"The Temple of Doom" is thrilled to no longer have to worry about being mentioned alongside the phrase "weakest movie in the series." Despite my excitement of a new Indy movie, I admittedly approached it with a bit of trepidation. The wait for the DVD to hit Cuban shores was painful, but when it was finally in my hands it took a few days to summon the courage to pop it in.
I knew I was about to be treated to more of Lucas' overarching storyline when the first scene from the Crystal Skull took place inside the warehouse from the last scene of Raiders: the vault with all the government's curiosities, like the Lost Ark. Turns out the place is - straight from the barrel of old cliches - Area 51, marking a bit of a disappointment. The mystery of the warehouse's location was part of it's intrigue; now it seems just a little blasé.
During the action that ensures, one of the crates is broken open, partially revealing what is clearly the Ark of the Covenant. It was sort of a cute reference all things considered, but it still harkened to the unnecessary connection to Raiders the warehouse stood for.
Surprisingly, a little further into the movie Indy referred to some of his excursions with Ponco Villa, as shown in the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Up to this point I had thought the Chronicles had been more or less dismissed from Indiana Jones canon. I honestly don't mind well-placed references, when they flow naturally and aren't just examples of trying too hard to connect everything - it certainly felt less forced than the earlier Raiders references.
Skipping further ahead, it turns out Indy and Marian had an extramarital affair. Call me old-school, but part of the earlier movies charm was it's innocence; it never needed to go there to make it's point. Whereas other action-adventure movies, like the Bond series, slap you in the face with innuendo, the Jones movies were much more subtle. The good guys were good guys and didn't fool around, and while there was some blood and guts from time to time, it was always the bad guys who got it.
And while the whole storyline with "Mutt" wasn't horrible, it just seemed too much like a forced passing of the torch.
As for the actual plotline? The movie is fairly exciting and keeps moving, but it suffers from being focused a little too much on the action. It gets even sillier towards the end, when (Spoilers! You've been warned!) it turns out the crystal skull has alien origins. And yes, we actually see the aliens in the waning minutes of the show. Seriously: aliens. They rejected Indy script after script and settled on one that revolves around aliens?
Don't get me wrong, it's not horrible. It's fun and occasionally intriguing, it just doesn't match it's predecessors. It's certainly worth a watch for fans of the original, it's just always a bummer to end things on a low note (unless they decide they want to push out a fifth!).
Indy IV really just seems like typical Lucas fair: some good ideas, but highly unnecessary. Whereas reviving a series is sometimes necessary to deliver a proper finale and farewell (as in the case of Rocky Balboa), the original Indiana Jones trilogy had done everything that needed to be done, wrapping it all up with a nice little bow. Even with my unyielding adoration for the original movies, IV is unfortunately more Indy just for the sake of more Indy. Indiana Jones already had his Last Crusade, and the Crystal Skull is just a little empty.
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