Why Do We Love Temple of Doom?

Indyologist

Well-known member
I thought the comments made on the "hate Temple" thread were interesting, so I thought I'd make a counter-thread on why those of you here love Temple of Doom.

So if you love T of D, why do you?
 

Indy Parise

New member
No comments yet. Hmmmmm, interesting. I guess not too many people love TOD. Well, I like TOD as it was the first Indy film I saw. Is that enough to like a movie:confused:
 
It's dark... it's gritty.... Indy is both much harder and much softer a character throughout the movie....

We get to see Indy as evil..... And we get to see him saved...

I'll take Temple over either of the other 2 any day

It's just that good, to me
 

Jay R. Zay

New member
i don't love it. the so-called "humor" is nothing but childish low-level slapstick gags, worse than most sitcoms. the story has no visible storyline, indy just stumbles from one situation to the next.

the only reasons why this movie might be worth mentioning is the soundtrack and the poster art.
 

VP

Moderator Emeritus
Indy Parise said:
No comments yet. Hmmmmm, interesting. I guess not too many people love TOD.

No comments in one hour and 16 minutes. I would give it some time.

ToD was made in the style of classic adventure serials (unlike LC), has lots of classic Indy moments, is full of action and thus is a better Indiana Jones movie than Last Crusade.
 

Jay R. Zay

New member
ClintonHammond said:
"the so-called "humor" is nothing but childish low-level slapstick gags"

Better than the cartoon that is Last Crusade, in my book

not in mine, though. the LC humor was ironic. it was full of humor and not always great one. but on the whole, i liked the humor very much as it didn't live in the obvious jokes but in the way that the humorous situations were constructed. ToD's jokes were like sketches, the LC jokes were connected to the story. and while ToD was entirely lacking subtle and/or sophisticated humor, LC had many of it. LC wasn't more serious, it just was a more mature kind of humor.
 

VP

Moderator Emeritus
Indiana Jones is an action hero, not a humorous comedy character.
 
"just was a more mature kind of humor"

Just goes to show how different people can see one thing in two totally different ways.... cause I wouldn't call thge humour in LC 'mature' in the least.....

"not a humorous comedy character"
He sure was in LC
 

Jay R. Zay

New member
VP said:
Indiana Jones is an action hero, not a humorous comedy character.

surprisingly he starred in two of three movies that showed a higher-than-average amount of humor.

then again, movies surely can't capture his real life personality... :rolleyes:

but as hard as i try i can't find where i called him "a humorous comedy character". if this was the unit by which we measure the quality of indy-movies, ToD probably would be found much higher on the comedy scale. because, as opposing to LC, in ToD the story supports the gags, not vice versa.
 

VP

Moderator Emeritus
Surprisingly there was a lot of humor in LC and the movie sucked. The first thing you mentioned while explaining why you didn't like ToD was humor, so I naturally picked that and exaggerated the point a bit.
 
I wouldn't say that LC 'sucked' in the least... It was more than fun enough.... but it was way more cartooney, way more of a parody of the "Adventure Movie" than it was a serious film.... Almost like a well done Mell Brooks movie....

Of the three, it's probably my least favourite, but it still rates pretty damn high over the majority of movies that are out there

ToD on the other hand, has all the elements that make for a damn good adventure movie in my book.... so of the three, it's my fave... edging out Raiders by the narrowest margin, because the overall tone of ToD is 'darker'....
 

VP

Moderator Emeritus
ClintonHammond said:
it was way more cartooney, way more of a parody of the "Adventure Movie" than it was a serious film.... Almost like a well done Mell Brooks movie....

Of the three, it's probably my least favourite, but it still rates pretty damn high over the majority of movies that are out there

My thoughts exactly. Worse than Raiders and ToD, but still much better than many movies.
 

