Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

For George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, this film was certainly a risky endeavor. Not wanting to repeat the formula of the original by making it a prequel, replacing the Nazis with a Thuggee cult, and casting Kate Capshaw as the love interest this time instead of Karen Allen were all bold choices. Both men were going through divorces at the time, which clearly contributed to this sequel’s darker elements. Lucas’s ideas for the story included a religious cult that was devoted to black magic, child slavery, and ritualistic human sacrifice. Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote the screenplay for Raiders, refused to be associated with this project, and was replaced by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, who had both worked with Lucas on his film American Graffiti. All things considered, it’s amazing that the result is so entertaining and thrilling, perhaps more than it should be.

Yes, this Indiana Jones adventure is certainly different, but is that such a bad thing? From the start, Indy (Harrison Ford, reprising his role) escapes from a Chinese nightclub with songbird Willie Scott (Capshaw), and his faithful sidekick Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) in a thrilling chase scene. Their hijacked plane crashes down in India, where they learn from the natives that a sacred stone has been stolen from their shrine, and the children have been taken from their village. Dr. Jones is initially invested in the treasure hunt for “fortune and glory”, but the more he learns about the evil Thuggee cult, the more he wants to help save the children as well.

Their adventure is filled with many wonderful scenes, such as the banquet hosted by the young Maharaja, where bugs and chilled monkey brains are served as main courses. Unfortunately, the chemistry between these two characters is missing, primarily because she lacks the sparks that Allen had with him. In fact, Capshaw’s character here is largely reduced to screaming hysterically for most of the runtime (and she does that a bit too much). Fortunately, she does provide us with some great laughs during the funny and inventive following sequence, where she is attempting to free Indy and Short Round from a spike trap.

Then we get to the darkest, most controversial section of Temple of Doom, where the trio discovers the cult. They watch as a villain rips a beating heart from a man’s chest before he is lowered into a flaming pit. Children are shown in captivity, being driven by muscle-bound slavedrivers. Naturally, our heroes try to save the day…but not before they get mixed up in all of these proceedings, and things go horribly. Still, a thrilling minecart chase (originally written for Raiders) ensues as they flee the Temple, and during a fight on a rope bridge, there is a clever nod to the sword trick in the first film. Dr. Jones is as inventive as ever when the odds are stacked against him, and when he faces his foul foe in the climax. John Williams’ score is once again superb, adding new, more ominous themes for the Temple. This particular adventure is mostly confined to one location, which works in its favor.

At the very least, it is refreshing not to retread familiar territory. Yes, this film may be significantly darker, and Kate Capshaw is an incredibly weak, annoying heroine. Yet in spite of these issues, it is thrilling, fun, and entertaining. It cannot be expected to be a carbon copy of Raiders, but then again, Lucas did not want it to be. I would say that he succeeded in making the movie he wanted.

Rated PG

1 hour, 58 minutes