User reviews

An indication of the personal termoil that Spielberg and Lucas were experiencing at the time, this is a darker, more ominous installment in the franchise although still a rip roaring adventure despite some of the political incorrectness that often dates older films. Not as charming as the original but a solid action adventure movie which stands on its own.

...is annoying as hell, but otherwise this is a very entertaining, action filled movie!

The Cult of Thuggees seek to plunder, Sankara Stones and all their wonder, an archaeologist will resist, using whips and guns and fist, in a treasure of a film packed with adventure.

There are puzzles to be solved and riddles broken, the dialogue's a joy, beautifully spoken, action packed from start to end, returns a massive dividend, engaging all the way and thought provoking.

I know that there are a lot of haters when it comes to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, it has it's flaws and is by no means the strongest movie of the Indiana Jones series, but I just have so many good memories about this film and still to this day when I watch it, it gives me chills and excitement. The characters are memorable, the script is great, and Indiana is still pulling in the action packed excitement continuing from Raiders of the Lost Ark. The direction, editing, even the special effects are great. You have to love Short Round and Willy, the two new side kicks to Indiana's new adventure. Now I agree, Willy can get a little annoying here and there, but she was just so hilarious in that scene with the bugs and having to save Indiana and Short Round. Plus, Short Round has some of the most memorable lines of the entire series "Okey, dokey, Dr. Jones, hold on to your potato!", cheesy, but so funny. Harrison Ford still has Indiana down to a tee, this was the role that was meant for him.

In this prequel, we start off in China on a trade off gone wrong with Lao Che, he ends up meeting a beautiful and very high maintence American girl, Willie. They escape together with Indiana's little side kick, Short Round and accidentally without knowing, they've escaped onto Lao Che's air plane. They wind up in India, where they find out about these rocks that can restore the village they're in, also the children have been kidnapped by Mola Ram and Indiana must free the kids and restore the rocks so the village can be safe again.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a fun sequel, I don't know why people complain so much about it. I can understand if people say it's the weakest of the series, but on it's own, this is a fantastic movie. It's one of my biggest recommendations to my friends as well as other film viewers. It just has everything you could want: action, romance, alligators, and heart sacrifices, lol, OK, that sounded gross, just trust me this that this is such a fun movie. It's one of my favorite films, I know that sounds bad, but I just love this film. It's a lot of fun and Indiana and Short Round are just the best buddies to watch argue on screen. This is an awesome sequel, definitely a must see.

9/10

It's funny to call "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" a followup to "Raiders of the Lost Ark". This film is a prequel to the 1981 smash hit, a movie where the events that take place actually took place before the events in "Raiders". Notice at the beginning of "Raiders" that the year is 1936. In "Temple of Doom", the year is 1935. See what I mean? "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" is another rollercoaster ride of a movie brought to life by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Harrison Ford is back as archaeologist Indiana Jones who this time searches for a sacred stone that was stolen from an Indian village. Along for the ride is American singer/entertainer Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw, aka Mrs. Steven Spielberg) and little Chinese sidekick Short Round (Ke Huy Quan). On their way to finding the stone they stumble across a palace that leads to the gateway of the Temple of Doom run by an evil Thugee cult. The action and special effects are first-rate as you would expect, though the story is a tad weaker than it was in "Raiders". Plus, Capshaw's performance leaves something to be desired. She goes so far over-the-top in some scenes that you'd wish Karen Allen would show up as Marion. Nevertheless, Capshaw isn't all that bad. She does make an impression during the times when she's not screaming. But Ke Huy Quan (now known as Jonathan Ke Quan) comes off better as Indy's young sidekick. The following year he starred in the Spielberg produced Richard Donner directed "The Goonies", but then didn't appear in much after that. "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" is great fun only if you can get by Kate Capshaw's simpering wimpering character or the over-the-top violence. I found it to be exciting from beginning to end.

