Skyfall (2012)

Bond is back and better than... er... well... better than On Her Majesty's Secret Service, or Octopussy, but definitely not better than ever, in fact while I can't say Skyfall is the worst Bond film ever, it's easily one of the most disappointing considering how the Daniel Craig reboot has been going fairly well so far.  I can't decide whether I actually watched a Bond film or a long drawn out attempt at imitating one, personally I (unlike Bond) would have hit the eject button, on this whole film.

Skyfall sees MI6 in a state of disarray, as Bond is seemingly out of commission and M is the center target of a revenge plot set to bring down her and the British Secret Service by a former agent whom she turned over to the Chinese many years ago (Javier Bardem).  The fate of country rests in the hands of Bond, struggling to regain his edge, and a leader whose on the brink of forced retirement.

As a big Bond fan (Bond Special Edition Reviews) I was looking forward to the franchise's return after four years of limbo, when the future of the series wasn't clear, due to studio issues.  The previews looked awesome, the cast promising, but in the end Skyfall seemed to be more interested in ticking boxes and rehashing aspects of the old films than actually combining those elements into a cohesive entertaining film.  Looking at all the praise for Skyfall leaves me utterly confused, how in the world can this be considered one of the best Bond films ever?  Have these people seen a film in the franchise prior to Daniel Craig's entry?  For a film that seems to be all about "moving forward" Skyfall spends an awful lot of time bringing up greater aspects from Bond films of the last 50 years instead of making any of it's own.

To the film's credit it starts off with a bang, as with most Bond films the pre-credit action sequence is usually meant to get the audience pumped up for the film and it succeeds in that regard, followed by theme song by Adele, which is easily the best of the last three themes.  From there Skyfall begins to take a slow decent into boredom, occasionally showing a glimmer of hope but ultimately returning to plod along at a snails pace with a story that is both uninteresting and definitely not warranting such a long run-time.  At times they have to remind you you're actually watching a Bond film by bringing up some classic past moment in the franchise, queue the introduction of Q and his one liner that they no longer produce exploding pens, or dusting off the old Aston Martin and giving those built in machine guns a spin.  While these were cute little winks at the Sean Connery years, that's something one usually does in the first film of a reboot series, not three films in.

Next we see main characters taking a backseat to M... while Judi Dench is a fine actress M has never been a very interesting character, so to essentially center the entire film around her, and limit other major character's screen-time was a move I think really added to the dragging down of the film.  Characters like Sévérine (Bérénice Marlohe), and even the main villain Silva (Javier Bardem) ended up being sorely underused, compared to their counterparts in other Bond entries.  

Skyfall also spends way too much time trying to cast Bond as too old for the job, what's the point of rebooting a franchise and then two films later you start harking on about how old the main character is?  In the scheme of the franchise it doesn't matter, ultimately Craig will be replaced by some other, younger actor and the series will go on, age was never made an issue with the prior Bond's who were noticeably older in their later outings, so it seems ridiculous to make an issue of it now with a character whose been around 50 years and will undoubtedly be around 50 more.

Overall, Skyfall fell pretty flat for me. Reducing Bond to "aging" spy, attempting to build an entire story-line around M, reducing the main Bond girl's role to a couple of scenes, and rehashing a lot of past films in a way that it seemed Skyfall had nothing to offer on it's own.  Skyfall has it's moments but for the most part it felt like filler to me, an excuse to bridge a gap between the reboot of the series and the original films which didn't need to be done.  While the prior outing, Quantum of Solace, may not have been the best Bond effort, at least it was short, sweet, never dull and fit the overall Bond mold well.  Lot's of people seem to be comparing Skyfall to the lofty heights of Casino Royale, fact is Skyfall pales in comparison, lacking the originality, well constructed story, and pace, in other words it's simply another long winded action film attempting to emulate Bond.  In the end, it's Daniel Craig's You Only Live Twice, so I guess every Bond gets handed a few stinkers.

6/10

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The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)

For some odd reason I had high hopes for The Man with the Iron Fists, must have been my excitement at the break of Russell Crowe's two year film hiatus, as the stellar The Last Three Days way back in 2010 was the last film we saw him in.  Also I've had a soft spot for some of Crowe's more "out of the box" roles, with films like The Quick and the Dead and A Good Year, atypical Crowe films that sit among my Top favorites.  With The Man with the Iron Fists I was hoping for sort of a oriental version of the The Quick and the Dead, instead what I found was a jumbled mess with a good performance by Crowe, and a few decent action scenes.

