Review of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) by Tyler R — 20 Sep 2012

I was only mildly impressed by my initial viewing of TEMPLE OF DOOM, but successive viewings have built up an appreciation for it. Placed aside the others in the Indiana Jones series, it is "the dark one", and even outside of the series, it is tremendously dark; dark as hell.

Prepare for plenty of horrific occult imagery, human sacrifice and children being brutally flogged. TEMPLE OF DOOM is sort of a cult classic within a popular franchise, possessing a faction of particularly loyal fans who favor it, largely for its distinctly dark aspects.

If that's your taste, then you'll probably love it. Even if you don't love horror, then the film is highly entertaining, regardless, assuming you can tolerate the horror. It remains a breakneck-paced action thriller with magnificent action-adventure set pieces, a couple of which stand out as great moments of the genre, including the compressing chamber filled with deadly spikes, a deliriously fun speeding mine car chase through lava-lined caverns, and the awesomely bad-ass "cutting the bridge" sequence.

The dark nature is the popular complaint for the film, but its great falter, in fact, is the character of Willie Scott, who is also, in my opinion, the worst element of the entire series (say what you will about aliens, but at least they didn't whine their way through their movie).

However, even the lowest points of the Indiana Jones series are relatively minor.