***1/2 (out of four)

POINT OF INTEREST: this was the film that lead to the creation of the PG-13 rating in 1984 (along with Spielberg's other 1984 movie "Gremlins"). Both "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and "Gremlins" feature violence that most people felt was too strong for a PG rating, though the MPAA felt that it wasn't strong enough to merit an R rating (other Spielberg movies that got PG ratings that were quite intense were "Jaws", "Poltergeist", and the original "Raiders of the Lost Ark"). So after "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and "Gremlins" opened in theaters at the beginning of the summer movie season of 1984 and became two of that year's biggest hits, the MPAA realized a new rating had to be created. The PG-13 rating was born. In August 1984, the first movies were released with the new PG-13 rating ("Red Dawn" and "The Woman in Red"). It's not a new rating anymore. The PG-13 rating has held up very well these last 18 years and it'll still go strong in the years to come. But I'll always remember "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" as the leading factor to the creation of the PG-13 rating.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is the second of the Indy films from director Steven Spielberg, though chronologically it is actually the first. This prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark tries to out-do its predecessor for breakneck spills and gross-out moments, but the sparkle isn't quite there. It's an entertaining film for sure, but not as good as the original, partially because the plotting this time round is a little awkward and partially because Kate Capshaw as the main female character is an almighty irritation.

The film opens in a Shanghai restaurant, where Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) causes a riot in pursuit of a diamond. Fleeing the scene with American singer Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) and teenaged pick-pocket Short Round (Ke Huy Quan), he escapes to the airport. However, Indy and his companions unwittingly board an airplane owned by one of Indy's enemies, from which they have to make an audacious mid-air escape when the real pilots bail out mid-flight! Soon, the intrepid trio find themselves in India, where they come across a village in the grip of starvation. The village children have been kidnapped by local cultists to work in a mine, digging for the sacred Sankara Stones, and Indy is persuaded by the distraught villagers to rescue their youngsters. His quest takes him to the opulent Pankot Palace and, beneath it and beyond a maze of tunnels, the Temple of Doom.

Ford is great as Jones, bringing genuine charisma to a role that he was born to play (can you imagine how things would have turned out if Tom Selleck had got the part, as originally planned?) There are some great moments along the way too, including the intentionally subversive opening sequence in Shanghai, a particularly funny and exciting runaway mine-train sequence, and an unforgettable banquet at Pankot Palace in which the food served up is enough to churn any stomach. But Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom still can't live up to the standard set by Raiders of the Lost Ark. As mentioned, Capshaw is a real pain on the senses as the always-squealing heroine, and the plot seems to over-stretch in an effort to link to the next development or set piece. The hunt-for-the-missing-children plot device allows Spielberg to dip into the kind of cloying sentimentality that occasionally mars his films too. This is certainly an entertaining and professionally assembled film, but in no way a rival or an equal to the excellence of its predecessor.

Everyone complains about Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. One of my friends and I used to argue for months on end about which Indian Jones film was the superior. Almost anyone we ask say that Temple of Doom is their least favorite, and the worst in the Jones trilogy. I believe the only reason people say this, is because it's the middle film, sandwiched between an all time classic, and a Hollywood blockbuster. To me, there is NO question that Raiders of the Lost Ark is the far superior Indiana Jones film. To anyone who says Last Crusade is the best I can do nothing but disagree (let me point out that all THREE films are nothing short of phenomenal). Temple of Doom had so much to live up to after the first film, and instead of trying to re-create Raiders (something I feel Crusade did), Lucas and Spielberg decided to take the franchise in a new direction. In my opinion, this was a great idea. Crusade and Raiders are too similar: both of them take place in desert terrain, both have Indy going after a very famous, biblical artifact, and both have Indy fighting off the Nazi's from attaining this object for global domination. Without Temple of Doom, Last Crusade would be an obvious copy of Raiders of the Lost Ark. A different style of Indy film is needed to expand the trilogy, making Indiana Jones a truly global character, and Temple of Doom did just that.

The film itself is a non-stop action, adventure ride. Harrison Ford is once again AMAZING as the dashing professor/archaeologist thrill seeker. Short Round is a loveable character who adds a humorous touch, and reveals the more compassionate side of Indy's character. The ceremony scenes are truly breathtaking and tense. During these scenes the film contains some very graphic images, but are used justifiably to convey the real dark, feel of this film (i.e. the removing of the man's heart while he's still alive, and lowering him into a fiery pit). The mine cart chase scenes are the most amazing, fast moving action sequence in any of the Indy films, and you feel like you're on a roller coaster each time you watch it. All these events lead to the film's spectacular and memorable climax.

I know with three films as amazing as the Indiana Jones trilogy, it's hard to pick a best and worst film, in fact it's nearly impossible. I'm just going to say that each film is great on it's own, and really shouldn't be compared to the other two.