Rapper RZA makes his directorial and screenplay debut in the sort of modernized version of a bad 60's Kung Fu B-movie with a 15 million dollar budget.  I love B-movies, but one sub-genre I've never been able to accrue much interest in is Kung Fu.  The plot of the film is woefully simple.  RZA is the lowly Blacksmith, a highly talented artist of iron who fashions together weapons for every warring clan in the village that ultimately leads to mass destruction.  The last clan standing, lead by Silver Lion, take possession of the Emperor's gold which is being transported through the city and the Blacksmith and a couple other characters are left stuck in the middle fighting for honor and revenge.

Russell Crowe plays Jack Knife, easily one of the more interesting and animated characters of the film.  With his rotating knife/gun, and his quick tempered wit his character brings a little life into a film that for the most part is rather dull.  The rest of the cast is either mind-numbingly stale or in the case of Silver Lion simply lame.  The story-line is rarely interesting and reads worse than a comic book, most of the time it's in-cohesive and while the action sequences are a plenty, they're nothing to write home about.

It's a shame The Man with the Iron Fists has to be Russell Crowe's first return to the silver screen in two years, it's undoubtedly not going to be much of a feather in an already longstanding hat of stellar films.  Granted in this film he's the standout performance, it doesn't save this from mostly being a flashy mediocre action film that's supposed to be funny but garnered more yawns than laughs from the theater I was in (a couple people even eventually got tired and left).  I understand why Russell took the role as he's good friends with RZA, whose had small roles in a few of his past films, but most people aren't going to be aware of that relationship and simply think Russell must really be hurting for work.

Overall, while The Man with the Iron Fists might not be much of the average movie-goers cup of tea, it will undoubtedly have it's small band of followers.  If you're into the Kung Fu genre I imagine you'll get a kick out of this film to some extent.  It's not going to be a box office money maker but it will not likely to lose any money seeing the budget was only 15 million, and I'll give them credit, in terms of the set design and special effects they made that 15 million go a pretty long way.  In the end, The Man with the Iron Fists is nothing I'd recommend most people go see as it's got a limited appeal.  If you're a Russell Crowe completest like myself be sure to buy some popcorn and soda to help keep you awake at times, and go in with low expectations, and maybe you'll come out liking it.  For me at least it was better than Kung Fu Hustle. :shutters:

5/10

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Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966)

I think sometimes campy get's a bad rap.  Obviously it seems there's a fine line between satisfying and over indulgent, and when it comes to how much it takes to cross that line seemingly depends on the person.  Or maybe all these B-movies and bad international knock-offs have finally brain washed me into losing my mind.  Whichever it may be I must say I was shocked to learn that my latest foray into the filmography of the lovely Barbara Bouchet, Agent for H.A.R.M. had received a measely 1.8 rating on IMDb.com and a lot of poor reviews.  As for me this film was not only the most entertaining of the early Bouchet films I've watched thus far, but also one of the most enjoyable campy spy films that would loosely fit into the Euro-spy genre.

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The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

I don't know about you, but personally I had my reservations about whether or not the final nail in the Nolan Batman trilogy could live up to the standards that have been set thus far.  That is not to say that the series has been flawless up to this point, because it hasn't, and even though I gave The Dark Knight a near perfect score, there were elements of that film that simply didn't work for me and times I really felt the story dragged out.  But with the The Dark Knight Rises Nolan has managed to fix the flaws of the prior films and bring us a finale that not only satisfies but also provides easily the best written story a comic book film has ever had.

The Dark Knight Rises takes place eight years to the date of the death of Harvey Dent (aka Two Face), who is still being held up as a pillar of justice by a city who is completely unaware of the evil he became, an evil persona that was instead placed on the shoulders of Batman at his own behest to attempt to keep hope alive in the hearts of Gotham.  It's also been eight years with no sighting of Batman, as Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has retreated into the depths of his newly re-built mansion to sulk, unable to continue his life after the events of the prior film.  It's here at a annual Harvey Dent benefit that we meet Selena Kyle (Anne Hathaway) Gotham's resident cat-burglar, sent on a mission to retrieve Bruce Wayne's fingerprints for first step in a plan that will bring Batman and Gotham to its knees.

Wayne's run in with Kyle and news of a new threat to Gotham named Bane (Tom Hardy) rekindles his desire to shed his now Howard Hughes reclusive lifestyle and return to the world of the living.  But the return of Batman comes with a cost as Wayne quickly finds everything is pulled out from under him and has to rediscover the will that he lost eight years ago to save Gotham, and himself for the last time.

