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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

tomatometer

85

Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 61
Fresh: 52 | Rotten: 9

It may be too "dark" for some, but Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom remains an ingenious adventure spectacle that showcases one of Hollywood's finest filmmaking teams in vintage form.

50

Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 4

It may be too "dark" for some, but Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom remains an ingenious adventure spectacle that showcases one of Hollywood's finest filmmaking teams in vintage form.

audience

80

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 640,197

My Rating

Movie Info

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),

PG,

Action & Adventure

Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz

Oct 21, 2003

Paramount Pictures - Official Site External Icon

Cast

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All Critics (61) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (58) | Rotten (10) | DVD (37)

Again you will savor the Indiana Jones schizophrenia: by day a bow-tied, bespectacled archaeologist; by night a resourceful swaggerer, whom Ford brings to life as a modern blend of Bogie and the Duke, with just a glint of misfit psychopathy in his eyes.

January 13, 2010 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment (1)
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's not the darker turn that makes The Temple of Doom uncomfortable at times; it's its mean-spiritedness.

June 10, 2008 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comments (6)
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Pic comes on like a sledgehammer, and there's even a taste of vulgarity and senseless excess not apparent in Raiders.

May 5, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment (1)
Variety
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The film betrays no human impulse higher than that of a ten-year-old boy trying to gross out his baby sister by dangling a dead worm in her face.

Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Set years before the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is sillier, darkly violent and a bit dumbed down, but still great fun.

December 28, 2006
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Part of the trouble is that anything clearly does go, including the slender hold on credibility that Raiders managed to maintain.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment (1)
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

an unbelievably crass, unpleasant, horrific picture

October 15, 2012 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central
Film Freak Central

A necessary package for any fan of the franchise, at least until the folks at Lucasfilm dust off another forgotten making-of feature or, God forbid, green light another Indiana Jones adventure.

September 16, 2012 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

More gore, gross-outs than the other Indy blockbusters.

January 2, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

...an obvious step down from its stellar predecessor...

May 26, 2008 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews
Reel Film Reviews

[T]he best of the Indiana Jones movies...it's insanely wonderful, in every sense of those words.

May 25, 2008 Full Review Source: LYTRules.com | Comment (1)

It lacks the sense of detail that made Raiders such a treat. It isn't very clever, very funny or very compelling.

May 22, 2008 Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | Comments (4)
Kansas City Star

Just like the Thuggees took the magic rocks from a humble Indian village, the producers of this Temple of Doom DVD reissue made off with all the good extras.

May 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

The reality is that this is the film that comes closest to reflecting the racism, sexism and jingoism that fuelled most of the serials that originally sparked Spielberg and George Lucas's impressionable young imaginations.

May 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

Where the brilliant "Raiders" was an adventure film aimed at the child at heart, "Temple of Doom" is really designed for the kiddie market itself.

May 21, 2008 Full Review Source: CinemaBlend.com
CinemaBlend.com

If it was a sign of the times for Indiana Jones to take on more of a comic-book aspect, the film's accomodation of darker themes and explicit imagery came as something of a shock to many.

May 14, 2008 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews
Groucho Reviews

...makes you wonder if Spielberg and series producer George Lucas might have been going through some sort of drug phase.

May 7, 2008 Full Review Source: LarsenOnFilm | Comments (7)
LarsenOnFilm

...they generated most of the excitement this time from a sequence of gross-out gags and several exhilarating stunts. (Blu-ray edition)

May 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

While 'The Temple of Doom' is a bit gloomy, puts children in danger, and confines its action primarily to one spot, it's still quite entertaining. (Blu-ray edition)

May 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

A breakneck adventure that moves at twice the pace of the original but has only half the creative strength.

May 5, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Fantastically choreographed action sequences and another comely companion for Indy (Capshaw) and gloriously overdone visual devices make up for the shameless lack of plot.

May 5, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

Though not as thrilling as Raiders of the Lost Ark, the second chapter still has merits, particularly its fast pacing, spectacular opening scene, and visual effects, which won the Oscars in 1984.

April 29, 2008 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

Audience Reviews for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is nowhere near as good as its predecessor, Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it hasn't lost the sense of adventure that made that earlier film so iconic. Certainly the boundaries of realism and plausibility are stretched rather thin, but this sequel (actually a prequel since the events take place before the events in Raiders) is solid entertainment.
This time around, Indy finds himself narrowly escaping a botched attempt in China to retrieve a precious diamond. He ends up in India, where he is employed by a small town to find a stolen gem as well as a multitude of kidnapped boys. This endeavour is quite unsettling as the truth that Indy uncovers is not only mean-spirited but downright terrifying. Accompanied with a cast of popular Indian actors that add to this film's universal appeal, Temple of Doom is a fun adventure that will disturb and enthrall in equal doses.
February 5, 2007
MovieGeek13

Super Reviewer

While not having as great a story as the original film, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" serves as a very entertaining picture towards this adventure franchise, which has lasted decades and deeply impacted cinema. I must say that the characters in this film are much more fun to watch, due to their silliness, and the direction is just as good as before. The story unravels, less interesting than the first, but the action is far more improved. This sequel is not one to miss if you are a fan of the first. I enjoyed the hell out of it, although it's not as original!
September 25, 2010
KJ Proulx

Super Reviewer

    1. Indiana Jones: (On the bridge) Shorty! (speaks Chinese while Short Round wraps a loop around his wrist)
    2. Short Round: Hang on, lady. We going for a ride.
    3. Willie Scott: Oh my god! Oh my god. Oh my god, is he nuts?
    4. Short Round: He no nuts. He's crazy.
    5. Indiana Jones: Mola Ram! Prepare to meet Kali, in hell!
    – Submitted by Cody H (3 months ago)
    1. Willie Scott: There are two dead people out here!
    2. Indiana Jones: [in the collapsing chamber with Short Round] There's gonna be two dead people in here! Hurry!
    – Submitted by Cody H (3 months ago)
    1. Willie Scott: Why, you conceited ape.I'm not that easy.
    2. Indiana Jones: I'm not that easy either.
    – Submitted by Ursula N (7 months ago)
    1. Indiana Jones: Short Round, step on it!
    2. Short Round: Okey dokey, Dr. Jones. Hold on to your potatoes!
    3. Willie Scott: For crying out loud, there's a kid driving the car!
    – Submitted by Typhon Q (8 months ago)
    1. Mola Ram: Kali Ma...Kali Ma.
    – Submitted by Nash A (10 months ago)
    1. Indiana Jones: Molo Ram! Prepare to meet Kali...in hell!
    – Submitted by Nash A (10 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Indiana Jones und der Tempel des Todes (DE)
  • Indiana Jones et le temple maudit (FR)
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