Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

There are two types of Indiana Jones fans, those who like "Temple of Doom" and those who do not. Sadly, I absolutely fall into the latter camp!

"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" is a dark, disturbing and disgusting film that even Steven Spielberg admits is his least favourite film in the Indiana Jones series!

Whilist I respect it's ambition and attempt to go in a new direction, the new vison is horribly misguided

Let's start with the good, I love the mine cart chase and the epic bridge sequence! Both scenes showcase great action, thrills and ground-breaking practical and visual effects!

The music is magnificent, every John Williams score is perfect, you cannot fault any of his music! The effects are incredible, the props, models, and sets are some of the best in the series!

Harrison Ford is as excellent as ever, even if most of the action features British Stuntman Vic Armstrong as Indy after Ford suffered a back injury on set. Amrish Puri is menacing and threatening as villain Mola Ram, whose sinister shadow looms over the film. In fact, he may be the series's best villain, Mola Ram is certainly the most memorable.

However, that's where my compliments end!

If I boil down everything I dislike about “Temple of Doom” into two singular issues, they would be the tone and the story.

In my opinion, Indiana Jones movies should be entertaining, thrilling and funny with elements of horror saved usually for shock value. This film, however, has no entertainment value, it certainly isn’t funny and the horror side of the franchise is cranked up to eleven. Beyond that, the plot is downright unpleasant. Children are beaten and whipped repeatedly, a man has his beating heart torn out, Indiana is beaten within an inch of his life, tortured with a voodoo doll, turned into a zombie and hits Short Round (which is distressing even if he is incredibly irritating.)

In fact, the film was so violent that (helped along by “Gremlins”, also released in 1984), a new age rating was created to make sure that younger children weren’t being exposed to disturbing content. Thus, 12 (or PG-13 in America) were born!

The alleged reason for the horrifying nature of “Temple of Doom” stems from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s personal lives. Lucas was going through a divorce whilst working on the movie and Spielberg was also experiencing domestic troubles. This may have contributed to the pessimistic world view that “Temple of Doom” portrays. I don't mind a sequel ("Temple of Doom is actually a prequel to "Raiders") going in a darker direction ("Back to the Future Part 2" and "The Empire Strikes Back" etc.) but "Temple of Doom" takes things WAY too far and comes off feeling mean-spirited.

Most of the supporting characters in other Indiana Jones films are well-written, compelling and engaging; this highlights another reason why “Temple of Doom” failed so spectacularly as an Indy film!

Kate Capshaw’s Willie Scott is a very strong contender for the “Most Infuriating Movie Character of All Time” award. Whereas Marion from “Raiders” was capable, strong and independent, Willie represents everything that is wrong with female representation in movies! She spends the entire run-time screaming, shrieking, squealing, complaining and being a painful stereotype. Fun Fact, Kate Capshaw is married to Steven Spielberg!

Short Round is also very, very annoying! On paper, teaming Indy up with a kid seems like a good idea, he would become a surrogate father figure, with Short Round as his protégée; however, this does not work at all in the film! Whilst there are some funny and heartfelt moments between the two of them, most of the key scenes are far cheesier than they should be (“INDY, I LOVE YOU!”) It doesn’t help that Ke Huy Quan/Jonathan Ke Quan shouts all of his lines at the top of his high-pitched voice. Add in the fact that Shorty is a blatantly offensive Asian-stereotype creates a grating and poorly-written character!

This leads into another massive flaw in this movie, the racism. Indians are depicted as foul, vile and evil, in fact, the film is so offensive that "Temple of Doom" wasn't screened in India!I really hate the infamous Banquet scene, the awful “Snake Surprise” and “Chilled Monkey Brains” (which is actually custard and rasberry sauce), are just pointless and stomach churning!

I don’t hate “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, I appreciate the attempt to go in a new direction and the action is phenomenal. However, there are too many problems that pile up to create a cruel film with no entertainment value which leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It is without a doubt my least favourite film in the franchise!

But don't worry, things get better, A LOT BETTER!