Review of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) by Cameronius_113 — 15 Jan 2017

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released in 1984 and was directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark and the second instalment in the Indiana Jones series.

Something that you may not know is that this film is a prequel to the first film. The only thing in the film that points this out is when it states the year at the start of the film (this one is 1935, Raiders is 1936). Other than that, there's nothing really that says that this is a prequel and it's just something I wanted to point out.

I appreciate this film for being entirely different to Raiders which makes a refreshingly new experience and with a story pattern not used previously, it makes the story less predictable and therefore more exciting.

Harrison Ford is still great as Indiana Jones and is as charismatic and heroic as he was in the first film. Other characters along for the ride are Willie Scott and the little kid Short Round. At first, Willie may seem quite irritating as she's constantly screaming and complaining but if you think about it that's how someone who'd never experienced these situations before would probably react. Also, towards the end of the film she seems to help a lot more which is good to see as it shows how her character has developed.

Short Round is easy to love and he's quite a good character; intelligent in thinking and with no fear, much like Indy himself. His acting can seem quite unrealistic at times but he was played by a child so you can kind of let it pass and also I think it's above standards for a child actor. You can see how these characters don't have the best of relationships at first but as the film progresses their relationships grow and it's great to see them all working together in the final act.

This film does have quite a dark tone to it, so dark that it contributed to the creation of a new rating: PG-13. There are things in it such as monkey brains, eyeball soup, snakes being cut open, heart being ripped out and child abuse (don't worry, none of these are as graphic as they sound). To be honest, comparing the content in this film to the original, it's not that much darker. It is certainly darker than the original but definitely not as dark as some people make it out to be.

The sets in this film are great and all feel authentic. The practical effects are also still great, especially the heart scene. However, some of the green-screen isn't particularly good like in the original but it's something that doesn't appear much thankfully.

There aren't really many notable action scenes in this movie; in Raiders pretty much every action scene is memorable, however the only one that really stood out to me in this film was the final bridge fight.

As I began watching the film, I wasn't sure whether I was going to like it or not because not as much was as investing as the original but as the film progressed it certainly got better and the final 20 minutes are great to watch.

Overall, this is a nice change from what we received in the original and is an enjoyable watch. It does have a darker tone than the original but when comparing it to the original it's not too bad. This movie is definitely not as good as Raiders but is still a very good movie and I would recommend giving it a watch.

7.