INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (1984)

It turns out that neither helmer Steven Spielberg nor producer George Lucas have much affection for the joyless, over-produced prequel they made three years after the infinitely superior RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK/’81. Their distaste, as seen on the DVD-Extras, is unusually frank, but it’s hard to disagree with them. The passing years have only emphasized the film’s faults. Harrison Ford is still pitch-perfect as Indiana, but nothing else matches the kind of kidding-on-the-square attitude that defined the original. The GUNGA DIN style plot feels like small potatoes after taking on the Nazis; the stunts and gross-out humor are all bark & no bite; and poor Kate Capshaw fails to delight as the romantic feminine nuisance. Worse yet, you can’t properly ‘read’ any plausibility into the big action sequences which is what made the death-defying escapes in RAIDERS so much fun to watch. No wonder those boys bad-mouth this one.