It's finally time to write a review on one of my favorite films of all time, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", a prequel to the critical and box office hit, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" ('81), which brought the old style of the classic adventure from Republic Pictures to the 80's Era, featuring a daredevil archaelogist, Indiana Jones, which is both a scholar and an adventurer, searching for lost treasures around the world and facing all perils throughout the quest.
For its second adventure, George Lucas, the original creator wanted a change in MacGuffin, tone, the villains and even in the Indy girl. As the Ark of Covenant in "Raiders" is a jewish artifact, the Sankara stones in "Doom" are related to Hinduism; the tone of the film became darker, eerie and more cynical, in the same vein "The Empire Strikes Back" ('80) was to "A New Hope" ('77); the villains became the Thuggees instead of the Germans and Marion Ravenwood (played by Karen Allen in "Raiders"), Indy's longtime lover, was replaced by a new female interest, maybe the major reason why they chose to make "Doom" a prequel.
The screenwriters, the real life couple Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, who scripted Lucas' "American Graffiti" ('73) and were experts in the Indian culture, were hired to write Lucas' idea to set the film in India, about an evil cult that worships Kali, the Hindu goddess of death, feeding her with human sacrifice, that are searching, using child labour slave in the catacombs of the 'Temple of Doom', for the last 2 of 5 magical stones that together will bring them ilimited power to extinguish the other religions and rule the world.
Based in "Gunga Din" ('39), the classic adventure film from RKO Radio Pictures starring Cary Grant, and in the James Bond film, "Live and Let Die" ('73), the writers worked closely with Spielberg and Lucas to create the dark world of this Indiana Jones' second entry, bringing back the majority of the crew that made "Raiders" a masterpiece, including one of the greatest cinematographers that ever lived, the late Douglas Slocombe; the magnificent 'maestro' John Williams and the frantic editor, Michael Kahn.
The result might be the greatest adventure film ever made, beating even "Raiders", even if it was critically bashed due to the dark tone, not suitable for children (leading to the creation of PG-13, see also "Gremlins" and "Red Dawn", released in the very same year) and the Indian stereotypes, which in fact were written as a piece of dark humour, totally in tune with the tone of the film, than offensive, but this led to the movie being filmed in Sri Lanka, after refusal from North India to shoot there.
Now, why i rate this movie as not only the best Indiana Jones film, but also (probably) the greatest adventure film of all time?
First of all, it's less pretentious than "Raiders' as an epic adventure film, and that isn't necessarily a good or a bad thing, it's just more fun as a rollercoaster ride of purely movie magic, full of entertainment and excitement, that both a kid or a eldery can relate and enjoy.
Secondly, artistically and technically it achieves and even improves the original film, "Raiders" is an astonishingly well shot film, but Douglas Slocombe's widescreen photography here, especially during the elephants' journey to the Pankot Palace that, like its predecessor, is an homage to the works of art from one of Spielberg's favorites, Sir David Lean, is aesthetically beautiful as an eye pleaser. Spielberg's direction is risky, daring and politically incorrect, principally from a guy that his previous effort was the more family friendly themed and critics' favorite, "E.T." ('82), he denotes here a great sense of dark humour and sarcasm, of pace, of how to stage the action scenes and the mood of a pulp adventure novel perfectly adapted to the big screen. This was the last time Spielberg showed this side of him, of which some of his old fans misses it a lot. Michael Khan's editing is hallucinating, the movie when enters its third act, never slows down until the end, and John Williams' hauntingly beautiful orchestration, it's the best achievement in musical score of the Indiana Jones' franchise.
Thirdly, the cast and their characters, i've never seen Ford as happy, charming, oozing manhood and confident playing Indy than in "Temple of Doom", and is also his absolutely best Indiana Jones performance, before he started to spoof his own character in the lacklustre, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" ('89). Even if mostly of the action sequences this time were filmed using Harrison Ford's stunt double, Vic Armstrong, who resembles Ford a lot and also doubled for him in the more risky parts during the truck chase in "Raiders", partially due to Ford's back accident during the fight sequence with the Thuggee hidden in the room, Harrison, fortunately, recovered well and came back to shot all the close-ups with renewed energy. His acting is very good during the trance-like state of the Black Sleep of Kali Ma.
