rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1984
Directed by Steven Spielberg; produced by Robert Watts; screenplay by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz
Starring Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri, Roshan Seth, Philip Stone
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
Maybe its disappointing if you have 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' in your mind,
but compare it to almost any other action packed adventure film and it is
terrific. Unfortunately most people will think of the original Indiana
Jones-film, seeing this as a much lesser film. In my opinion there a couple
of reasons for that. The first is the approach of the film. 'Raiders' was an
action adventure and moments of comedy were there in between. The film was
about Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and his adventure. 'The Temple of Doom'
seems to be more about the comedy, with moments of adventure in between.
Even the credits in bright red tell this. It wants to be funny and if
something (or someone) wants to be funny it usually is not. Here it succeeds
from time to time but I constantly realized how the film trying.
Besides this the film contains the same elements as 'Raiders' but there it
was just a little better. Kate Capshaw is nice as Willie, but she is no
Karen Allen. The villains are nice, but they are no Nazis. His little helper
here named Short Round (Jonathan Ke Quan) is even a little annoying,
definitely no Sallah who helped Indiana in the original film. So far the
comparison to the earlier film. When I am not comparing I must admit
'Indiana Jones and the Temple Doom' is a good film. It is exciting almost
the entire time and the finishing scenes that play in a mine and on a bridge
belong to the best scenes from any adventure film. Harrison Ford has so much
fun with his Indiana Jones that it is hard to not like him.
Steven Spielberg is arguably the best director when it comes to
entertainment, in any genre. Perfect example are 'Jaws', 'Close Encounters
of the Third Kind', 'E.T. the Extra- Terrestrial', 'Saving Private Ryan' and
'Minority Report'. Not perfect but very good are films like 'Jurassic Park',
'Catch Me If You Can' and indeed 'The Temple of Doom'. Films like this are
easy to watch, do not require a lot of thinking but are a lot better than
average. Luckily there is a third installment of the 'Indiana Jones'-
series, even a little better than this one.