Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Entertainment Weekly’s article ( part of which is here) on the Indiana Jones movies said, “Relive Raiders.” I did, and I enjoyed it. It also said, “Stop Underrating the Sequels”:
Doom is one of cinema’s greatest sequels–and one of Spielberg’s most underrated efforts–precisely because it’s so black and daring.
Fair enough, I thought so I revisited Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.. I had only ever seen Doom once, in the theater 24 years ago. I didn’t like it then, but things change. Alas, I feel about the same as I did the first time I saw it; Doom is overlong and repetitive, plus Kate Capshaw is a shrew.
Karen Allen’s Marian was hardly portrayed as a strong woman in Raiders–yes, she owned her own bar and won a drinking contest, but she also trusted a monkey who betrayed her, failed to escape from the villain, and spent much of the film shouting for Indie to save her. Capshaw’s Willie Scott was even worse; hardly the characterization I’d hope for from a future husband. She was shrill, foolish, greedy for diamonds, and worried about breaking her nails. Some critics believe this role killed her career.
EW is right that the dark humor and daring child-labor plot are points in the film’s favor, as are its winks at the Bond films, given that Spielberg had initially envisioned this series along that line. What sinks the film are its tired stereotypes and poor filmmaking. There’s too much repetition, e.g., cutaway shot after shot of alligators chomping down bad guys at the end. Also, its timing is off. The underground mine ride toward the end goes on so long that I went through all the Kubler-Ross stages of grief:
1. Denial: this isn’t so bad; it’s kind of fun
2. Anger: why is this going on so long; why can’t it end?
3. Bargaining: maybe if I stare at the ceiling and yawn, it will end
4. Depression: nope, still there. I wonder if this was conceived from the get go to be a ride at Universal Studios?
5. Acceptance: oh, thank goodness, the scene is over. I’ll never have to watch it again.
In conclusion, Entertainment Weekly was wrong. This isn’t a strong sequel. For that, see The Bourne Supremacy, or The Godfather II, or Aliens. Or even The Empire Strikes Back. But you can skip this. Any fun, dark moments are completely overwhelmed by poor character, story and editing choices.
March 19th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
As much as I love #1 and #3 in the series I HATE #2. Part of my hatred stems from being forced to watch the film 13 times in school (in three different languages). Temple of Doom isn’t any better in Spanish or German than it is in English.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
All you need to know about “Doom”: “No time for love, Dr. Jones!”
March 27th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
WHA? 13 times? For school? Please explain. I didn’t like either time I watched it–more than that might put me over the edge.
March 27th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
It was 13 times divided between jr. high and high school. The breakdown was Spanish: 5 times (once per year). Then twice for German. The remainder of the times were in English usually if we had a substitute. The school was just your run of the mill public school.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Wow, that’s still crazy. Your school must’ve been trying to get a lot of mileage out of a limited media library, whose ingredients don’t sound discriminatingly chosen. And I guess that’s your average public school. Sigh.