Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
90%RT Audience Score: 81%
Awards & Nominations: Won 4 Oscars
38 wins & 24 nominations total
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.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a wild ride that will have you on the edge of your seat. While some critics may argue that the plot is incoherent and the film is mean-spirited, it’s hard to deny the sheer entertainment value of this movie. Harrison Ford brings his A-game as the resourceful and swaggering Indiana Jones, and the action is nonstop. Sure, there may be some tonal miscues and a clumsy love story, but who cares when you’re watching Indy battle it out with a cult of evil priests and dodging booby traps left and right? This film may not be as classic as Raiders or the Last Crusade, but it’s still a must-watch for any action-adventure fan.
Production Company(ies)
Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion, Bayerischer Rundfunk ARTE
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Sidi Bouhlel, Tozeur, Tunisia
MPAA / Certificate
PG
Year of Release
1981
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Atmos
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:1h 58m
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Language(s):English, German, Hebrew, Spanish, Arabic, Nepali
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): May 23, 1984 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): May 13, 2008
Genre(s)
Adventure/Action
Keyword(s)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Adventure, Action, PG, Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri, Roshan Seth, Philip Stone, directed by Steven Spielberg, written by George Lucas, Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz, produced by Robert Watts, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Kathleen Carroll, Patrick Gibbs, Richard Corliss, James Berardinelli, Eric Henderson, Todd McCarthy, Brian Eggert, Matt Brunson, Mike Massie, Joshua Starnes, Danielle Solzman, audience score, gem, kidnapped young boys, East Indian village, night club singer, 12-year old boy, vintage form, ingenious adventure spectacle, Hollywood’s finest filmmaking teams, dark, mean-spiritedness, racism, sexism, jingoism, serials, macabre tale, tonal miscues, clumsy love story, memorable parts
Worldwide gross: $389,925,971
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,313,773,039
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 61
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 143,268,597
US/Canada gross: $248,159,971
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $836,122,504
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 27
US/Canada opening weekend: $8,305,823
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $27,984,713
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 494
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $18,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $60,647,191
Production budget ranking: 670
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $32,658,512
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $1,220,467,336
ROI to date (est.): 1,308%
ROI ranking: 87
Kate Capshaw – Wilhelmina ‘Willie’ Scott
Ke Huy Quan – Short Round
Amrish Puri – Mola Ram
Roshan Seth – Chattar Lal
Philip Stone – Captain Blumburtt
Director(s)
Steven Spielberg
Writer(s)
George Lucas, Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz
Producer(s)
Robert Watts
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 4 Oscars
38 wins & 24 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Achievement in Visual Effects Winners, Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners
All Critics (69) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (58) | Rotten (11)
Spielberg has come up with another rousing piece of entertainment.
June 24, 2015
Kathleen Carroll
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
With the action nonstop there is no time for mere acting, much less for a coherent plot.
December 26, 2013
Patrick Gibbs
Daily Telegraph (UK)
TOP CRITIC
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
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
It’s not the darker turn that makes The Temple of Doom uncomfortable at times; it’s its mean-spiritedness.
June 10, 2008 | Rating: 2.5/4
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
TOP CRITIC
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 | Rating: 3/4
Eric Henderson
Slant Magazine
TOP 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
Todd McCarthy
Variety
TOP CRITIC
The risks taken on Temple of Doom, though initially disparaged, delivered an incomparable escapist yarn nonetheless.
March 21, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
Easily the most underrated film in the franchise, with its dark tone working perfectly in the context of its often macabre tale.
June 19, 2021 | Rating: 3.5/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
The film as a whole feels like an insignificant episode in Indy’s life, instead of an influential chapter in the evolution of the action genre.
September 6, 2020 | Rating: 5/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
Speaks to a bravery to experiment which Temple of Doom embraced one last time.
June 24, 2020 | Rating: 7/10
Joshua Starnes
VitalThrills.com
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom may have some impressive features but it’s nowhere near as classic as Raiders or the Last Crusade.
May 25, 2020 | Rating: 3/5
Danielle Solzman
Solzy at the Movies
Some tonal miscues and a clumsy love story can’t derail action this good, this breath-taking.
September 18, 2018 | Rating: 3.5/4
Christian Toto
HollywoodInToto.com…
Plot
The year is 1936. An archeology professor named Indiana Jones is venturing in the jungles of South America searching for a golden statue. Unfortunately, he sets off a deadly trap but miraculously escapes. Then, Jones hears from a museum curator named Marcus Brody about a biblical artifact called The Ark of the Covenant, which can hold the key to human existence. Jones has to venture to vast places such as Nepal and Egypt to find this artifact. However, he will have to fight his enemy Rene Belloq and a band of Nazis in order to reach it.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny or odd comments were found on Fresh Kernels about the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
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