Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom1984

75/100 A thrilling followup to the first film, or rather prequel, something which is never hinted at in the movie. However, while good in itself, there are some noticeable flaws which I'll get to later. First, the positives. First off, this film feels very unique, removing Indiana from the context of fighting Nazis which most know him for. The effects also see improvement and the tone is way darker, increasing the feeling of uniqueness, helped along by the Indian setting, which was pleasant enough to see. However, this proved to be less exciting when the Indians are portrayed as either helpless, reliant on their white saviour Indiana Jones, or evil Thuggees. The racism reaches its heights during a weird scene where for some reason the Indians serve food such as live snakes, beetles and monkey brains. I need scarcely say that I have been living in India for a while and have never tasted such delicacies. Moreover, the film has multiple jokes centered around Indy's Asian sidekick, Short Round, and his heavily exaggerated accent. Luckily for us, just like last movie, this needless racism is accompanied by needless sexism in the new love interest Willie Scott. Willie's purpose in the plot is for two reasons: one, to serve as a pointless love interest in an unneeded sideplot, and two, to scream at every sign of danger. I don't care how much it makes sense in the scenario, my ears are still bleeding. However, the racism and the sexism are by far the worst of the movie's issues, and while it may be hard to look past, there's a lot to like once you manage it. Of course, the action is as incredible as ever. There are so many great scenes here, from the opening action scene in China to the frantic minecart chase, which if I recall correctly is a cliche this movie invented. The movie never really stops to breathe, but with how enthralling these scenes are, it doesn't need to. I also know that I complained about Ke Huy Quan as Short Round earlier, but other than the racist jokes, I surprisingly liked his character. He's not bad as kid sidekicks go, being just as nonchalant as Indy while still being realistic. He's also more useful than usual for these kids, being the one who figures out how to break the Black Sleep of Kali. These are all helped along by impressive stunt work and set design, particularly in the underground temple where the majority of the movie takes place, making it really exciting to watch. And of course, the highlight is the villain, Mola Ram, who is such a great and memorable villain, so in love with his own evil, that I don't care how racist it is. If Indians are going to be depicted as villains, this is the type of villain to depict them as: pure evil and great fun to watch. Overall, I found this one to be much more weak and frantic than its predecessor in story, if an upgrade in terms of action, lacking in what made Raiders work so well. It's very good in itself, setting out to be a fun action movie and managing it fine, but it's aged very poorly and honestly I doubt it was that good back then. Compared to Raiders, you can clearly tell which movie is better.