Jay R. Zay

New member
VP said:
Surprisingly there was a lot of humor in LC and the movie sucked. The first thing you mentioned while explaining why you didn't like ToD was humor, so I naturally picked that and exaggerated the point a bit.

i just wanted to state why humor very well plays a role in the indy movies. you can't say "okay, it's not a comedy so our jokes can be crappy as hell". if you can't handle humor, simply keep it out of the movie. and don't fill it up with it. ToJ had more humor than some real comedies so i think it should be valid to mention that it was bad.

if you can't handle sex scenes, as well you shouldn't have sex scenes in your movie. if you don't know how to do a car chase - don't use it in your movie. if you don't have the money to do the effects well, don't make a movie that entirely relies on them (see "LXG", for example, filled with CGI despite the fact that the CGI was lousy. see "immortal", a movie that mostly consisted of CGI except for the main characters filmed in front of a blue screen: the CGI was horrible sometimes).

the first Indy movie did well without much humor (gags like "try the local sewer" are nice but not a real burner), so if they didn't know how to use humor, they simply could have left it out of ToD - instead of making it a series of slapstick sketches.

ClintonHammond said:
I wouldn't say that LC 'sucked' in the least... It was more than fun enough.... but it was way more cartooney

the problem is that i find no real english equivalents for the words i'd use to describe the movies. LC, for me, was "albern" in a positive way, "frivolous" perhaps. ToD simply was "niveaulos", lacking style.

if we look as many home movie comedies, i frequently find ToD-style humor but hardly ever LC-style humor. those comedies tend to be regarded funny only by those who filmed them and a very small group of others. excluding myself for example.
 
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"LC, for me, was... "frivolous" perhaps"

That's a wonderful description of LC... I agree... though I might not paint it in as positive a light as you might.... I found the frivolity distracting more than I found it complimentary....

"ToD simply was... lacking style"
ToD had 'style' up the wazoo! It was WAY more in the 'style' of historic adventure movies, especially the serials upon which Indy draws most of his inspiration, than either Raiders (A close 2nd) or LC (3rd, but still better than a TON of movies)

I suspect one could easily take ToD, grey-scale it, chop it into 10-15 minute segments and run it side by side with the best of the old Adventure Serials and it'd play quite nicely.

"i find no real english equivalents for the words i'd use"
English can be a frail and inflexable language....
 

Indyologist

Well-known member
ClintonHammond said:
"just was a more mature kind of humor"

Just goes to show how different people can see one thing in two totally different ways.... cause I wouldn't call thge humour in LC 'mature' in the least.....

"not a humorous comedy character"
He sure was in LC

Case in point: A very undignified Indy rolling down the stairs to the boat dock level in LC, his shadow following after.
hahaha.gif


Classic Stooges move, wouldn't you say?

Later he says with a bloodthirsty growl: "All I have to do is squeeze," which creeps me out every time. Hard to believe it was the same guy who rolled head over arse down a flight of stairs.

Yes, some of the humor was definately more mature, but it also has some of that signature goofy Indy humor involving
smart-aleck quips and sight gags.

Personally, I love the way LC seems to poke holes in Indy's roughness and pride in an "Indiana Jones Roast" kind of way. Indy came off as kind of a jerk in some ways in LC, and I loved it.

But back on topic as to why you love Temple of Doom!
 
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"Indy came off as kind of a jerk in some ways in LC, and I loved it."
He's way worse that that in ToD.... He's a hard man, a serious bad-a$$, wanted all over the world for theft and other abuses...

ToD is where Indy is at his best
 

roundshort

Active member
For me it is all aboutt he opening scence, the fight in Club Obi is second only to the truck chase in ROTA. Indy does not talk to much in ToD, which reminds me of the man of action in the old cowboy novels. He was tight lipped and a bad ass.
 

Jay R. Zay

New member
ClintonHammond said:
I suspect one could easily take ToD, grey-scale it, chop it into 10-15 minute segments and run it side by side with the best of the old Adventure Serials and it'd play quite nicely.

with this i'd agree entirely. including (my point) the outdated humor from the 50s and 60s that, in later times, mostly remained in use in japanese and chinese movies whose professional movie industry was rather young.

but actually there is no point in arguing about that. i didn't like the humor, i found it merely cheap and shallow. most of the jokes simply annoyed me while LC actually made me grin quite frequently. perhaps it's a highly individual matter of perception.

ClintonHammond said:
"i find no real english equivalents for the words i'd use"
English can be a frail and inflexable language....

it indeed can, but i tend to believe that it is so to me because it isn't my native language and i don't know it well. i think there very well are the equivalents i was looking for, i just don't know them. :)
 
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