In terms of trilogy closers The Dark Knight Rises is right up there with Peter Jackson's Return of the King, and as a comic book film it has the deepest and most well constructed story I've seen.  There were aspects of the previous two films that made it difficult for me to call them perfect.  Firstly I've always thought Nolan made poor choices when casting leading ladies, Katie Holmes... Maggie Gyllenhaal... both actresses bland performances were difficult to get behind, and when their character (Rachel Dawes) ultimately met her demise I couldn't say I cared.  Anne Hathaway being cast a Selena Kyle (Catwoman) sent similiar shivers down my spine being another actress I can't stomach, but I'll admit Nolan finally got it right.  Hathaway still wouldn't be my ultimate choice for the role (I still think Eva Green would have been fantastic) but in the end she really did nail the part and did a pretty fantastic job, as did Marion Cotillard as Miranda.

My second biggest issue with the Nolan Batman franchise has been flow.  Batman Begins didn't suffer from this so much, but it was clearly evident in The Dark Knight, with two big named villains it almost seemed like the story tried too hard at times, trying to give them equal screen time, establish their characters and then mold them into the story.  It was quite evident at times throughout that film that the story drags a little, that simply isn't the case here.  With an even greater ensemble of characters, the Nolan brothers completely succeed in meshing everyone together in a very powerful story that flawlessly weaves emotional and action into a story-line that I never felt once dragged on.  And in comparing all the villains in the series Bane is easily the best, even though Tom Hardy sounds like he's imitating Sean Connery behind a Darth Vader mask.

Honestly I could go on and on for paragraphs describing why everything simply worked so well, and how each performance was spot on, but in the end that's really not necessary.  The fact is The Dark Knight Rises is the best superhero film ever made to date, and this is because, simply put, it doesn't feel like a superhero film.  The Avengers was good, but Nolan's Batman series, and especially this final outing, has succeeded in taking a comic book series and making it about as plausible as a comic book series could possibly get.  In laymen's terms The Dark Knight Rises is just as much a certified drama genre film than a comic book film, if not more so.

In the end, it's going to be hard for anyone to top the overall caliber of The Dark Knight Rises, and the trilogy as a whole.  The upcoming Superman film shows some promise but only time will tell regarding that.  If Warner Brothers had any sense whatsoever they'd think long and hard about picking up where Nolan has left off (the ending of this film offers a variety of opportunities).  I don't think rebooting a series anytime in the next five years would be a wise move, so unless their willing to wait a while it would be interesting to see if they choose to continue the series.

10/10

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The Avengers (2012)

Having been left with a somewhat bad taste in my mouth from Iron Man 2, I passed on the forthcoming Marvel films, which heralded the arrival of Thor and Captain America, with little interest.  My zeal for the "ground breaking" Avengers film, of which these were all building up to, was not as high as most.  But needing a day off from work, and not having ventured into the theater since last year's Cowboys & Aliens I thought this would be as good of time as any to give Marvel another chance.

Like most comic book portals there isn't much to the plot of The Avengers, it all surrounds aliens from another planet attempting to take over Earth lead by a stooge named Loki (Thor's brother who has major daddy issues).  He's obtained control over an unlimited power source which SHEILD was testing and has used that power source to open a portal for this alien race to come through.  The world's only hope is to bring a bunch of massive egos together and attempt to get them to fight alongside one another.

Let's get down to the nitty gritty, if you're a fan of action films The Avengers is unlikely to disappoint.  Being privy to all the prior Marvel films meant to lead up and connect to this one isn't necessary but definitely would help being familiar with some of the characters and this powerful cube they're all fighting over.  I enjoyed the film's balance of action, comedy and drama, but as expected some characters kind of fall flat in the mix.  

For me Robert Downey Jr. steals the show, which shouldn't be unexpected as he is the film's biggest star and Marvel's greatest success (not counting Spider-Man whose actually owned by Sony).  Tony Stark really shines in this hero packed atmosphere with his sarcastic wit and charm, and it worked extremely well for him.  Next the drab Scarlett Johansson, who let's face it is famous because she's incredibly hot.  These action films work incredibly well for her because acting talent very isn't the major key to success.  Black Widow was one of the few things I enjoyed about Iron Man 2, and her character doesn't disappoint here, she's given a nice opening fight sequence that easily tops her Iron Man 2 appearance and has multiple intentional shots of her curvaceous rear end in that tight cat suit.  I'm waiting for a Black Widow spin-off Marvel...

