"Fortune and Glory, kid. Fortune and Glory."
- Dr. Indiana Jones
Maligned seems to be the word that comes to mind when thinking of Indy’s second adventure. There seems to be two kinds of Indy fans; those that love TOD and those that hate it. Hardly ever does there seem to be any in-between. I'm on the love side It's nowhere near the greatness of its predecessor, but still worthy of its pedigree. Forgoing characterization, for action, faster more intense; the milieu takes a considerably darker tone, which to hear George Lucas tell it was because he was going through a divorce and was just in a bad mood. Spielberg is not so forthright in his motivations. He offers no mea culpa and keeps arms length about his participation and explains that this is his least favorite of the three. (Numero four was not yet in the creators’ minds) Whatever! How can you make a sequel to the classic, “Raiders of the Lost Ark?” Very carefully, TOD makes sure it’s nothing like its predecessor as that would be an impossible feat. Instead it settles on what the audience expects- fun and action and we get plenty of each as the film goes from one brilliant set piece to the next. From the opening scene with the splashy and immensely entertaining Busby Berkley inspired musical number, Anything Goes” sung by Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) the tone and the mentality of the film is set Club Obi Wan in Shanghai, 1934, Indy tries to retrieve a precious diamond from bad guy Lo Che. A frenetic melee quickly ensues as Indy is poisoned; in an effort to retrieve the antidote, he is of course pursued by the bad guys. Once he escapes their clutches through a leap out a window with Willie, we meet Indy's sidekick 10y/o Short-Round, played by Ke Huy Quan who has a penchant for driving automobiles. During his escape from Che's henchmen, has one of my favorite scenes with Indy basically telling Che to go screw. With a big smug grin on his face, he closes the airplane door thinking he has the upper hand. Unbeknownst to Indy, Che's name is printed on the outside of the craft. A nice touch to show not only is Indy not indestructible, but not always the sharpest knife in the drawer. The very next scene has the pilots jettisoning the plane letting it crash with Jones and company on board. With no parachutes, our heroes use an inflatable raft to jump out of the plane onto a snowy mountainside then plunging into a white water river washing up on the shores of an Indian village where the meat of the real story begins. After witnessing a village of childless children, Jones, getting ideas of fortune and glory, agrees to recover a sacred stone from the evil cult. An elephant ride takes them to Pangkot palace where a 13-year old boy serves as a maharajah while the real power rests with the evil Mola Ram, High Priest of the Thuggee Cult that specializes in literally ripping hearts out before lowering sacrificial humans into its fiery Temple of Doom. (this is the sequence that got the filmmakers into hot water) The centerpiece of it’s alter are three Sankara stones that glow when brought together, but are useless when apart. Should one person possess all five stones, they will have power to rule the world. Now that Indy's mission is stated, we get watch the fun happen. TOD is more linear with its action, most of it taking place in the Thuggee mine. The mine car chase is one of Spielberg’s best executed with the camera getting right in the thick of the action. Although I still prefer Raiders and its Nazi bad guys, Mola Ram is one tough customer; Indy's disposal of him on the suspension bridge and his proclamation, 'Prepare to meet Kali... in Hell! is one of the best baddie movie deaths. Spielberg’s talents as an action director are undeniable here as his framing of a shot, his sense of geography when it comes to shooting and cutting coherent action sequences. The movie is great as it gives us a taste of what the typical 1930’s Hollywood musical was like, only bigger and with the Spiel’s touch. The opening scene proves the man needs to do a musical NOW! The nightclub fracas is solid too! Although the jumping out of the airplane with the inflatable raft nearly crosses the line of believability, it's still a hoot. The film has a great sense of humor as well; the gross-out dinner scene with chilled monkey brains, eyeball soup, beetle pate` and slimy eels slithering across the table. Instead of snakes, we get a room full of bugs and spiders complete with protruding spikes reminiscent of Lucas' trash compactor scene in "Star Wars: ANH." Ford is well, Ford, he knows this character like no other. We don't really learn anything new, but we like Indy so it doesn't really matter. As I said earlier, his wits are not always at their most keen, which is part of the characters appeal. Even with all of these high flying adventures, he still makes stupid mistakes just like everyone else. His best line in the movie is also the funniest, “WE…ARE…GOING…TO…DIEEEE.” Now to hear some say it, Scott and Short Round are the two most annoying characters this side of Jar Jar Binks. Not so. Both characters have some great one-liners and offer an interesting and intended contrast to Raiders', tough, independent Marion and Sallah's low-key goofiness. If Lucas/Spielberg had taken the easy way and created characters similar to Marion and Sallah, foul would have been screamed anyway as charges of repeating themselves would have been levied. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. For me they pulled it off nicely. The movie did create a controversy with its intense violence, so much so it spawned the very first PG-13 rating. Watching it now, it’s all so very tame. I have seen worse on the network news and from those revolting skanks from “Sex in the City.” I think many hated this film (although the box-office success said otherwise) because it was such a departure from the first film in approach and atmosphere. So what? What's wrong with that? Many felt there was no joy in the film. Again, not true, the opening sequence is worth about three films in the modern age so screw the haters. Indy is still one of the best characters ever created and for my money, there is no such thing as bad Indiana Jones movie, Temple of Doom is solid entertainment all the way around.