Temple of Doom (1984)

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It's an interesting thought, but I'm about 90% sure that my 'Indiana Jones' viewing all started with 'Temple of Doom.' This is extraordinarily strange, as I was a kid who was afraid of almost everything. For some reason, I could sit through this and all the trauma it had to offer with no issue but would have to leave the room for certain other things. The only thing I can come up with is that as a kid that young, I probably didn't know or understand what I  was looking at. One of the heroes in this was also a kid, so relatability.

Childhood aside, however, over the past few years, this has been pointed out mainly as the second-weakest of the 'Indiana Jones' titles, with 'Crystal Skull' firmly and agreeably at #1. But with that said, my generation grew up taking this entry as the most fun and the one they tie their nostalgia to. I'm a 'Last Crusade' guy, hands-down, but I also can't deny that there is something to this that makes it extra fun. It may be the horror elements and danger, or it doesn't take itself seriously in some ways, but this is a hell of a ride.

Our film opens preceding the events of 'Raiders' in 1935 Shanghai, where Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is making a deal with crime boss Lao Che (Roy Chiao). We are simultaneously introduced to nightclub singer Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw), who is inadvertently in tow with Indy and his new sidekick, Short Round (Ke Huy Quan). They board a trap of a plane set up by Lao Che only to miraculously and frankly, impossibly survive a plane crash, ending up in the jungles of India. Here, a quaint village asks for their help finding their village's sacred stone and their missing children.

Indy agrees to head to Pankot Palace, along with Willie and Shorty, and they are greeted with open arms. The trio is then allowed to attend a banquet hosted by the young Maharajah (Raj Singh), which has since become one of the more famous scenes in the film. Here, we get into Indy's theory that an ancient, evil cult known as the Thugee may return to power, hence the missing children and sacred stone, which Indy theorizes is one of the five sacred Shankara stones. Of course, more famously, in this conversation, there is a great deal of disgusting food, from "Snake Surprise" to "Chilled Monkey Brains."

Later that night, Indy is attacked by an assassin but overwhelms him, and his journey to find out what's at the bottom of this mystery is set in motion. With that, Indy, Willie and Shorty eventually find themselves face to face with the living nightmare of a Thugee ceremony. It involves plenty of scary behaviour, including chanting, heart-ripping and being sent into a pit of fire whilst imprisoned in a cage. To add to all that, we also get child slavery and aspects of voodoo, and it even leads to seeing Indy at what I'd argue is his weakest.

While things get pretty scary throughout the film, those horror elements are well-matched with moments of adventure that we've come to know Indiana Jones for, the best of which comes as the film reaches its climax. Even unrealistic scenes like the inflatable raft saving the trio from certain death or the mine cart scene are super fun to watch, even today, as they surround the horror elements with the pure adventure we came to see. The film's fatal flaw, however, is Willie. She doesn't need to be there by any means, and she's only there to be a damsel in distress. She's by far the most grating of the Indy girls.

This chapter isn't my favourite of the series, but I still have a good time watching it despite any flaws. While Willie is annoying to me, I'm in the school of kids who grew up seeing Short Round as a bit of a personal hero, a kid who could hold his own and take care of himself, complete with funny one-liners like "Hold on to your potatoes!" While the movie is full of impossible moments that even 'Mythbusters' has personally tackled, I can't deny that watching it is still a good time, even if a lot of that good time is tied to my nostalgia.

​3/5

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