Aside from those two, for me the rest of the hero cast was okay.  Having not seen the Thor or Captain America films I was left rather un-amazed by their performances.  They had a couple sparks, a couple decent one liners but nothing really made me want to go back check out their films for the first time.  Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye was okay for his role, although it's easy to see why his character didn't get an introduction film.  And finally the Hulk, whose 0 for 2 in terms of box office successes, definitely appeared to be a crowd pleaser in the theater during the second half of the film receiving quite a few laughs and cheers from the crowd.  I've really never gotten the appeal of that character, but I'll admit aside from Iron Man he did seem to bring the laughs.

So overall, is The Avengers a masterpiece?  No. And at this point I'm not even of the mind to call it the best comic book film ever made.  But it is a class A action film, and undoubtedly will break all sorts of records.  But at this point I'm not ready to say it's better than either of the last two Batman films or Marvel's own first Iron Man film.  While The Avengers easily out-mans and out guns all three of those films combined, there's a more personal character driven aspect you always lose in these group outings, and for me that gives those solo films a slight edge.

8/10

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Edison Force (2005)

Originally Reviewed

Saturday July 22, 2006

Like many other people who probably rented this film I only rented it because of RT's (Rotten Tomatoes) gorilla marketing campaign to force this down our throats with the constant banner ads and advertisements. Other than that I rented it out of curiosity for how bad it was going to be... well my curiosity has been filled, and this film is sufficiently bad, I hope RT got lots of money for advertising this because if they actually thought this film was worth advertising then we have more problems than the constant crashes and maintenance of this website (referring to Rotten Tomatoes buggy site).

Edison Force is about a group of undercover cops who are apart of a group called FRAT, First Response Assault & Tactical unit, made up of a bunch of highly skilled shooters who have all served prison time. FRAT is above the law and while they have technically cleaned the city up, in all actuality they have now become the ones responsible for causing all the messes.

The film has a quite impressive cast of well known names; grant it there isn't a whole lot of talent to back up those names. The film follows rapper LL Cool J, who has only recently become a member of FRAT, but he's not too comfortable with their ways of handling situations.  Dylan McDermott is his drugged up, trigger happy partner who gains his pleasure from killing and beating up civilians. After McDermott executes an unarmed guy during a drug bust he forces the guys buddy to take the wrap for the whole thing claiming he came after him with a knife.

LL Cool J was not comfortable with any of this but goes along with the story during the trial, adding to the fact that the defendant did appear to have been in fear of his life when they arrived on the scene. The defendant thanks him while he exits the courtroom which catches the ear of newbie reporter Justin Timberlake. Timberlake's curiosity is sparked by this exchange and decides to delve in further but is unable to get any information. When he goes to the defendant in prison he spills some information about this all being a cover-up for the cop. This was all he needed to continue his story, yet as he gets closer and closer to the truth he puts his life in even more danger. In the end the only one who can help bring justice to the dead and end the corruption of FRAT is one of the guys whose actually in it.

I really wasn't expecting much out of this film at all, so I wasn't terribly surprised when it ended up being a total piece of crap. This is also one of those horribly written films that somehow believes that continual cursing will make the film more intense and hide the fact it's worse than a TV movie. I'm really surprised at the number of people they got to actually do this film even though most of them aren't that talented, from LL Cool J, Dylan McDermott, Justin Timberlake, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Piper Perabo, Roselyn Sanchez, and even the dad from Home Alone (that ones not a surprise).

For the most part the acting was horrible, of course I'm sure it has something to do with the bad story, but some of the characters were beyond bad. Dylan McDermott as a deranged cop became hilarious as he overacted the entire role. Justin Timberlake, while not the worst in the film wasn't very convincing in his role and seemed to simply be excited to be an in film. Kevin Spacey had a horrible wig on that sunk his character into truly cornball city right off the spot, hard to not burst out laughing when he first appears on screen. Morgan Freeman was alright but he's basically exactly the same as he is in every film, pretty dull and monotone.

In the end, it was as bad as I thought it would be and probably worse, an extremely bad film with sub standard actors, and a horrible script. But what do you expect when the two leading actors are LL Cool J and Justin Timberlake!?! Both of these guys really need to stick to music. I'm getting tried of people in the music business thinking they can act, I have yet to see anyone who was truly great at both. I'm a big fan of Will Smith and his music but even I'll admit he's really not that great of a rapper, acting is his strong suit, and these guys need to go back to their strong suit. Let this film go by unless you're intentionally prepared to watch a total piece of crap, it's truly direct to DVD material.

