#23 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Dir: Steven Spielberg

Well that was a bit of a rollercoaster ride (funnier if you’ve seen the film, though not much)!

Why do sequels so often have to be far worse than the first film? ‘Raiders’ started in a cave with Indiana Jones doing what he does best… ‘Temple of Doom’ starts with a full musical number!

I stated that one of the strengths of ‘Raiders’ was that the female love interest had a little extra to her, that there was clearly a back-story and depth to her character. The love interest in ‘Temple of Doom’ is Willie, a cabaret singer, and she has no apparent depth at all. Throughout the film she screams and squeals, making me simply wonder how an educated man such as Indie could possibly be interested in her? I lost count of the number of times he needlessly rescued her, when I felt like just telling him to give up, let her fall/burn/squish/be eaten/get shot etc!

Short Round is fun, I have no problem with him as the comedy sidekick, except that when you add a child into films as a major role it’s usually to help attract a younger audience, however ‘Temple of Doom’ is far less suitable for young children than ‘Raiders’ was, so isn’t there a contradiction of purposes going on here?

Anyhoo… on to the end, which I’m hoping will be back on form!