(re-Review): I've never disliked this movie, but it's also been a hard movie to love over time. I also never watched it as much as I can remember Raiders, or even Last Crusade (the latter I feel like was more of a TV thing, like on the USA network). I think the two main things that bog this down are a) I don't really care all that much about the quest for the stones - as far as MacGuffins go, these are some flimsy MacGuffins, which I almost forgot about midway through the movie, and b) Willie Scott is just a terribly written character.

Kate Capshaw, it should be said, isn't exactly BAD, per-say, but her character is so one-dimensional that she's not really given all that much interesting stuff to do except be the uber/quintessential Damsel-in-Distress, to the point (perhaps it was the idea?) of parody, or as some kind of ditzy sexual object. Her best scene is when she is going back and forth across the room, inter-cut with Jones talking to himself, about whether or not to leave the room or wait for the other to come to have 'mating rituals'. Oh, she CAN be annoying in her screaming and perpetual HELP ME-ness, and yet it's interesting that some people - not all, but some - are more annoyed by Short Round.

To put it into Star Wars terms, imagine, easily enough, that Jones is Han Solo (and of course, both are Ford). Short Round is basically one of the droids, doing whatever to help the hero in his quest. Willie, on the other hand, is no Leia, or even a goddamn Padme. It's a flatly written one-dimensional object to follow along Dr. Jones on this mission that, in the grand scheme of things with this series, is a bit superfluous.

Some backstory on the production can sometimes help; it was a dark time for Lucas as he was going through a divorce, and he poured I imagine a lot of that darkness into the depiction of these tribespeople doing their insane rituals involving torn-hearts and fires burned and so on underground. Certainly those moments where Jones is in 'evil' mode are scary - though how he just snaps out of it due to fire is just one of those 'things' you really have to suspend-to-disbelieve here. And on Spielberg's part, he's always there to work and make some craftsman-stuff, but his heart is really in a couple of the set- pieces, like the descending spikes from the ceiling in the trapped room, and of course the cart-chase.

That cart-chase is a piece of icon action cinema, and for good reason; it makes the movie into a literal interpretation of what it's trying to be, as a ROLLER COASTER ride. And like roller- coasters, they're fun, they're diverting, they may be scary, and once they're over you... don't get much substance from them. So Spielberg is there to work but not fully with his heart in it (one wonders what he thought of the script on first read, from future Howard the Duck scribes Hyuck and Katz), and Lucas in a mood that is bizarre and tonally strange. What to make of a movie that has such very dark turns, and the ends with the goofiest set piece of Jones chopping a bridge so that the nameless Indians fall to their deaths as hords of crocodiles are just there already waiting.

In other words, this is the most outlandish, CARTOONISH of the bunch. I'd almost like this more if it was an animated movie; ironically years later Spielberg would make The Adventures of Tintin, a kind of Indiana Jones with a kid as the hero, and that somehow is LESS cartoony than this movie with its scenes where everything is over the top. Again, it makes for a good ride, and Ford is always great as Indiana Jones - yes, even in Crystal Skull, which I don't think is as bad as has been made out to be - but it's memorable only for the ride aspect, not for its particular, shall we say, pathos.

After the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the sequel was inevitable. George Lucas came up with the story and Steven Spielberg again directed this second adventure in the Indiana Jones serial. The high energy and joy seen in Raiders of the Lost Ark has been replaced with a darker, more serious adventure, as Indiana is charged with recovering a magic stone for a village in India who has seen drought and all of the children have gone missing. The beginning of the movie is the high point of the film, with an extravagant musical number in club Obi Wan (oh, that George Lucas and his inside Star Wars jokes), a Shanghai night club where Indiana is closing a deal over artifacts from the Chinese dynasty. Kate Capshaw is the featured singer and the latest "Indiana girl" in this film, a movie that, curiously enough, occurs BEFORE Raiders of the Lost Ark, so the suspense of Jones' fate (if there really was any) is removed, and so any potential love affairs that fail to carry over between movies. Also missing is John Rhys-Davies' Sallah and Deholm Elliot's Brody, instead, we get to see Indy's child helper, Short Round, who's job is to go into tight quarters and say "Doctor Jones" about 300 times. The plot is complicated, as I had to watch the movie a couple of times to get an idea of was actually happening, and, unlike the previous film, most of the movie happens in one place. The famous scene in this movie is the dinner at the palace, where the visitors are treated to chilled monkey brains and other appealing meals. The movie does feature a fantastic scene with an underground rail system that turns into a chase sequence that is filmed well and is enjoyable to watch. This film does not have the whimsy or innocence seen in the other two Indiana movies, and suffers because of it. While still an enjoyable film, it is the least of the three Indiana movies.

