Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Special Edition)
by Stany de Silva
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Chua Kah Joo, Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Lorraine Doyle, Roy ChiaoDirector: Stany de Silva
Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
Cinematographer: Paul Beeson
Cinematographer: Allen Daviau
Cinematographer: Douglas Slocombe
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-05-13
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Special Edition)
Movie Review: A good action fiction, but the other movies are better.
Summary: 3 Stars
First, this is a good action flick for when you are bored. It has all the basics any would find in the adventure genre.
Unfortunately, some of the first "1" score reviews reflected some of my concerns. I would suggest approaching this movie as a fiction and based on an individual group of villains, as opposed to the entirety of the worship populace of their goddess. Not only is the depiction of Shiva being a God of Light figure and Kali being a demonic goddess inaccurate to the views of their religion, people still have this tendency to believe these stories reflect the culture. Consequently, I warn against this. When I watched the movie, the Thugee controversy was the least of concern when I saw what people were having for dinner in the film. In some ways I actually cannot blame people for thinking it negatively portrayed South Asians.
That aside, I had other critiques. The female lead, while played well, was not my ideal character. I also thought Lucas could have written a better movie if he actually made it like he did with Star Wars (which redeemed him in the end, as far as I am concerned). The story would have been better if it was deliberately portrayed as being based off a myth made by him and inspired by Hinduism, as opposed to have been based off what was already established (albeit with the addendum of negative colonial propaganda and orientalism). Not only would this remove some cultural representation (or misrepresentation) concerns, but it would emphasize his strengths.
If one can take this as what it is - a fiction - and try not to judge South Asians based on this film, I say this is a good film to watch for what it is. I personally preferred the other Indiana Jones movies for what they had to offer as far as content goes. I just would not would not call every German a racist Nazi (who even they had their heroes who opposed the inhumane ones).
Summary of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Special Edition)
The second of the George Lucas/Steven Spielberg Indiana Jones epics is set a year or so before the events in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1984). After a brief brouhaha involving a precious vial and a wild ride down a raging Himalyan river, Indy (Harrison Ford) gets down to the problem at hand: retrieving a precious gem and several kidnapped young boys on behalf of a remote East Indian village. His companions this time around include a dimbulbed, easily frightened nightclub chanteuse (Kate Capshaw), and a feisty 12-year-old kid named Short Round (Quan Ke Huy). Throughout, the plot takes second place to the thrills, which include a harrowing rollercoaster ride in an abandoned mineshaft and Indy's rescue of the heroine from a ritual sacrifice. There are also a couple of cute references to Raiders of the Lost Ark, notably a funny variation of Indy's shooting of the Sherpa warrior.It's hard to imagine that a film with worldwide box office receipts topping $300 million worldwide could be labeled a disappointment, but some moviegoers considered Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the second installment in Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' 1980s adventure trilogy, to be just that. That doesn't mean it's a bad effort; any collaboration between these two cinema giants (Spielberg directed, while Lucas provided the story and was executive producer) is bound to have more than its share of terrific moments, and Temple of Doom is no exception. But in exchanging the very real threat of Nazi Germany for the cartoonish Thuggee cult, it loses some of the heft of its predecessor (Raiders of the Lost Ark); on the other hand, it's also the darkest and most disturbing of the three films, what with multiple scenes of children enslaved, a heart pulled out of a man's chest, and the immolation of a sacrificial victim, which makes it less fun than either Raiders or The Last Crusade, notwithstanding a couple of riotous chase scenes and impressively grand sets. Many fans were also less than thrilled with the new love interest, a spoiled, querulous nightclub singer portrayed by Kate Capshaw, but a cute kid sidekick ("Short Round," played by Ke Huy Quan) and, of course, the ever-reliable Harrison Ford as the cynical-but-swashbuckling hero more than make up for that character's shortcomings.
A six-minute introduction by Lucas and Spielberg is the prime special feature, with both men candidly addressing the film's good and bad points (Lucas points out that the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, was also the darkest of the original three; as for Spielberg, the fact that the leading lady would soon become his wife was the best part of the whole trip). Also good are "The Creepy Crawlies," a mini-doc about the thousands of snakes, bugs, rats and other scary critters that populate the trilogy, and "Travels with Indy," a look at some of the films' cool locations. Storyboards and a photo gallery are included as well. --Sam Graham
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