Sat, November 9, 2024
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
1984 · 1hr 58min · PG
Metacritic · IMDb · iTunes · Netflix · Amazon
The weakest of the initial trilogy, I never paid it very much attention—I’m just now realizing it was a prequel!—but the intermittent tonal shift into screwball comedy is hard to follow, and pretty much everything that happens in the temple is less interesting than the rest. It’s almost like a dream sequence with a slightly goofier Indy, who wakes up to his normal self as soon as they burst out into that canyon.
Also Viewed:
Thu 05.15.08
© onebee · all rights reserved
AC — Fri, 5/16/08 1:30pm
Oh come on. It's a great film. Hasn't it been pissed on enough??
Bee Boy — Fri, 5/16/08 3:43pm
"Great?" How recently have you seen it? Both of the first two are pretty slow by today's standards. Where Raiders still holds up pretty well, Temple of Doom – with its kooky tone – is the odd duckling of the bunch. The fact that we never see him in the classroom is telling; and the exposition it takes to kick off his extracurricular jaunt consumes a good half hour in the middle of the movie, during which the signature elements of archaeology and adventure are nowhere to be seen.
It's not as bad as people say, but it's hardly great. I think three stars is just about right. Now the suspense is on... will Crystal Skull be more like Temple of Doom, or more like the others? Lucas is involved – which means anything can happen.