2/10 

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Danger: Diabolik (1968)

I can't think of a better way to kick off the new year than a review of one of the greatest cult films I have ever seen.  Danger: Diabolik a film that combines the brilliant feats of low budget director/cinematographer Mario Bava, the beauty and stage presence of Marisa Mell and the bizarre yet engrossing Italian comic book character protrayed by John Phillip Law of the anti-hero Diabolik!

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Jurassic Park (1993)

Originally Reviewed

Thursday June 1, 2006

"Spared no expense" is what millionaire John Hammond continues to proclaim throughout the film about his theme park geared towards bringing forth a realistic adventure that everyone can visualize and touch. This is Spielberg's attempt in the making of this film and I believe successfully accomplished in his recreation of these massive creatures. The problem is there is only so much one can do with dinosaurs other than run!

Jurassic Park is about millionaire John Hammonds creation of an island theme park where genetically engineered dinosaurs, cloned from the DNA found in amber incrusted mosquitoes, created to be displayed in what is planned to be a most unique theme park. Hammond?s investors though are rather skeptical of his creations and require that he have some experts in the field to provide a stamp of approval. So two paleontologists (Laura Dern & Sam Neil) and the comical relief mathematician (Jeff Goldblum aka "The Goldblum") are brought to the island to experience all of its glory... or disaster.

Everything appears to being going according to plan, but little do the visitors know that their lives are severely in danger. A massive storm is about to hit the island, but that happens to be the least of their problems. Wayne Knight (better known as Newman) plays the greedy computer engineer named Dennis whose in charge of the keeping all the systems running. He's run into some financial trouble, or more likely wasted all his money away, and Hammond is unwilling to increase his salary so that he can blow even more. So Dennis turns to the competition and offers to procure them dinosaur DNA for large sums of money, now all he has to do is obtain the DNA and get off the island before the storm gets worse.

Obtaining the DNA isn't the problem its getting off the island in time, after he shuts down the security system, making it look like system maintenance, he's free to go but has to make his way through Jurassic Park unaware that the dinosaurs are now on the loose! Meanwhile the visitors are in more danger as they sit in front of the Tyrannosaurus Rex enclosure that is no longer secure. Now everyone is faced with the challenge of escaping the island alive and intact.

I couldn't help but think why is Dennis, "Newman" still working there? If I'm running some elaborate park that relies on security, I wouldn't continue to employ someone who potentially had it out for me because they wouldn't get more money, especially when they have access to almost the entire system and could easily make more money selling the secrets or in this case the DNA. Big mistake there which pretty much lead to the whole disaster, but of course without it you wouldn't have much if a movie.

Jurassic Park is the film that started the ball rolling bringing dinosaurs back to the screen in realistic form. Probably one of the biggest movies of it's time and certainly visually top at the time, 13 years later its realism is still pretty impressive. The only problem is it starts to get old pretty quick. While the film actually progresses in the beginning fairly quickly, once arriving at the island things start to take a slower pace and it's quite a while until any real action takes place. Then when the dominos finally start to fall, it's all about running for your life.

In the end, Jurassic Park is definitely an entertaining film, well put together and is very well written and entertaining. You have to give the actors credit as well for doing a great job pretending that there was actually something there when for the most part there wasn't. I wasn't even overly annoyed by "The Goldblum" whose fast talking rambles can sometimes become tiring. Overall, I liked Jurassic Park, but I didn't love it, its definitely entertaining but how entertaining can running away from dinosaurs for two hours be after a while, it gets to be a little old, but the story did help to make the repetition bearable, something the sequels suffered from.

8/10 

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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

 Originally Reviewed

Saturday March 3, 2007

I thought I would pick something special for my 200th review, and what could be more special than quite possibly the greatest action/adventure film ever! No, not Die Hard, but Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade! What film could offer better action, adventure and the tag team duo of two of the greatest actors to grace the silver screen? Indiana Jones is unarguably the greatest fictional character in film, and who better to play his father than the original James Bond, Sean Connery, the man who help spawn a multi-billion dollar franchise!

The Last Crusade is the 3rd adventure in the Indiana Jones saga, while it could be deemed that last crusade signifies Jones's final adventure it's more reasonable and accurate to believe that it refers to the final crusade of the knights who searched, discovered and then swore to protect the Holy Grail. Our adventure begins with a brief back-story into the life of the young Indiana Jones, as well as a look at Indiana's father and a passion of his that would span 40 years, leading into our present day adventure.

