Fantastically choreographed action sequences and another comely companion for Indy (Capshaw) and gloriously overdone visual devices make up for the shameless lack of plot.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:58
Fresh:49
Rotten:9
Average Rating:7.2/10
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: Filmmaker Steven Spielberg returns as director for this rip-roaring prequel to 1981's smash hit RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Here dashing, whip-wielding archaeologist-adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison... Filmmaker Steven Spielberg returns as director for this rip-roaring prequel to 1981's smash hit RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Here dashing, whip-wielding archaeologist-adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is joined by comely chanteuse Willie (Kate Capshaw) and a 12-year-old sidekick named Short Round (Ke Huy Quan). Together they search for a mystical stone stolen from an Indian community and stumble upon a dangerous Thuggee cult. Exotic locales, wild chases, death-defying cliffhangers, last-minute rescues, screaming damsels, and tribal sacrifices are the order of the day as the threesome attempt to acquire the stolen stone. A few scenes originally planned for RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK showed up in INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM--most notably the mine chase sequence, which was part of the 80 percent of TEMPLE OF DOOM shot on a soundstage. After the film's release, the MPAA's Classification & Ratings Board created a new rating--PG-13. Spielberg cast actress Kate Capshaw, who would later become his real-life wife, for the film. [More]
Starring: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri
Starring: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri, Roshan Seth, Philip Stone
Director: Steven Spielberg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter: Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz
Story: George Lucas
Producer: Robert Watts
Composer: John Williams
Reviews for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Part of the trouble is that anything clearly does go, including the slender hold on credibility that Raiders managed to maintain.
There's plenty of rip-roaring action to distract us from the more unpalatable elements.
The sustained furore of humour, visual panache and headlong momentum makes for dazzling cinema. All of which makes it possibly Spielberg's most underrated film.
[T]he best of the Indiana Jones movies...it's insanely wonderful, in every sense of those words.
It lacks the sense of detail that made Raiders such a treat. It isn't very clever, very funny or very compelling.
The reality is that this is the film that comes closest to reflecting the racism, sexism and jingoism that fuelled most of the serials that originally sparked Spielberg and George Lucas's impressionable young imaginations.
Where the brilliant "Raiders" was an adventure film aimed at the child at heart, "Temple of Doom" is really designed for the kiddie market itself.
If it was a sign of the times for Indiana Jones to take on more of a comic-book aspect, the film's accomodation of darker themes and explicit imagery came as something of a shock to many.
...makes you wonder if Spielberg and series producer George Lucas might have been going through some sort of drug phase.
While The Temple of Doom is a bit gloomy, puts children in danger, and confines its action primarily to one spot, it's still quite entertaining.
A breakneck adventure that moves at twice the pace of the original but has only half the creative strength.
Pic comes on like a sledgehammer, and there's even a taste of vulgarity and senseless excess not apparent in Raiders.
The film betrays no human impulse higher than that of a ten-year-old boy trying to gross out his baby sister by dangling a dead worm in her face.
Though not as thrilling as Raiders of the Lost Ark, the second chapter still has merits, particularly its fast pacing, spectacular opening scene, and visual effects, which won the Oscars in 1984.
Latest News for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
July 28, 2008:
Lucas Considers a Fifth Indiana Jones ![]()
George Lucas is bringing Clone Wars to a theater near you, getting down to work on the Tuskegee Airmen-inspired Red Tails, and -- oh yeah -- contemplating a fifth Indiana Jones... More...
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Everyone has their favorite Indiana Jones movie -- and their own thoughts on if Raiders of the Ark is better than Last Crusade. (Sorry, Temple of Doom -- there's no contest). ... More...
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