INDIANA JONES ACTION AND ADVENTURE FILM

For my extract I decided to go to the good old past and pick Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I picked the start of the film, 8th to 10th minute, where Indiana Jones is trying to get the antidote which works against the poison which he just drank which is being kicked around by the panicking restaurant goers. Lao, the villain, played dirty and decided that he wanted to keep the diamond, with which he was meant to pay Jones for Nuthatchi, which was a jade vase with the  remains of one of the first Japanese emperors, and take the Nuthachi also. (this plan included killing Jones)

The film is an American fantasy-adventure film. We know that it is that because there is the evil Mr.Lao who wants to kill Jones and get his diamond back and of course there is the action part where Jones goes around punching and throwing burning skewers with meat into his opponents.

In this extract there is a lot of jeopardy because the viewer must be asking himself the question of will Jones get the antidote before the poison will get him and will he dodge all of the punches and bullets in his sorry poisoned state?

The spectacle here is Jones trying to grab the precious antidote which he values more than the diamond which he Lao was meant to give to him for his troubles. However there is also Willy Scott, one of Lao's girlfriends. All she knows is that Jones threw a burning skewer into Lao's friends chest and now she feverishly trying to find the diamond which fell after the antidote and which is also being kicked around. So we have three perspectives: Indiana's, who is trying to find the diamond, Willy's, who's trying to find the diamond in a pool of ice, and Lao's who is directing his men to kill Jones.

There isn't a very normal action in this extract, because we are you to be seeing the hero standing straight in front of the villain and fighting him in a glorious way, but here we see Jones crawling very frightened in a restaurant, being trodden on by the panicking crowd trying to get his hands on a little blue flask on which his life depends. However we do see him punch and being punched by the baddies.

This extract also has an element of speed, when we see the flask and the diamond flying across the highly polished floor in an expensive restaurant and also all these people running give the extract a feeling of high speed and constant change.

Now lets talk about Indiana Jones, shall we? Jones here is shown in a white suit, whilst Lao is shown in a black one of course, and he is humorous but keeps a serious face in the process of making a joke, to show the public his confidence, which then almost kills him as he takes a drink from his cocktail glass, and that he's very cool and calm about the situation. However then we see him using his fists and we understand that he used to being in situations that didn't really favour him and that he could stand up for himself. We also see that Lao really did surprise and even possibly frighten Jones when he told him about the poison, so we could see that this hero has feelings and that he isn't and empty shell of a man.

We also find out that Willy will become his side kick after she has taken the antidote when it fell near her, so it is a fact that chance will meet Jones with Willy and Jones will have to take the antidote then. We also know that when we have a two shot of Indiana and Willy bumping into each other and each of them asking if the other has seen the object that they are looking for.

Another one of Jones's sidekicks.
A boy with a sense of adventure and
humor whom Indiana got in China.
(he comes later in the film)

Because we have three characters there is a constant feeling of motion as the camera jumps from one character to another. We see point of view shots from all directions and we could see and know what the characters are experiencing.

The action happens in Shanghai, so we see exotic features as the massive gong and the Buddhist statues.