Indiana's father Henry was obsessed with the story of the Holy Grail, the cup of Christ. He spent most of his life researching the story, gathering facts and combining them together into a diary, a guide that would be useful in the search for this great artifact. Indiana hasn't spoken to his father for many years, but receives word of his father's disappearance on a quest for the Holy Grail.  In an attempt to find him Indy becomes entangled in one of the most dangerous adventures yet, and finding himself face to face with Nazis once again, who intend to procure the Grail for their own selfish gain!

I honestly cannot think of anything negative to say about this film. The cast is spectacular, the locations are breathtaking and the action is non-stop. While the previous two films were also nothing short of amazing, certain characters such as Marian Ravenwood, Short Round and Willie Scott could be quite annoying at times, but in The Last Crusade none of the characters really grade on your nerves as much. The story is gripping and well written even more so than the previous installments and it really helps get you into the film and almost want to run out and visit the locations. I would love to go to where they filmed the entrance of the cavern where the Grail was kept, which was like a castle carved into the face of the canyon!

Overall, The Last Crusade is a definite must see film...no it's a must own film, in fact you must own this entire trilogy, as it's one of the best film trilogies out there, don't try to argue with me I'm quite right on this one. So if you're the part of the 1% of the population who hasn't experienced this film or the Indiana Jones saga get off you butt now and run out and buy the Indiana Jones Trilogy and enjoy the best three adventure films ever made.

10/10

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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Originally Reviewed

Friday May 19, 2006

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. This follow up film to the highly successful Raider's of the Lost Ark. Temple of Doom is well known for the drama it received due to its darker storyline and themes, so much so that after the release of the film it lead to the inception of the PG-13 rating. Over the years Temple of Doom appears to be people's least favorite of the Indiana Jones saga, but in my opinion there's no bad Indiana Jones film, sure Temple of Doom is a total 360 from Raiders of the Lost Ark, but that's what makes it great! 

The basic premise of Temple of Doom, for those of you who have lived underground your whole life and not seen an Indiana Jones film, is a little different than other two adventures. First off, technically Temple of Doom could actually be considered a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark as it is actually set before the events of the first film. The film sees our hero Indiana Jones, accompanied by Short Round, and Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw, Spielberg's wife) as they end up in a remote village in India after their plane is sabotaged and begins to descend towards the earth. The inhabitants of this village believe that they were sent to by their god to recover a sacred stone which was stolen from their village.

It is the belief of the villagers that a dangerous cult by the name of the Thuggee, have reemerged at Pankot Palace, they have kidnapped their children, stolen their sacred stone and are engaged in a series of evil rituals that could threaten all civilization. In fact it is true, the villager's sacred stone is one of five magical Shankara stones which is said to have immense power and bring forth fortune and glory. 

Indiana Jones sets off with his young sidekick and loud mouth lounge singer, to recover the lost Shankara stones and to bring back life into the small village. But he underestimates the power of the evil that lurks in the bowels of Pankot Palace, and he and his group is captured by the Thuggee and are at the risk of being sacrificed to the voodoo god. Can Indiana escape the mystical powers of Thuggee or will he be subjected to an everlasting nightmare!?!

What makes this film so great is that it's not comparable to the other two films. Lucas and Spielberg took a big risk on going in a different direction and it worked out for the better. Temple of Doom has my favorite intro out of all the films, I think the whole dance number in the Chinese club was brilliant, and really helps to incorporate all the main characters in the film as well as provide a very exciting and amusing side story. The only thing I didn't like was Indiana Jones drinking the poison, how stupid would you have to be to drink something that is given to you by a group of guys who attempted to rob and kill you the night before and are now trying to cheat you!?!  I guess that's why the villain states that the poison was faster than Jones... actually I think Jones was just stupid! 

Temple of Doom also offers up some of the best action packed sequences out of all three films, from the club scene, the entire mine sequence with the rock crusher and the mine cars, to the classic rope bridge sequence. And don't forget the classic dinner sequence with the baby snakes, the eye ball soup and chilled monkey brains! Overall, my only grips about the film are about Kate Capshaw, I thought at times her character was a little too annoying which at times drew away from the film, and made her character more of a nuisance than a love interest. In the end Temple of Doom is a worthy follow up Raiders of the Lost Ark, and my second favorite in the Indiana Jones trilogy!

9/10

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