Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Set one year before Raiders of the Lost Ark (making this George Lucas first actual foray into prequels), Indiana Jones finds himself dodging bullets and assassins while trying to rescue enslaved children at the same time. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. Fortunately, Indy is up for the task. Unfortunately, Temple of Doom fails to relive the glory of its predecessor. While certainly no failure by any means, this film does disappoint on a number of levels.

It is impossible to avoid comparing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Both films are built around the same motifs, emulating and exploiting the character elements of old time adventure serials. The trouble lies in the fact that Raiders emulated and exploited those elements so perfectly and Temple changes the formula ever so slightly to avoid redundancy. These changes are not all for the better though.

Indy’s companions (for it is difficult to consider them true sidekicks) now consist of a smart-mouthed Chinese boy named Short Round and an airhead night club singer named Willie, who is along for the ride because Indy didn’t have ample enough time to ditch her while trying to escape from Shanghai with his life. Short Round injects some youthful humor into the mix, which is good considering the darker tone of the film, but Willie is more or less annoying from the start and fails to grow on you much. But she is a necessary component to the story and provides romantic tension and sight gags where needed.

The quest Indy embarks on this time around is not one of his own choosing. After escaping a plane crash in the Himalayas, Indy and his friends float down river to India where some locals beg him to find their stolen children, believed to be enslaved by a Thuggee cult in a nearby palace, and a sacred stone that protected their village. Saving the children is noble but the stone is a bit too foreign for most viewers to get a handle on. Despite Indy’s explanations about ancient Sankara stones and their supposed powers, the archeological side of the story isn’t as gripping. Western audiences can wrap their minds around the Ark of the Covenant but magical Indian rocks are a stretch. It also doesn’t help that Indy isn’t as passionate about this quest as he was in Raiders.

A lack of many geographical set pieces also holds the film back slightly. Raiders saw Indy traveling all over the globe, hitting virtually every single continent. Temple only offers us a glimpse of Asia. While this is the most forgivable change to the Indy formula, it is also one of the most noticeable. Very few iconic locations are used and the oft-lampooned Indy-map sequence doesn’t really pick up much mileage this time around.

The most noticeable change is the darker tone of the film. While Indy’s tongue-in-cheek attitude and cocky swagger still pervades, Temple of Doom touches on some dark territory. Cults, enslavement of children and human sacrifice have a way of sobering an audience up. Instead of sitting on the edge of your seat with excitement, this film will have you sitting more against the back of the chair with a look of half excitement and half concern on your face.

I think the biggest reason that Temple isn’t adored as much is because Indy, the unflappable hero who can do no wrong, turns to the dark side. Though only brief, Indy’s conversion to the forces of evil is unsettling. The archetypal hero can have his dark moments but to be shown as fully corruptible? That crosses the line for me and I’m sure it’s the same with many fans.

Now it’s time to get positive! I understand the reason for many of these changes. Had Temple of Doom stuck with the formula laid out in Raiders it would have felt like a cheap copy of the original. Short Round and Willie were added to balance out the darkness in the story (it’s easy to see why Indy doesn’t stick with her after the film but one does have to wonder what happened to Short Round). The globetrotting was scaled back because the story required it. Lucas and Spielberg recognized that certain elements that had made Raiders such a blast had to be cut out because they didn’t fit into the story they were trying to tell. Making sacrifices for the sake of the story is admirable and I respect Lucas and Spielberg for that. It’s just unfortunate that the story they told isn’t quite as gripping.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is still a rollicking good time. There’s plenty of action and adventure to get your heart racing and adrenaline pumping. Once again, Spielberg pulls out all the stops in crafting fantastic action sequences (dated though they may look now) that are still a thrill ride to watch. Yes, this sequel/prequel isn’t quite as good as the original but hey- this is still Indiana Jones we’re talking about.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5