Kate Capshaw was widely criticized as the famed Shanghai Club singer, Willie Scott, due to the critics and general public expected Marion Ravenwood to came back or at least, another female 'tomboy' character to replace her. I think it was a great idea to change the Indy girl to a more feminine 'Damsel in distress' fitting the 'fish outta water' type, a throwback to how the female characters were in those 30's and 40's adventure films, and Kate surely plays it loud and whiny, but there's something about her that sparks throughout the film. She don't have the same chemistry with Indy as Marion had, but she fits well in their scenes together, especially the flirting turned arguing after the dinner scene. Also, kudos to the make-up and wardrobe department for her, she looks absolutely stunning and never looked better on-screen.
The non-caucasian actors delivered memorable performances, suitable to the tone of the film, from Roy Chiao as Lao Che, emulating a Bond villain to perfection; Jonathan Ke Quan as the Indy's sidekick, Short Round, a heroic child character that Lucas and Spielberg created for the children to relate; Roshan Seth as the eerie Chattar Lal, The Prime Minister of the Maharaja of Pankot and the late great Amrish Puri as Mola Ram, the Thuggee high priest, which rips off the hearts of his victims with his bare hand, who is not only the best Indiana Jones villain, but also one of the most macabre and sinister bad guys ever commited to cinema.
Dan Aykroyd, Spielberg's actor from "1941" ('79) and "The Blues Brothers" ('80) in which Spielberg appears as an actor in a short performance, cameos as Webber in the Shanghai airport.
Fourthly, when Indiana Jones fans thinks about the character and its adventures, which memorable scenes comes to mind ? Well, "Raiders" opening in the South American jungle; the swordsman in Cairo; the Well of Souls and the truck chase, but also the musical opening and the escape from Obi Wan Club in Shanghai; the plane crash; the dinner scene; the spike chamber; the Thuggee ritual; the black sleep of Kali Ma; the mine chase sequence (even if sometimes the miniatures are way too visible) and the superbly directed and photographed, rope bridge sequence, which is the best standoff from the franchise. It's all from "Doom". How many from the boringly safe "The Last Crusade" a true Indiana Jones fan can mention ?
In short, "If adventure has a name, it must be Indiana Jones", perfectly describes this masterpiece to the full, and Spielberg and Lucas that started jumped on the bandwagon of the "Doom" haters, claiming that the movie is depressing and dark because both were during marital problems and / or divorces around that time, what i can say is that they should then divorce again to reach this level of quality.
I love "Raiders", but "Doom" have a special place in my heart since 1984.
My vote is a 11/10 if possible, if not, 'just' a 10/10 .
For its second adventure, George Lucas, the original creator wanted a change in MacGuffin, tone, the villains and even in the Indy girl. As the Ark of Covenant in "Raiders" is a jewish artifact, the Sankara stones in "Doom" are related to Hinduism; the tone of the film became darker, eerie and more cynical, in the same vein "The Empire Strikes Back" ('80) was to "A New Hope" ('77); the villains became the Thuggees instead of the Germans and Marion Ravenwood (played by Karen Allen in "Raiders"), Indy's longtime lover, was replaced by a new female interest, maybe the major reason why they chose to make "Doom" a prequel.
The screenwriters, the real life couple Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, who scripted Lucas' "American Graffiti" ('73) and were experts in the Indian culture, were hired to write Lucas' idea to set the film in India, about an evil cult that worships Kali, the Hindu goddess of death, feeding her with human sacrifice, that are searching, using child labour slave in the catacombs of the 'Temple of Doom', for the last 2 of 5 magical stones that together will bring them ilimited power to extinguish the other religions and rule the world.
Based in "Gunga Din" ('39), the classic adventure film from RKO Radio Pictures starring Cary Grant, and in the James Bond film, "Live and Let Die" ('73), the writers worked closely with Spielberg and Lucas to create the dark world of this Indiana Jones' second entry, bringing back the majority of the crew that made "Raiders" a masterpiece, including one of the greatest cinematographers that ever lived, the late Douglas Slocombe; the magnificent 'maestro' John Williams and the frantic editor, Michael Kahn.
The result might be the greatest adventure film ever made, beating even "Raiders", even if it was critically bashed due to the dark tone, not suitable for children (leading to the creation of PG-13, see also "Gremlins" and "Red Dawn", released in the very same year) and the Indian stereotypes, which in fact were written as a piece of dark humour, totally in tune with the tone of the film, than offensive, but this led to the movie being filmed in Sri Lanka, after refusal from North India to shoot there.
Now, why i rate this movie as not only the best Indiana Jones film, but also (probably) the greatest adventure film of all time?
