In anticipation of
Jurassic World’s upcoming release, I’ve decided to post reviews for the two
Jurassic Park sequels leading up to the fourth film’s release.
As most of you know, Jurassic Park is my favorite movie of
all time. I love its characters, I love its story and suspense, I love its
music, and I love that it was the first time that dinosaurs in movies got the
grand scope and scale that they deserved, as well as treating them like
grounded, feeling animals rather than bloodthirsty, mindless brutes. To this
day, it remains one of Steven Spielberg’s most popular films, as well as his
most financially successful. For those reasons and more, a follow up was
inevitable.
Though Spielberg had proved a capable sequel director, the
book’s original author, Michael Crichton, had never had the same experience.
The two, as well as writer David Koepp, began brainstorming for ideas, and two
years after Crichton finished his novel, Spielberg unveiled the next
installment in the series, The Lost World.
When it was released, the film sparked a polarizing critical
response, especially those comparing it to its predecessor, but it proved to be
another success for Spielberg at the box office. Moving out of the more
carefree and wondrous light with slight horror touches of the first film, this
sequel was painted in a darker, more environmentally driven action mode.
Admittedly, I used to like this movie a lot when I was a kid, but this is one
of the rare Spielberg films that haven’t aged gracefully. I find myself having to
divide my thoughts into separate mindsets. As a standalone film, it’s more
mediocre than outright awful, but as a follow up to an outstanding film, it’s
downright embarrassing.
Four years after the disaster at Isla Nublar, Ian Malcolm
(Jeff Goldblum) is in something of a rut after breaking a non-disclosure
agreement signed before seeing the original park. Called for help by John
Hammond (Richard Attenborough), who has currently been removed from his
position as head of the InGen Corporation, Malcolm reluctantly joins a group of
other experts, including his girlfriend, behavior specialist Sarah Harding
(Julianne Moore), to document the newly discovered Isla Sorna, the abandoned
island where the creatures were bred and raised before moving to Nublar. However,
this all happens just as InGen themselves arrive intending to harvest the different
species of dinosaurs for an exhibit in San Diego. It starts as always, “Ooh,
Ahh”, until the obligatory running, and… and screaming begins, and the two
groups have to fight for survival… again.
The immediate noticeable change is the protagonist switch
from Alan Grant to Ian Malcolm, as the character was put out of commission
after the T-Rex breakout, and is given more room, some may argue too much, to
stretch his legs. With the experiences of the first film no doubt leaving him
more cynical than ever, He’s now intended to be the straight man of the film.
All too familiar with how the experiences in the jungle island will play out,
he becomes an unlikely establishment for the overall tone of the film.
Disillusioned by the “wonder” that he experienced before, the character opens
itself to interesting new depth in characterization, but many of these choices,
including his newly established relationship with his daughter Kelly, as well
as his partnership with Dr. Harding, makes the character feel a bit too much
like a soap opera cliché. Thankfully Goldblum manages to establish some much
needed levity, and he gives the role all he can, but it’s not enough to make up
for the weaker writing choices.
The actual tone of the film is harsher than that of the
original film, more reliant on action than before, but the intention ultimately
backfires. I get that Spielberg is trying to do something different with the
film, and you could argue that it’s in the same DNA as the Temple of Doom
prequel that followed Raiders of the Lost Ark, but whereas Temple of Doom still
retained a sense of fun despite it’s more obvious and grating faults, the same
cannot be said of The Lost World. While attempting something different,
Spielberg still feels keen on hitting the same awe-inspiring moments of the
first movie, right down to relying on that source material for various segments
from the first book that didn’t make it into original film. These include the
opening sequence where we see a rich family vacationing on the island, with
their daughter eventually crossing paths with a scavenging flock of
compsognathus.
The thing is that these two things simply don’t mesh with
one another. I’m not sure if the sequences of “wonder” are even supposed to
ring true, since the film is more unpleasant than ever, and draws from moods
and mindsets equally as such. In one notably alarming sequence, in which the
group’s RV is left dangling off a cliff, Richard Schiff’s Eddie Carr, the one
unconditionally likable “hero” character in this movie, is given particularly
disrespectful treatment. As the other ungrateful characters mock him by
sarcastically ordering McDonald’s food, he sacrifices his own safety to save
them, but leaves himself open to a cruel and agonizing death scene at the hands
of two T-Rex mates. It’s a crueler death than that of the film’s actual
villain, and really makes you wonder what dark places Spielberg drew these
ideas from.
The writing fares no better in thematic construct. The
original film was an allegory to the dangers of man trying to outsmart nature,
but here it switches to a self-righteous plea against animal cruelty and for
conservationism. Clearly drawing influence from ongoing debates over theme
parks at the time such as SeaWorld for the treatment of its animals, the
message is pushed to a one-sided extreme, and unlike the original Jurassic
Park’s well-meaning but misguided gray intentions, the motivations of
characters here are boiled down to a classic black and white line that
demonizes and glorifies with no realistic depth, and even then, it’s not that
much of an open-shut case.