For a long time, this was the only one of the three Indiana Jones films I did not like. Then, when it was part of the DVD package that came out over five years ago, I had to buy it if I wanted the other two, so I gave it a third look. Wow, all of sudden I liked it.

For the first time, the woman (Kate Capshaw) and the young boy (Ke Huy Quan) weren't as annoying as I had remembered them. The stupid kid really had rubbed me the wrong way, but this time only Kate was annoying....and she was fine once she calmed down and got rid of the hysterics.

The action in this film is mostly at the beginning and at the end. It is so Rambo-ish (bad guys never hit the target but good guys always do) it is ludicrous. It also has dumb dialog in a number of spots, paying homage to voodooism, spells and other nonsense.

Yet, despite these criticisms, it's entertaining start-to-finish and has some fantastic visuals. The photography in here is beautiful: the best of the three Jones adventures. I particularly liked the opening dance number which reminded me of a Busby Berkeley extravaganza. This whole film looks spectacular on DVD.

You are Steve Spielberg and George Lucas. You have created one of the best made films of all time. You have created a box office bonanza. You have created one of the most iconic movie characters of all time.

What do you do? How do you follow it up? All too often we see filmmakers fall into the deadly sequel trap, this trap of course being "take the elements and scenes the public really responded to in the first film, and ramp it up to 11"

Invariably, this approach always fails. Why does it always fail? Because this strategy is often pursued at the expense of the most important element of all- character development and a coherent story, which are the elements that made the original as successful as it was in the first place.

From the first scene of Raiders the character of Indy is carefully unfolded before us- he is a man who is driven, resourceful, intelligent, and not afraid of a good fight. But he is also has his weak spots( fear of snakes, which isn't even a weak spot because it enhances his character by showing he has some vulnerabilities) and can be a bad judge of character( the underling who double crosses him in the first 10 min of Raiders). These elements are developed and built upon as the story unfolds.

As for the story, again it is laid out carefully. We have Indiana's rivalry with Belloq who is Indiana's cynical foil, his willingness to fight against evil by seeking the Ark to foil the Nazis, his past relationship with Marion, and the unveiling mystery surrounding the ark. All of this is done in a balanced and measured way.

The characterization of Indiana and the other major characters is balanced with the telling of the story. Do we learn all of the backstory for each major character? No, but we learn enough about them to make them fully fleshed and compelling. Belloq is amoral and greedy, but like Jones he does have a love for knowledge and values artifacts, also he does at least feel human compassion for Marion- a tough nut, a woman who can fight her own battles and as the movies goes on you can see why a man like Indy fell for her. Sallah is a loyal friend to Indy with whom we can infer he has had some previous adventures.

Raiders was a great balance of characterization, story, plot, great action sequences, amazing FX and an iconic score. All combining to make one of the best movies of all time.

Sadly, Temple sacrificed the characterization and plot and just decides to make this simple one big action sequence with some gross out sequences to pander to the kids- Temple really went of the way to pander to the child audience( the character of short round, the plot of kids needing to be rescued, gross out moments etc). Was this an attempt to increase merchandising sales? I do not know. Even more disturbing, Indy's "love interest" this time around is more a caricature of the damsel in distress rather than a fully fleshed out character. We are not given insight into the motivations or desires of the villains other than they are Eeeeeevell. In the other words, the villains are just stock wooden characters there to be defeated by Indiana. Granted, its hard to create a better villain than Nazis, but at least Belloq had some charm and style.

But the most disappointing aspect of this sequel is..we don't learn anything new about Indiana. How did he become the man we saw in Raiders? Given that the film is set a year before the events of Raiders, it was a perfect opportunity to show some of the events that lead to Henry Jones jr becoming Indiana Jones. But in this film, we are given nothing to add to the aura or mystique of Jones, nothing to illuminate other facets of his character or his relationships that existed by the beginning of Raiders.

