temple of Doom gave us greater insight into the character of Indy, and had plenty of action scenes to keep us all thrilled. It also had one humorous scene too, which was the dinner scene. Poor Willy did all she could do from passing out from those exotic dishes. Willy wasn't as great a female lead as Marion was in Raiders of The Lost Ark. She was rather too ditzy for my taste. Short Round was kind of an annoyance too. Some of the scenes here looked a little too fake and ridiculous. One scene that comes to mind is when Mola Ram's hand goes into the guy to rip his heart out. First of all, it looked just so fake, and second... isn't it amazing how the guy kept living without a heart until he was lowered into the fire. This movie is the weakest of the trilogy, but still good. Just be sure to catch Raiders first.
I give Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom 4 out of 5 stars
Review written October 1, 1999