The film’s most egregious creation comes in the form of Nick
Van Owen (Vince Vaughn), an environmentalist who might as well be labeled as a
clichéd “humans are evil” hipster, and is the direct result of many of the
film’s worst scenarios. It’s because of him that the camp of the “land looters”
is destroyed, leaving them without any radio or technology to contact the
mainland. It’s him who brings a baby T-Rex to the RV, along with the wrath of
its parents, and therefore the destruction of their radio and camp, as well as
the death of his own friend and colleague. Not only that, but when the people
that he hates actually make a compassionate move by saving his group and
protecting them from the creatures on the island, his way of paying them back
is to steal the bullets from their guns, leaving them defenseless, and
eventually leaving the male Rex free to rampage through San Diego. This is the
kind of character you want to see get eaten by a dinosaur in the end, and yet
we’re actually supposed to be rooting for him. By the time all is said and
done, I’m more sympathetic to the “Bad guys” of InGen, particularly Pete Postlethwaite’s
methodical and empathizing hunter. That said, a lot of them aren’t much better,
including a caricature meant to represent Jack Horner’s longtime rival Robert
Bakker that gets eaten by a Rex due to a snake sneaking into his shirt, and one
character shouting “Don’t go into the long grass”, before running into said
long grass where raptors await.
Even Julianne Moore has a lot to make up for that she simply
can’t. I admittedly like a lot of her early scenes, where she shows a charming
enthusiasm and infuses the movie with much more awe than it contributes itself,
but as the actual character is saddled with weak banter with Jeff Goldblum, as
well as making stupid decision after stupid decision (including continually
carrying a bloodied jacket that the Rexes can easily track down), that novelty
eventually wears thin. The same can be said of Malcolm’s daughter Kelly,
previously teased as one of “three” kids in the first film (though the three
could easily be argued as a joke by Malcolm), and is shoehorned in a useless
manner. Well, almost useless, as the only thing she actually does in this movie
is kill a Velociraptor with deadly gymnastic skills. It figures that a raptor
can open doors, but gets axed by Tom and Jerry slapstick. Weren’t these things
supposed to be unmatched in intelligence? Judging by the state of this screenplay, perhaps it's no coincidence that screenwriter David Koepp himself sufferss a grisly death at the hands of the T-Rex in the climax.
Speaking of which, to conclude my pent up negativity, I can’t help but
criticize the set up to the climax of this movie. Despite feeling like a
glorified Godzilla remake, including cuts to Japanese stereotypes, I don’t
really mind the actual climax of the film, as the change in environment is an
interesting one for the Rex, but the actual set up is an insult. In one of the
most infamous and incompetent continuity errors in all of cinema, as a ship rapidly approaches
and crashes into a deck, various bloody crew members and severed body parts are
discovered all across the ship, yet with the Rex in captivity, there’s no way
it could have done all this. There was a deleted sequence that explained that
raptors had snuck aboard and killed the crew, but since that’s a deleted scene,
it doesn’t count. With that sequence now cut, there should have been a better
explanation, but no such thing takes place. How could Spielberg, the man behind
some of the greatest and most exciting movies ever made, let something this
glaring slide so lazily? WHY DID NO ONE CALL HIM OUT ON THIS?! WHY!?!
Now, if all of this makes you think I despise the movie, I
don’t… not really. Sure, I’m critical of this movie, but there are still plenty
of great qualities to admire. For one thing, I do think a lot of the action
beats are somewhat exciting, though without the same great attention and
connection with the characters that the original had, the suspense isn’t as
strong or pronounced. This is especially apparent by Spielberg’s attempts at
recreating the original scenarios of the first film, including the obligatory
rain sequence. Still, they get their job done, and can elicit a couple decent
thrills.
Also, John Williams returns to write the music, which is
always a huge plus. Largely treating the film as its own musical continuity,
with brief recollections of the original themes saved for specific events of
the film, the end result is some engaging stuff.
In spite of the forced and hokey environmentalism
preachiness, I also think the film makes a great effort at expanding upon the
grounded animalism of the dinosaurs in the movie. In one of the more inspired
touches, we not only get one T-Rex to steal the entire movie, but three of
them. The film introduces us to a much smaller baby T-Rex that scavenges off of
the prey that its parents find, and when said Rex is taken by Van Owen, the two
parents retaliate by destroying the group’s camp, and continually scoping out
the area for the unwelcome guests. It’s simple, but effective touches like that
that further reinforce the point that the dinosaurs are animals, and not
monsters, and effectively contributes to the lore where the film doesn’t. On
top of that, despite some of the CGI looking dated in comparison to the first
film, and feeling more plentiful in comparison to that film, the effects and
creature designs still look very impressive. A lot of this is thanks to Stan
Winston’s ever reliable animatronics effects, as well as some seamless puppetry
work, the most impressive of which being that of the compsognathus, as well as
the stunning baby Rex. Gary Rydstrom and Richard Hymns also return to
contribute more imaginative and outstanding sound design.
Overall, I’m conflicted on The Lost World. There are things
I love about it, and things I want to love about it, but they’re far outweighed
by things that frustrate me. This film is a disappointing follow-up, and one
that highlights both some of Spielberg’s best and his worst tendencies. He
doesn’t go the full George Lucas route in trying to value effects over story
quite yet, but story has clearly taken a beating the second time out. What made
the dinosaurs all the more convincing in the first film is how engaging the human
characters were, so with this film lacking that same virtue, we’re left with an
occasionally inspired film that flip flops hopelessly to the finish line.
And you know what the worst part is? This still isn’t the
worst entry in the series…
** / *****
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