Entry 2: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Indy Timeline:  1935

Released: 1984

Temple of Doom seeks to continue the rollercoaster adventures of Indiana Jones, but the ride is not as smooth as Raiders had been. 

A prequel set one year prior to “Raiders”, the film starts out strong with a tip of the cap to James Bond.  Indy enters a swanky night club in downtown Shanghai, wearing a white suit jacket with a red rose following a surprisingly good dance number featuring Kate Capshaw singing in Mandarin.  In following with the Raiders format, we join him at the tale end of his last adventure- the quest for the remains of the Manchu Chieftain Nurhaci. 

On the whole, the opening sequence is pretty great- lots of action and excitement.  Indy is a rather sketchy character, haggling with an underworld crime boss for a diamond in exchange for the remains of the Chieftain.  In short order, he impales a man with a flaming skewer and punches an unsuspecting waitress squarely in the face.  There is some great dialogue here too, including the classic “for the POISON you just drank!” line. 

This culminates in an escape with Indy’s surprise sidekick, the 11 year old “Short Round” played by Jonathan Ke Quan.  There has been a great deal of antipathy directed at this character over the years, but I have to admit that he grew on me during this recent viewing.  His lines can often be funny- “No time for LOVE” and “Call him Dr. Jones, DOLL!” and his performance isn’t so bad on the whole. 

The other “sidekick” in the film is Willy Scott (Kate Capshaw).  This character is annoying from start to finish as the prissy, spoiled, screaming love interest.  The antithesis of Marion from Raiders, Willy is a stereotypical materialistic blond singer. 

Following this unlikely trio’s escape from Shanghai, the group ends up in their second and final destination- somewhere in India (filmed in Sri Lanka).  I felt that this was a misstep with the film.  Raiders took us to a number of different countries and exotic locations, but Temple only takes us to two- a brief stop in China and a long haul in India. 

The arrival in India includes a silly, over the top sequence in which Indy and friends fall from an airplane and off of a series of impossibly high cliffs in a life raft.  This sequence surpasses any of the crazy stunts from Raiders in terms sheer ridiculousness, but whatever, move on. 

Following this campy sequence, the movie abruptly turns much darker.  A starving village filled with emaciated people claim that misfortune has befallen them as a result of a sacred rock being stolen from their village.  Shortly after this, a half-dead starving boy collapses into Indy’s arms warning him of the rise of an evil cult. 

And so, the REAL adventure begins as Indy begins his crusade to investigate the claims made by the villagers.  The journey to Pankot Palace is a mix of the good (Indy riding an elephant is a classic image), the bad (goofy sequence with Willy screaming at wild animals), and the ugly (another dark turn when Indy comes across a statue drenched in blood and littered with the severed fingers and thumbs). 

Once at Pankot, things get silly again with the “gross-out” meal sequence featuring eyeball stew and chilled monkey brains dessert.  The sexual banter between Indy and Willy in the following scene is probably the high-point of dialogue in the film – funny and entertaining.  This is followed by the best “adventure” sequence in the form of the spike room trap.  This is in the spirit of countless classic serials and is a lot of fun. 

Then Indy and friends go to hell.  They find themselves deep in the heart of the temple of the evil Thuggee cult.  They are then exposed to human sacrifice (the infamous heart ripping out, captive burned alive sequence), torture, and child slavery!  After more obnoxious screaming from Willy, the protagonists are captured and warned against drinking cursed blood by some emaciated child slaves.  Shortly after this, both Indy and Short Round are whipped, tortured, and beaten (between lashes, Indy screams to Short Round’s torturers “LEAVE HIM ALONE, YOU BASTARDS!”) before he is forced to drink blood from the skull of a half-rotten corpse.  What?  What is this movie?  A couple of scenes ago we were chuckling over the goofy monkey brains and now this? 

One thing is certain- the main villain in the film is scary.  Amrish Puri, a longtime Bollywood film star, plays the evil leader of the Thuggee Cult, Mola Ram.  While the character is over-the-top evil, Puri nails the performance.  He manages to keep Mola Ram from being just a cartoon villain and makes him terrifying instead. 

To wrap up, Temple of Doom is an uneven ride in the end.  A lot of what made Raiders great is still here- the gritty 80’s pre-CGI filmstock, a young and great looking Harrison Ford, fast paced editing, and the iconic shots (Indy on elephant, Indy with machete, Indy on rickety bridge, etc.)  The action sequences at the end of the movie – the minecar chase and especially the bridge sequence - are outstanding!  However, Temple is all over the place emotionally- jumping back and forth between campy silly moments and intensely dark, gory and violent moments.  The unlikely trio of Short Round, Willy, and Indy is not such a bad one, but I can’t say I left the picture wanting to see them all teamed up again.  Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a good, but not great follow up to a much better adventure film in Raiders. 

Indy Rating: 7/10