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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom so successfully had me at the edge of my seat that I felt like I needed an oxygen tank to keep breathing. It is the type of movie in which the hero races against time to get the antidote to the poison that he has just been slipped by a double-crossing mob boss, obtains the antidote after reducing a Hong Kong-based casino to chaos, makes a daring getaway in a fast-chase car escape, hops on an airplane, is betrayed by its pilots, nearly falls out of the plane in a fight, nearly flies the plane into a mountain, and leaps out of the escape hatch on an inflatable boat, only to wrestle with deadly rapids. All of this takes place in the first ten minutes, and if this opening paragraph seems like a run-on sentence, that’s probably because the movie does too. Temple of Doom is the further adventures of the whip-touting, fedora-wearing archeologist from Raiders of the Lost Ark (the title cards reveal that it is a prequel, but this is inconsequential to either storyline), and Harrison Ford returns in the title role—along with Steven Spielberg as the director and George Lucas as the writer/producer. Like that film, it devotes nearly every frame to eye-popping adventure sequences, with every plot element dedicated to shuffling us along to the next scene of intense action. Also like Raiders of the Lost Ark, it is an effective homage to older, B-grade adventures of serials and pulp magazines, though Temple of Doom is certainly a different kind of film: While Raiders owed more to the action of old westerns, superhero serials, and war pictures, this one plays more like a pulpish Tarzan film, in which our hero must break into a secret underground fortress, stop sacrificial rituals from deranged witch-doctors, and learn the ancient ways of sacred gods in order to complete his mission. Along for the ride this time are Willie (Kate Capshaw), a singer from the nightclub who Indy initially kidnaps for the antidote and then inadvertently has to take with him, and Short Round (Ke Huy Quan), a young Asian boy who talks like a grown-up and acts as Indy’s official sidekick. After surviving the rapids, the three wash up in a small village in India where the high priest (D.R. Nanayakkara) identifies them as the ones chosen by the gods to rescue their children from a secret occult that has them enslaved in their undergrounds mines. Indy isn’t interested in being a hero until he hears that the occultists have also stolen some ancient stones that grant the tribe prosperity and power. The occult, on the other hand, wants the stones to overthrow all other major religions and subsequently rule the world. Indy finally agrees to aid the village—Hindu curses be darned—for his own, less reverent agenda: “Fortune and glory.” What follows is, much as Raiders of the Lost Ark was, a very effective tribute to an older generation of filmmaking, plus an exciting adventure in its own right. Spielberg hits the ground running and never lets up; as a result, the action is plentiful. Our heroes almost get flattened in walls that close in on each other, barely escape being scarified to Hindu demons, and are inadvertently zombified and placed under demonic spells. All of these adventures are small in comparison to the final third act, which begins with a race down a mine shaft in a box car—one of the most exciting action sequences ever filmed—and ending with a showdown on a rickety old bridge that drops into a river filled with alligators. All of this is loads of fun, but through it all, I could not help but feel that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was a notch or two below its predecessor. The sense of adventure is here and an effective rhythm is found in the action sequences, but Temple of Doom still manages to fall into a few traps that Raiders managed to avoid. First of all, Raiders found a perfect balance between spectacle and storytelling. The plot was preposterous but well-told, successfully moving the film along from action scene to action scene. In turn, the action scenes were exciting, and they also developed the plotline. In Temple of Doom, the action decidedly takes precedence over the storyline. Though Indy searches for “fortune and glory,” the sacred Hindu stones are eventually underused and never really figure into the movie, except as an excuse to offer us some fun adventure sequences. Compare their limited involvement to the fantastic showdown in the first film involving the Ark of the Covenant, and you realize that the stones, and therefore the plot, are more or less a cop-out. There was also a strong emphasis on Indy’s humanity in the previous film. As he dodged bullets, leapt through booby traps, and ran for his life from gigantic, rolling boulders, he was terrified and just as shocked that he was surviving as we were. Here, Indy seems to take a much more confident, James Bond approach. He still gets nervous, but never at any point does he seem to believe that he is ever in any real danger. In the opening scenes when he finds his airplane is auto-piloting towards a mountain, he responds with wisecracks, and I have a feeling that the Indy in Raiders would have reacted with a stunned, speechless horror before figuring out what to do. As a result of this braver, funnier Indy, the character loses a lot of the charm that distinguishes him from more routine action heroes. The supporting cast is also a bit disappointing. On second thought, maybe it’s just their characters that are poorly developed. Kate Capshaw does not leave a memorable mark as Willie. Whereas Karen Allen in Raiders was a smart, resourceful woman, Willie is more of the traditional damsel in distress. This wouldn’t be a problem if the writers hadn’t substituted character development for constant nagging and screaming, but as the obligatory love interest, Willie quickly grows old. Curiously, the true hero of the film is Short Round, who is always there to offer help and wisdom to Indy when he needs it. Indy’s young friend is a fun character at first, but sadly, Spielberg gets a little carried away and tries to turn Short Round into a sort of an Elliott-like character from E.T.: The kid eventually shouts lines like, “You’re my best friend, Indy! I love you!”, and it leaves a bad taste in our mouths. Such sentiments worked for E.T., but they seem out of place here. So, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is not a great movie in comparison to Raiders of the Lost Ark. To be fair, few action-adventures are. However, on its own terms, it is still a lively movie, containing the same trend of amazing stunts, terrific action sequences, and witty dialogue that we have come to expect out of Indiana Jones. Besides that, it is impossible to discredit a movie that tries so hard to pay respect to classic B-thrillers that it goes out of its way to cast an actor as the occult leader who bares an uncanny resemblance to Boris Karloff. Though Temple of Doom doesn’t make you forget that magic of Raiders, its heart is in the right place, and we walk away having had a darn good time. Click
here to continue on to my review of Indiana Jones and
the Last Crusade. Cast: Paramount Pictures presents a Lucasfilm Ltd. release. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, from a story by George Lucas. Produced by Lucas. Rated PG-13 for intense action sequences, some violence, and a few innuendos. Running time: 118 minutes. Original United States theatrical release date: May 23, 1984. Questions? Comments? E-mail me: danel_the_tinman@hotmail.com |
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