Some said the movie failed because it was too dark, or too violent or too gross and too much action. The movie failed because despite having a fantastic character to base the movie upon, it failed to tell the story of that character.

I rented this movie years ago after seeing and loving the first Indiana Jones movie. 15 or so minutes into it, I rewound it and took it back to the video store. This should be titled "Indiana Jones Listens to Kate Capshaw Screaming". Oh. My. God. I HATED this movie. I just could not stand another minute of her screaming. I remember nothing from this movie except screaming. Her screaming was so distracting and annoying that I don't even know why she was screaming. Truly, truly awful.

Temple of Doom may not be as good as Raiders, but it doesn't deserve all this negative flak. The story is a little darker but that doesn't take anything away from the film. It makes the situation that much more dire. John Williams' score infuses the sacrifice sequence with a sense of building dread. The chanting, the heavy drums all building into a wild climax of heart burning and lava filled mayhem. The mine car chase is wild fun and Indy's bridge manuver is one hell of a climax. Still don't know why everyone's so down on this movie.

I can't understand how this movie is rated so low? This is an absolutely fantastic movie. The best in the trilogy. Of course everybody always rates the first movie in a trilogy the best - like Godfather I and Star Wars(the original 1977 movie), but clearly the films that followed them were better, as is the case with this one. I saw this film about 20 times as a kid and have recently watched all 3 movies again, enjoying this one the best. It has some great action sequences in it, notably the roller coaster ride through the mine, some great laughs, and romance. What more could a movie offer?

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is the second instalment of the Indiana Jones franchise and the prequel, yes, prequel to the first film. The decision to go for a prequel was an interesting one but didn't affect the film at all as it was a different quest to the first film. That aside, for me this film was very disappointing compared to what the first film accomplished. This felt like it was missing a lot of the elements that the first film managed to use so well. Yes this film did have some comedic moments but not as many as the first film and it did have a little more darker horror like scenes, but i felt that this was missing a lot of the awesome action/adventure sequences that made the first film so iconic. This film failed to deliver in that sense, there was some interesting action sequences but i didn't feel that the adventure was there, and i was pretty disappointed. The plot itself was at times pretty interesting and i was invested in what was going on and at times it dragged on and got predictable. I did like the opening, it had the comedy, action and mystery that i loved from the first Indiana Jones. But following their arrival in India they quickly setup the quest they had to go on but then spent quite a bit of time in the village and on the way to their destination, and it wasn't all that interesting. Similarly later on when the mystery gets revealed, it spends a lot of time inside this location that did not feel like Indiana Jones at all. It was a different environment that i was used to seeing him in and it really wasn't too interesting, some of the action was good though.

Harrison Ford still did a really good job as Indiana Jones and he was not the problem with this movie. I was not a huge fan of the supporting cast, Jonathan Ke Quan as Short Round was decent, his character was there to play as a sort of sidekick to Indiana and was a pretty likable kid. But, i really didn't like Kate Capshaw as Willie Scott, it was more the character that i didn't enjoy watching because i felt like she really didn't belong, if we had Short Round in the film for some comedic relief, i don't see why we needed Willie, i believe she was just there because the plot later on required her to be. John Williams again did a great job with the score but didn't live up to the first. And that really is the best way to describe this whole film, it did a decent to good job in all the categories but unfortunately fell really short of what the first film accomplished. - 6.8

The adventurer and archaeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) with his bullwhip wielding and hat will fight against nasty enemies in India along with an oriental little boy (Jonathan Ke Quan) and a night club Singer (Kate Capshaw who married Steven Spielberg). Jones agrees with the village's inhabitants look for a lost magic stone. Meanwhile , they stumble with a secret thug cult ruled by an evil priest (Amrish Puri).

The Indiana Jones adventures trilogy tries to continue the vintage pathes from the thirty years ago greatest classics , and the comics-books narrative , along with the special characteristics of the horror films of the 80s decade , as it is well reflected in the creepy and spooky scenes about human sacrifices . The picture is directed with great style and high adventure and driven along with enormous fair-play in the stunning mounted action set-pieces . Harrison Ford plays splendidly the valiant and brave archaeologist turned into an action man .Kate Capshaw interprets a scream girl who'll have a little romance with Indy . The movie blends adventures , noisy action , rip-snorting , humor , tongue-in-chek , it is a cinematic roller coaster ride and pretty bemusing . The motion picture has great loads of action , special effects galore and the usual and magnificent John Williams musical score . The glimmering and dazzling cinematography is efficiently realized by Douglas Slocombe . The pic was allrightly directed by Steven Spielberg. Film culminates in a spectacular finale that will have you on the edge of your seat . It's a must see for adventures aficionados , as perfect entertainment for all the family .

