Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was the follow-up film to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indy is asked by villagers to help recover a sacred stone stolen from them and find their missing children. The villagers suspected the nearby Pankot Palace of being involved in the theft and abductions. Singer and actress Willie Scott and the 12-year-old Short Round, an orphaned pickpocket whom Indy took under his wing, accompany the archeologist.
Of the original trilogy, The Temple of Doom is considered the weakest installment. It was deemed too dark and violent by audiences and critics alike, a sentiment that both George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg admitted to sharing after its release. The film also has the distinction of breaking the franchise’s timeline by being a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Is the Most Underrated of the Franchise’s Films
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom takes place in 1935, one year before the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark. George Lucas, who produced the film and came up with the story, didn’t want to use Natzi’s as the antagonist again. Lucas decided to set the movie before the events of Raiders to justify it. Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz penned the underrated and unique Indian Jones prequel.
The film opens with an exciting sequence that begins with Indy being poisoned in a nightclub and ends with him, Short Round, and Willie jumping out of a plane on an inflatable life raft. Short Round was Indy’s sidekick, and Willie was his hostage. The trio landed in India, where they discovered a village, Mayapore, in need of Indy’s help. Their children were missing, and their sacred lingam stone had been stolen.
The villagers ask Indy for help and point him towards a nearby palace. When they arrive at Pankot Palace, they are welcomed with a feast by the young maharaja, Zalim Singh. That night, Indy is attacked in his room by an assassin, prompting him to uncover a series of tunnels and mines underneath the palace. After witnessing a human sacrifice by Thuggee cultists, they learn that the cult brainwashed the maharaja.
When attempting to retrieve the stones, Indy, Short Round, and Willie were captured. Indy is forced to drink a potion that brainwashes him. The cultists prepare to kill Willie as a human sacrifice, and Short Round is sent to work in the mines with the missing children. They had been abducted to work as slaves, searching for more stones.
As the cultists begin their ceremony to kill Willie, she pleads with Indy to help her, but it’s Short Round who finally gets through to the archaeologist after escaping the mines. Short Round appeals to Indy through their emotional bond and buns him with a torch to shock him out of the trance. Indy, in turn, rescues Willie, and they flee with the stones.
Indy and company escape, and they are pursued onto a bridge, where he invokes the name of Shiva, activating the stones. They burn through his satchel, with two of them falling into the river. The Thuggee high priest Mola Ram catches the third stone, but it burns his hand, and he falls into the river to be devoured by a crocodile. Indy managed to catch the stone before it fell in after Mola Ram and returned it to the village.
Compared to Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, it isn’t quite as good, but it’s still a great Indiana Jones adventure. Temple of Doom also features the standout character of Short Round. He and Indy had great chemistry and brought some needed comedy to the story. Many critics and viewers found Willie to be annoying, but she was written to be a more typical damsel to directly contrast Marion. Since the film’s release in 1984, Temple of Doom has won over more audiences, but remains the most misunderstood and underrated of the franchise.
The Temple of Doom Was Criticized For Being Too Dark and Violent Compared to Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indy (Harrison Ford), Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) and Willie (Kate Capshaw) in a mine cart in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.Image via Paramount Pictures
One of the major criticisms of Temple of Doom was the violence in the film and the darker storyline. The film originally had a PG rating, but when parents took their children to see the film, they felt it was inappropriate. Compared to Raiders of the Lost Ark, the film is much darker in themes and more violent, featuring child slave labor and pulling still beating hearts out of people’s bodies.
A few weeks later, Gremlins hit cinemas and met similar criticisms of being too violent for a PG rating, prompting the MPAA to create a new rating: PG-13. The Temple of Doom is now considered PG-13 for the violence, disturbing images, and language. The film was notably banned in India for its offensive portrayal of their cuisine and culture. When Indy and the gang were dining at the palace, the food was meant to be shocking, featuring monkey brains, sheep’s eyeballs, and insects.
Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote the script for Raiders of the Lost Ark, was approached about writing Temple of Doom, but he turned it down. Kasdan has been open about not wanting to have anything to do with the film, saying it was dark and mean-spirited. George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg have since agreed that it is much darker. Lucas credits the tone to the fact that he was going through a divorce and in a bad mood when he conceived it. The director was also dealing with his own share of heartbreak at the time.
While Temple of Doom is much darker, it has elements to lighten the tone and add comedy to the film. Short Round bantering with Indy was a highlight of the film, and it injected a lot of fun into the story. The creators also added gags, like having a stray hammer land on a bystander’s head, knocking him out. There was a callback to Raiders of the Lost Ark, where Indy was faced with a sword-wielding bad guy, but when he reached for his gun to shoot him a la Raiders, his pistol wasn’t there.
Release Date
May 23, 1984
Runtime
118 minutes
Director
Steven Spielberg
Harrison Ford
Indiana Jones
Kate Capshaw
Willie Scott