First of all, it's less pretentious than "Raiders' as an epic adventure film, and that isn't necessarily a good or a bad thing, it's just more fun as a rollercoaster ride of purely movie magic, full of entertainment and excitement, that both a kid or a eldery can relate and enjoy.
Secondly, artistically and technically it achieves and even improves the original film, "Raiders" is an astonishingly well shot film, but Douglas Slocombe's widescreen photography here, especially during the elephants' journey to the Pankot Palace that, like its predecessor, is an homage to the works of art from one of Spielberg's favorites, Sir David Lean, is aesthetically beautiful as an eye pleaser. Spielberg's direction is risky, daring and politically incorrect, principally from a guy that his previous effort was the more family friendly themed and critics' favorite, "E.T." ('82), he denotes here a great sense of dark humour and sarcasm, of pace, of how to stage the action scenes and the mood of a pulp adventure novel perfectly adapted to the big screen. This was the last time Spielberg showed this side of him, of which some of his old fans misses it a lot. Michael Khan's editing is hallucinating, the movie when enters its third act, never slows down until the end, and John Williams' hauntingly beautiful orchestration, it's the best achievement in musical score of the Indiana Jones' franchise.
Thirdly, the cast and their characters, i've never seen Ford as happy, charming, oozing manhood and confident playing Indy than in "Temple of Doom", and is also his absolutely best Indiana Jones performance, before he started to spoof his own character in the lacklustre, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" ('89). Even if mostly of the action sequences this time were filmed using Harrison Ford's stunt double, Vic Armstrong, who resembles Ford a lot and also doubled for him in the more risky parts during the truck chase in "Raiders", partially due to Ford's back accident during the fight sequence with the Thuggee hidden in the room, Harrison, fortunately, recovered well and came back to shot all the close-ups with renewed energy. His acting is very good during the trance-like state of the Black Sleep of Kali Ma.
Kate Capshaw was widely criticized as the famed Shanghai Club singer, Willie Scott, due to the critics and general public expected Marion Ravenwood to came back or at least, another female 'tomboy' character to replace her. I think it was a great idea to change the Indy girl to a more feminine 'Damsel in distress' fitting the 'fish outta water' type, a throwback to how the female characters were in those 30's and 40's adventure films, and Kate surely plays it loud and whiny, but there's something about her that sparks throughout the film. She don't have the same chemistry with Indy as Marion had, but she fits well in their scenes together, especially the flirting turned arguing after the dinner scene. Also, kudos to the make-up and wardrobe department for her, she looks absolutely stunning and never looked better on-screen.
The non-caucasian actors delivered memorable performances, suitable to the tone of the film, from Roy Chiao as Lao Che, emulating a Bond villain to perfection; Jonathan Ke Quan as the Indy's sidekick, Short Round, a heroic child character that Lucas and Spielberg created for the children to relate; Roshan Seth as the eerie Chattar Lal, The Prime Minister of the Maharaja of Pankot and the late great Amrish Puri as Mola Ram, the Thuggee high priest, which rips off the hearts of his victims with his bare hand, who is not only the best Indiana Jones villain, but also one of the most macabre and sinister bad guys ever commited to cinema.
Dan Aykroyd, Spielberg's actor from "1941" ('79) and "The Blues Brothers" ('80) in which Spielberg appears as an actor in a short performance, cameos as Webber in the Shanghai airport.
Fourthly, when Indiana Jones fans thinks about the character and its adventures, which memorable scenes comes to mind ? Well, "Raiders" opening in the South American jungle; the swordsman in Cairo; the Well of Souls and the truck chase, but also the musical opening and the escape from Obi Wan Club in Shanghai; the plane crash; the dinner scene; the spike chamber; the Thuggee ritual; the black sleep of Kali Ma; the mine chase sequence (even if sometimes the miniatures are way too visible) and the superbly directed and photographed, rope bridge sequence, which is the best standoff from the franchise. It's all from "Doom". How many from the boringly safe "The Last Crusade" a true Indiana Jones fan can mention ?
In short, "If adventure has a name, it must be Indiana Jones", perfectly describes this masterpiece to the full, and Spielberg and Lucas that started jumped on the bandwagon of the "Doom" haters, claiming that the movie is depressing and dark because both were during marital problems and / or divorces around that time, what i can say is that they should then divorce again to reach this level of quality.
I love "Raiders", but "Doom" have a special place in my heart since 1984.
My vote is a 11/10 if possible, if not, 'just' a 10/10 .