A film that wanted to spice up its franchise, with Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford efficient at entertaining
It is less common to find franchises that at an unexpected point pivot in an important way in terms of tone or genre with respect to the general line. There are increasingly stricter controls for fear that a negative reaction from fans will forever poison the commercial drift of the films, and that is why we so often find quite archetypal continuations.
Obviously it is something that we viewers in general lose, but also the franchises themselves that are more inevitably heading towards exhaustion. Even though the possibility of failure is there, we must not rule out some occasional lurches with which give free rein to some obsessions or concerns. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t have movies like ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’.
Ruins and a curse
The second film of most famous archaeologist in the world, a tandem creation of director Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and actor Harrison Ford, is now celebrating 40 years since its release. It’s a good time to remember its fun, nonsensical tone and its nostalgia for the classic adventure films that can now be seen streaming through Disney+ and SkyShowtime.
Set a few years before the events of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, the film shows Jones through the Shanghai area to recover a valuable object, but in the process of fleeing he ends up escaping with a singer. Together with an infant who acts as an assistant, the three end up in India, taking refuge in a town that ends up requesting their help.
Spielberg’s motivation to create Indiana Jones with his partner came from his frustration at not being able to make his dream James Bond movie, something he tries to vent in a sensational opening scene that combines elegance and crazy humor. But above all it was a vehicle to explore his nostalgia for the serials that he watched in theaters as a child, or the classic adventure films where imposing protagonists go through sets that exaggerate exotic places.
‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’: past times
In ‘The Temple of Doom’ he seeks to take it to its craziest side, to entertainment with a cartoon tone, which even in a context of 1984 seems to go too far. What was intended fails to land in its portrayal of Asian people, from the character of Ke Huy Quan who is an uncomfortable recurring joke to how it captures the locals. Of course, it is not that the franchise has boasted respectful portraits of this type of civilizations, but here greater friction is felt due to humorous intentions.
Some that also collide with darker and more sinister moments, with some sequences that bristle the tension towards an almost expressionist terror. They are ideas that are somewhat unleashed, but at the same time interesting so as not to repeat themselves with respect to his previous and masterful film. And it doesn’t change what he has a more than notable effectiveness thanks to Spielberg’s cinematographic pulse and Ford’s dedication both in action and humor. In the end, its ability to entertain outweighs its obvious flaws, which distinguish it among the five films in the saga.
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