Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom: Review By Lord McLovin of MovieWeb

My childhood memories strike me again when it's time for me to review Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones' second exhilarating adventure to bring back peace to a small India village.

As a kid, watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was a fun exciting movie for me. After school, I would pop in the DVD and sit back and relax; the mine cart chase was always my favorite scene in the entire movie. After seeing this by myself, I went over to my friends house an showed it to him. He loved it just as much as I did too. Later that day, we would run around searching for magical stones that would bring us "fortune and glory". Never did find those stones...but one day, I thought I did; except it turned out to be an old shoe.

Set a year before the events in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones must bring back the sacred Sivalinga stone stolen from their shrine, as well as the community's children, from evil forces in the nearby Pankot Palace.

After the huge success of Raiders of the Lost Ark, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had a second adventure to bring audiences on with famous archeologist, Indiana Jones. Lucas didn't want to have the Nazis return for a second time again, so the two decided to make a prequel and have it take place in 1935, a year before Indiana Jones went on to thwart the Nazis evil plan of finding the Ark of the Covenant. Lucas felt "it had to have been a dark film. The way Empire Strikes Back was the dark second act of the Star Wars trilogy".

Originally Producer and co-writer George Lucas was to set the film in China, with a hidden valley inhabited by dinosaurs. Other rejected plot devices included the Monkey King and a haunted castle in Scotland. Lucas then wrote a film treatment that resembled the final storyline of the film.

They were denied permission to film in North India and Amber Fort due to the government finding the script racist and offensive. The government demanded many script changes, rewritings and final cut privilege. Budgetary inflation also caused Temple of Doom to cost 28 million dollars, which is more than Raiders of the Lost Ark's budget. Filming began on 18 April 1983.

Here are some interesting facts that happened on the set, while filming.One of nastiest scenes in Temple of Doom is the bug chamber trap. That set contained well over 2,000 insects. Kate Capshaw's dress in the Shanghai club was completely made of 1920's and 1930's original beads. This meant that there was only enough to make one dress. The opening dance number was actually the last scene to be shot, but the dress did feature in some earlier location shots in Sri Lanka, in particular, a night-time one with Harrison Ford and Kate Capshaw sitting by a campfire, with the dress drying on a nearby tree. Unfortunately an elephant had started to eat the entire back of the dress, which was saved just in time. Consequently, some emergency repair work had to be done with what remained of the original beads, and it was costume designer Anthony Powell who had to fill in the insurance forms. As to the reason for damage, he had no option but to put "dress eaten by elephant" on a sheet of paper explaining it's condition.

During filming, Steven Spielberg wanted Karen Allen to reprise her role as Marion Ravenwood but he and George Lucas had already decided that every movie should include a different woman for Indy. This changed however, when she eventually reprised her role in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Spielberg and Lucas felt that enough time had passed that an old flame was more appropriate for the fourth film.The production crew finished filming, they continued on to release the highly anticipated Indiana Jones sequel--excuse, I mean prequel.

Once the movie was complete, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg thought the movie was too fast-paced for an adventure film. So the two threw in a few matte shots and included more exterior shots to slow it down and "give the audience a chance to catch their breath". Temple of Doom opened at number one when it was released in 1984 and went on to make 300 million dollars world wide and earn 180 million dollars domestically in the US; enough to produce and make a third film.

As a kid, this was my favorite of the Indiana Jones movies. Reason why was because of all the wildlife shown in the movie and the mine cart chase scene. But as I grew older, and began to understand movies in what makes them movies, I lost interest in Temple of Doom and it started to become my least favorite Indy flick. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great, enjoyable movie, but you can't help but see how annoying Kate Capshaw's character, Willie is. I'm surprised Indiana Jones didn't sacrifice her to Mola Ram. Fun fact, look for Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, and Dan Aykroyd who have cameos at the airport in the movie.

The movie is an exciting, and goofy, adventure movie, but slightly darker, intense, and horrifying. It's a weird combination how this acts like it wants to be taken seriously, but can't help but feel really, really cheesy. Steven Spielberg said, he's even disappointed with the outcome of the movie. "I wasn't happy with Temple of Doom at all. It was too dark, too subterranean, and much too horrific. I thought it out-poltered Poltergeist. He later added during the "Making of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" doc*mentary, "Temple of Doom is my least favorite of the trilogy. I look back and I say, 'Well the greatest thing that I got out of that was I met Kate Capshaw. We married years later and that to me was the reason I was fated to make Temple of Doom". George Lucas was pleased with the movie and said he enjoyed it.

Harrison Ford returns once again to play Indiana Jones. He is an excellent actor and does great playing the iconic archaeologist. Sure, he plays the same way he did in Raiders, but it's nothing new. Harrison Ford does make Indy a believable person, and you feel as if you know him. Kate Capshaw plays Indiana Jones love interest, and damsel in distress. she is utterly annoying as a "dumb, screaming blonde" as she put it. And she's right, Willie couldn't be any more annoying. When prepping for her role, Kate Capshaw was told to be as opposite as possible to Marion Ravenwood, played by Karen Allen. Yeah, she was completely opposite then she was. Over 6,000 actors auditioned for the role of Short Round, Indy's side-kick. Of those 6,000 actors, Jonathan Ke Quan ended up getting the part. Spielberg liked his funny personality, and his energy. Harrison Ford and Ke Quan often improvised on set. Amrish Puri was casted as Mola Ram. A demonic Thuggee priest who performs rituals of human sacrifices. The character is named after a 17th century Indian painter. Lucas wanted Mola Ram to be terrifying, so the screenwriters added elements of Aztec and Hawaiian human sacrificers worship to the character. Amrish played the role well, seeing him on the TV as a kid, scared me most of the time.

Throughout the years, Temple of Doom has always been a fun movie to watch and is a great adventure film to experience at home with the family. It's dark, scary, and pretty goofy and funny at times, the sets are amazing, and the locations are an unbelievable sight to behold. Harrison Ford returns as Indy, and does an excellent job at it to. I'm sure the inner kid inside of me would be jumping up and down if I ever had a chance to ride in those mine carts would be a dream come true. Speaking of mine carts, that's a perfect way of describing this movie: A wild mine cart chase through the caverns of the deep.

-McLovin