Review of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) by Victor T — 21 Sep 2014

After the massive success of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Return of the Jedi" supposedly ended "Star Wars", audiences where dying for the next Indy adventure which would follow the "Empire Strikes Back" formula of being a darker tone and superior film than its predecessor but when the film finally arrived in 1984, it disappointed the fans and even Spielberg himself was not conformed with the final version of the film. But with time, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" has grown on some people and its reputation has gotten better.

In 1935, Dr Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr escapes from a Shanghai crime boss with his eleven year old sidekick "Short Round" and a nightclub singer Willie Scott but the crime boss tries to crash their plane in the Himalayas but the trio survives the attempt. On their quest to find a way to return to their home, they come upon desolate town in India where the villagers believe them to be sent by their god Shiva in order to recover their three sacred stones and to save the villagers children from some evil men that arrived to a near temple.

Despite the fact people love "Raiders of the Lost Ark", the big problem with it, for me, was the campy vibe that wouldn't let me take it seriously but with Lucas writing an "Empire Strikes Back" like tone for Indy, I hoped that "The Temple of Doom" could fix this problem but as the rest of the world, I was let down. "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" lost the charm that made "Raiders" such a phenomenal film: The story is filled with unjustified darkness that's just there because Lucas wanted to repeat his formula and to create a follow-up completely different from "Raiders", Indy´s two sidekicks are two of the most annoying characters I have ever seen, an inconstant pace that goes from fast to slow and long scenes, the successful humor was almost eradicated, the story is no longer the stand out but the characters, intense violence, manly in one specific scene, for no reason; and the action scenes are not as well done as the last installment. But even with all those issues, "Temple of Doom" somehow managed to be a little entertaining, mostly because of Harrison Ford´s confident performance and the well done cinematography enhanced by the good looking set pieces.

"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" is an ambitious but disappointing follow-up to the beloved "Raiders" mainly beacuse of its weaker story and the goofy/annoying sidekicks.