Review of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) by Duke_Nukem — 08 Oct 2015

With Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom there seemed to be two different directions Spielberg wanted to take with his Indiana Jones movies: on the one hand the humor was more silly than in Raiders of the Lost Ark, but on the other hand the movie also took a dive into the dark side of human nature.

The movie starts very light-hearted with a car chase involving the little chinese boy Short Round who's driving the car using blocks on his feet. Then it's of to India where doctor Jones, the female night club singer Willie and little Short Round meet a village with desperate people who had their children taken from them. Next there is some comic relief again: the banquet with a lot of strange foods and also the very funny scene in the catacombs with the insects scattered allover the floor ("It's not cookies doctor Jones!") After that Jones and his friends go in a temple where a secret cult is torturing people, ripping their hearts out of their chest and trowing them in hot lava.

This constant changing of atmosphere can bring some confusion and can even make the viewer feel uncomfortable if he takes it all too serious. Maybe it's best not to do that and just enjoy the wild ride. And a very wild ride it is!

I rate this movie slightly lower than the first one, 9 out of 10.