Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

I know it's not fashionable but ever since I was a kid this one has always been my favourite of the series. It's incredibly dark (this film and gremlins are pretty much the reason America has a PG-13 rating in their system) compared to the others, which I love, and I also think it has the most iconic action imagery. The mine cart chase, rope bridge, the slowly closing temple wall death traps covered with bugs and the whole evil cult in the jungle thing just scream classic adventure to me. And of course the iconic grabbing of the hat at the last minute from behind the closing wall.

I also don't find the kid sidekick and the prissy girl annoying which is usually the biggest problem for most. I remember we watched this in our year 10 english class and wrote about feminism. That's pretty funny. But I love the ridiculous banter between them in the bedroom scene.

I also didn't realise until recently that this film actually takes place before the events of the other two. So I can use that as an excuse to watch this one first when I go through the trilogy (and maybe the 4th one. Maybe)

I just love the introduction it gives the character, watching this one first. You start off with a musical number in Shanghai and then a classic round table trade off with diamonds and poison and all that stuff. It's so well shot, what I notice that Spielberg does with his action chase set ups is there always seams to be one extra beat in each shot that other films wouldn't have. During the chaos of the club scene, and of course in other action scenes through the series, he doesn't just have an insert shot. It will pretty much always pan from that to a character doing something else and then a bag guy being punched, wiping the frame to land on another group of characters. It gives the action such a better sense of geography and timing, and can also add tension or even humor. Modern shaky cam directors should take note.

Again we have a great music by John Williams, I really love the way the score works when they are stuck in the booby trapped room. I also love the evil cults chants but no matter how many times I recite Mola Ram's magic words I haven't been able to pull out anyones beating heart. Side note, I stopped going to church when I could no longer discern any difference between the validity of the mass and the cult worshipping practices from this film.

Out of all the films in the series this is the one I think feels most like a 1930's adventure serial they are aspiring to. It was a lot of fun to revisit and I hope they have the full series out on bluray soon.