Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

While commercially successful, Temple of Doom is considered the weakest of the three Indiana Jones movies made to date, with reason.

Archaeological Swashbuckler, Glamorous Lounge Singer

Here, as in all Indy movies, the hero, played as always by Harrison Ford at his Male Lead best, is amiable, unflappable and indominable, although tried to the limits of his patience by a tag-along nightclub singer. This character, Willie Scott, is played by director Steven Spielberg's then-wife Kate Capshaw. Her role in the film seems to be to scream and otherwise be grossed out, and as such, she could be considered a success, I suppose. But she feels 'tacked on', as in 'this film needs a female - find one. Oh, here's Kate - she's not doing anything.'

The Story

The Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom plot, such as it is, deals with Indiana helping the natives of a village in India, under a 'curse' since the disappearance of a sacred stone. This plot device, the 'stolen eye of the idol', was fresh and new when Wilkie Collins first coined it in his 1868 novel The Moonstone, but which has become rather shopworn with use since then.

That said, it is not outside the skills of Lucas, who wrote the screenplay, or director Spielberg to transcend hackneyed plots. Unfortunately, this film does not provide proof of this.

Lucas' Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom screenplay is gruesome and silly in turns, and sometimes simultaneously. (He has since blamed this on an ongoing bitter divorce battle.) With scenes of dining on eyeballs and monkey brains, this movie is not suitable for children under 12, and in fact was one of the films that led to the insertion of the rating PG-13 between the PG and R ratings in the MPAA movie rating scale.

Still Worth a Rent

It is worth mentioning that some find the villains of this piece, the Cult of the Thugee, depicted here as racist, or at least offensive to Indians. Of course it's easy to 'play the race card' on any film that is set in the overtly racist '30s, so take that under advisement.

That said, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a big hit with gore- and gross-out fans, which includes most males between the ages of 12 and 18, or even 28.