There is no doubt that 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' is the weak link of the famous trilogy (now a quadrology), but overall it is still more interesting than the average adventure movie. There are several films in this genre that are much worse than 'Temple of Doom.'
The movie starts unexpectedly, with a musical. But soon thereafter begins a thrilling fight scene and car chase, and hardly lets up from there. While there are points in the movie that are outright disgusting and utterly ridiculous, you have to realize that if 'Temple of Doom' had not had these elements, it wouldn't have made 'The Last Crusade,' an amazing movie, fresh. Had 'Temple' followed the same formula as 'Raiders,' 'Crusade' wouldn't have been as enjoyable.
Complaints about Indy's love interest and sidekick seem to be overexaggerated sometimes. Yes, Kate Capshaw's character may scream a bit too often, but she was a different sort of love interest than the tomboyish, tough Marion Ravenwood. Had Capshaw's character been similar to Karen Allen's, then the complaint would have been that Indy's women were becoming too generic. Plus, the whole "he'll be back in five minutes scene" is very funny and well-done. Then you've got Short Round, who some complain to have been far too annoying (see Jeff Vice in his review of 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.') Yes, when Shorty goes Jackie Chan on the Thuggee members, you've got to shake you're head at that. But you've got to enjoy seeing basically the same character that pops up in another one of Spielberg's works, 'The Goonies,' always giving Indy a hard time. When Lucas lets the audience see Dr. Jones from Shorty's perspective, it serves to make the archaeologist more of a hero to depend on.
So, 'Temple' is the weak link, what with ripping out of hearts and voodoo dolls, there are the comic moments (Indy not having his gun vs. the swordfighters) that don't quite make up for the overwhelming darker moments, but considering that storywriter George Lucas had been going through a divorce at a time that he wrote it, that's understandable. Overall, there's still a lot to like about the middle part of this trilogy.
The movie starts unexpectedly, with a musical. But soon thereafter begins a thrilling fight scene and car chase, and hardly lets up from there. While there are points in the movie that are outright disgusting and utterly ridiculous, you have to realize that if 'Temple of Doom' had not had these elements, it wouldn't have made 'The Last Crusade,' an amazing movie, fresh. Had 'Temple' followed the same formula as 'Raiders,' 'Crusade' wouldn't have been as enjoyable.
Complaints about Indy's love interest and sidekick seem to be overexaggerated sometimes. Yes, Kate Capshaw's character may scream a bit too often, but she was a different sort of love interest than the tomboyish, tough Marion Ravenwood. Had Capshaw's character been similar to Karen Allen's, then the complaint would have been that Indy's women were becoming too generic. Plus, the whole "he'll be back in five minutes scene" is very funny and well-done. Then you've got Short Round, who some complain to have been far too annoying (see Jeff Vice in his review of 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.') Yes, when Shorty goes Jackie Chan on the Thuggee members, you've got to shake you're head at that. But you've got to enjoy seeing basically the same character that pops up in another one of Spielberg's works, 'The Goonies,' always giving Indy a hard time. When Lucas lets the audience see Dr. Jones from Shorty's perspective, it serves to make the archaeologist more of a hero to depend on.
So, 'Temple' is the weak link, what with ripping out of hearts and voodoo dolls, there are the comic moments (Indy not having his gun vs. the swordfighters) that don't quite make up for the overwhelming darker moments, but considering that storywriter George Lucas had been going through a divorce at a time that he wrote it, that's understandable. Overall, there's still a lot to like about the middle part of this trilogy.