wormlander
Super Freak
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2010
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I'd rather suggest it prevented future filmmakers from going this dark in family/adventure films ever again (the same goes for Gremlins...). This is only one of the aspects that adds to the uniqueness and legacy of Temple. Much like the original King Kong which also freaked people out with (unnecessarily?) vicious kills, but instead of being censored by a legislating code, Spielberg himself suggested the introduction of the PG13 rating to largely similar effect. I'd say the difference between the uncut 1933 Kong and the censored post-code version, is just as profound (and equally important historically) as the difference between Temple Of Doom and everything fantasy/adventure that came after...Not to slight ToD but legacy-wise I'm not sure what it added that wasn't already present from Raiders, or did it start a cinematic trend when Indy endangered a young boy by having him tag along on his perilous adventures?
Now, I'm not saying the adventure genre necessarily needs to be raw and unforgiving, but the fact that Lucas and Spielberg ventured this far towards the dark side and still came out victorious, made for a truly one-of-a-kind movie, which we are likely never going to experience again. I also haven't encountered anything in this genre that challenges Temple when it comes to relentless high stakes situations (Not to mention it kept pushing the envelope for the series' innovative chase action and VFX in the mine cart sequence, and winning an Oscar for it to boot). If that's not the definition of an adventure "classic" I don't know what is...
I've met more than a couple of women through the years who've been virtual carbon copies of Capshaw's character in that movie. Also, most people seem to forget that Temple, just like Raiders is part comedy. I actually think she did a great job...Kate Capshaw's acting certainly wasn't legacy building material lol.
I'd say the Pirates franchise is the closest in style to Indiana Jones and if we're judging them solely by the amount of overacting, I'd personally have mr. Depp walk the plank over Capshaw any day of the week. The real question though is if modern kids will hold their "classics" in as high regard as we do a couple of years from now...I think to properly judge a film's potential legacy one has to view it through the eyes of the target audience, and over the last 20 years there have been several films/franchises that were quite popular that were clearly not made for our generation. Stuff like the Harry Potter and Hunger Games franchises, Barbie, etc.. And keep in mind that kids growing up with these films likely view Raiders and ToD similar to how we view Citizen Kane, Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, North By Northwest, etc. - great films in their day, but not the ones that are first and foremost in our minds when we think of our favorite films.
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