This film has often gotten a bad rap, especially around the time of its release. People have criticized this film for being too dark, violent, and disgusting. This may not be as good as the two films it is sandwiched in between, but it is still a lot of fun and another great Indiana Jones adventure.

The problem, of course, is that some scenes are way too violent and disturbing. This makes the movie not quite fit for little children. Another thing, Willie really can grate on your nerves at times with her constant whining and screaming.

However, the movie makes up for that in many other ways. Harrison Ford is still phenomenal as everyone's favorite adventure hero. Short Round is an adorable side-kick to Indy, and to be fair, Willie wasn't quite as annoying in the second half of the movie.

Unlike some people, I actually quite enjoyed the dark tone of the movie. The story was pretty cool, with Indy looking to find the Sankara stones and save the people of the village's children.

The action scenes once again deliver. The chase out in Shanghai is exciting, as is when the gang makes it out of the plane and ride in a raft. The mine cart chase was relentless; it was like being on a roller-coaster ride. The bridge scene was also filled with great tension.

The scenery in India is really nice and we once again get a rousing music score.

This is another classic Indiana Jones adventure. This may be the weakest of the original trilogy, but it's still way better than the fourth film.

RATING: A-

This is a shockingly bad movie. I can't for the life of me understand why it has earned over a 7.0 rating on IMDb and a club of supporters on the Internet. Nostalgia, perhaps?

I enjoy "Raiders of the Lost Ark," even though I find it to be a little politically incorrect and overrated. "The Temple of Doom," on the other hand, is downright atrocious, mightily racist and even a tad sexist. Apparently the movie was banned in India, and I can understand why, since it depicts Indians as miserably poor, superstitious, knife-waving, monkey-brain-eating lunatics.

The really sad part is that the movie stinks even if you manage to ignore the racism. It's chock full of disgusting moments, like the beetle-eating scene and the part where about a hundred bugs crawl all over Kate Capshaw. It simply pushes the gross envelope too far.

Even the never-ending action scenes are lacking. They're okay, I guess, but there's quite a lot of unconvincing blue screen work, and the big flood segment doesn't work because water doesn't "miniaturize" well. As if the special effects weren't bad enough in themselves, they're complimented by an obnoxious soundtrack, including some unusually bombastic John Williams music and Capshaw's relentless screaming.

You know, she really is a terrible heroine - annoying and painfully unfunny. A beautiful woman, sure, but irksome as all get-out. It's very surprising (in a bad way) to see such a lame female character in Indiana Jones after the series started off with Karen Allen's excellent performance as the (relatively) tough Marion Ravenwood.

Capshaw would be quite bad enough by herself, but compounding the casting problem there's Ke Huy Quan as Short Round, Indy's pointless kid sidekick. Whenever there's a stupid bit of slapstick comedy in the movie, Short Round helpfully cries, "Very funny! Very funny!" Which is code for painfully unfunny, of course.

Weirdly enough, Capshaw (whose character is called Willie, for goodness' sake!) and Short Round are really the only characters - the villains are completely faceless. There's a very bizarre segment when Indy puts on his scholarly glasses and has dinner with some people who I guess might qualify as characters, but the scene just doesn't fit with the rest of the movie, and never for a moment does the dialogue feel "real." So, in the absence of strong characters, the movie just sort of drunkenly reels from fight to fight.

I have one last observation. At one moment, Indy is waiting in his bedroom, expecting Capshaw to come in and have sex with him (he's too proud to go to her bedroom). The strange part about this set-up is that Short Round is in Indy's bedroom. Soooo...I guess Indy is expecting to have sex in front of Short Round? Isn't that a little strange? Well, maybe not; I guess the kid has to learn sometime. But maybe Indy should just go to her room, huh?

Sloppy scenes like that are a sure indication that Spielburg, Lucas and co. were really having an off day when they made this. Terrible, terrible, terrible.