Jurassic Park: The Lost World

Not to be confused with The Lost World from 1925, based off the novel The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle which is not to be confused with The Lost World by Michael Crichton from which this film is based on. The Lost World.

All jokes aside, this movie is interesting. Set 4 years after the first movie, Hammond contacts Ian Malcolm to help in the protection of the true island where they created the dinosaurs from greedy corporate officials who wish to exploit the animals and bring them all to San Diego. Makes sense to me, because the first Park was absolutely foolproof! Yeah, the plot is as weak as an after school special or a Captain Planet episode, yet I still think it's decent. Come on, it's a sequel to Jurassic Park. What quality do you think you are getting? Granted Steven is back in the director's chair, and nothing is bad about the inner workings of the movie, the special effects are still really good, cast is decent with a lot more room for Jeff Goldblum to bring some good comedy in the film, the action is really good especially when the T-Rex tramples through San Diego which is no doubt the highlight of the film. But plot is lacking and not as tight as the first, but I don't think the film is bad. This is the movie for the dinosaur action lover. It takes...maybe 5 minutes before you see a dinosaur in full glory, and there is lots more to be had. You can tell it's a very different breed from the first movie, but if you don't expect a better movie than Jurassic Park (cause let's face it Jurassic Park is the best) and are game to see lots of dino action, you're gonna enjoy this movie! There's not much to it, but it's better than the next one. You know what was really odd? This movie got a 2 VHS tape release, so the second tape was behind the scenes stuff, it wasn't a Titanic deal where the movie was split in half. Hell that was the exception in the late 90s, I think those and Cecil B. Demille's The Ten Commandments which was one of my favorite movies as a kid, were the only movies I knew of where they came with two tapes. Yeah that was how hardcore I was, I watched The Ten Commandments multiple times all the way through when I was like 4 or 5. Do you know long that movie is? Like 4 hours! I was made for movies boy. Ranting aside, decent movie, worth your time if you love dino action, pray for me tomorrow.

Jurassic Park

I can't even believe it! You know, it only took 3 years, over 350+ reviews, and only now have we got to Jurassic Park. Most people ask, why do they always remake or make sequels to classic films? The answer to that question is so that I can finally talk about Predator before the new Predator movie comes out.

So, because it's fun to talk about and to enlighten the 5 of you who have lived under a rock since 1993, how is Jurassic Park? Quite good I would say. Because you know it only ushered in a new age of special effects, and showed Spielberg could still bring blockbuster dollars and serious film material even 20 years after he got famous. But beyond the spectacular special effects, if you really just take a few steps back or more like a Superman leap backwards and watch this movie as if it were your first time you notice a lot. They do an incredible job with the dinosaurs, not only with the special effects but how they use them. You never see a dinosaur unless it is absolutely necessary, the first scene you see trees giving way, splitting apart, and you think oh shit here it comes. But it's a container that holds a dinosaur. And you get hints, an eye, this guy being dragged in the cage, shrieking and snarling sounds. That's really it. It makes you wonder what on earth that thing was! You didn't know first time, no way no how, even if you read the book. So there is lots of buildup throughout the film even after you see the dinosaurs, the moving through the grass leading to the Triceratops, the booming of the footsteps of a T-Rex, the feeding of a cow to a paddock of Velociraptors, it takes it's time which makes the wonder of these creatures unbelievable. Spielberg was on his high game, like ridiculously high game in this movie. True there are some kind of dumb things in this movie, but it does such a good job stringing you along you never notice until you dive deep in the analysis, and for what faults it does have it has some scenes that make you forget the stupid things. Who cares if they sent Samuel L. Jackson alone to turn a fusebox on when dinosaurs are running amok, when you get the perfection of the T-Rex scene. Both of them. You can forgive a lot because the craft, and execution, and little moments make this a great movie. And another thing I noticed is, there are a lot of wonderful little character moments, you need to look for them though but they are there on the screen. Like when Lex trips and Alan catches her, she holds his hand despite the fact he wants to let go cause he's not a fan of kids. Or seriously probably the best bit of acting in the whole movie, when they watch the cow being fed to the Raptors that look that Hammond gives to Alan while he watches is seriously the most intriguing and yet almost the most terrifying part of the movie. I mean obviously the guy needs to be some flavor of crazy to make dinosaurs, but God dang he seems almost deranged in that scene. I love the acting in this movie! Sam Neil is a wonderful lead, Laura Dern is just awesome in general, Jeff Goldblum is correct in every statement in this movie and who doesn't love Ian Malcolm I ask you, and Richard Attenborough like I said is the most interesting character in the whole film. There's tons of great stuff in this movie, some more noticeable than others, but still worth repeated viewings for all your life. PS. Those Velociraptors could be the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed in film.

You know what really surprised me? Steven Spielberg came back to direct The Lost World, all these years I swore it was a different director. I'm extremely curious to see it again after so many years, but we will wait for that until tomorrow.