I have always said that Steven Spielberg has made the most vicious and violent family friendly movies in history. Jurassic Park 1 & 2, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, recently, War of the Worlds, all feature nastiness that, when I was a child at least, frightened the dear life out of me. How many PG rated movies these days can you name that feature the antagonist's face melting?
Temple of Doom is relentlessly dark. Whilst retaining the sense of adventure of Raiders, the tone is much more adult. Kidnapped children being forced to brutal labour whilst receiving punishments of whippings and beating, scenes of folks easting snakes, bugs and monkey brains as well a human sacrifice having his heart removed all feature in a film that has, to this day, retained its PG rating (in America, this and Gremlins were responsible for the birth of the PG-13 rating).
Saying that, it aint half fun. People have complained recently about the "Nuked-the-fridge" moment in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but they obviously forget that Temple of Doom featured Indy, Willie and Short-Round surviving a fall from a crashing plane using nothing but an inflatable dingy. The insane mine cart chase is also monumentally silly. The main difference Indy 4 and this though is that Doom is fun. It's what people expect from an Indiana Jones movie and in that respect, Temple of Doom fires on all cylinders. Whilst Spielberg has made his distaste for the film clear in recent years, what he fails to see is that during the height of his fame he could pull of entertainment like this as easily as putting on his shoes.
The worst of the original three but a hugely entertaining thrill ride none the less.
4/5
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