On Monday, December 1, 1997 at 12:00:00 AM UTC-8, ChadPolenz wrote:

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Chad'z rating: ** (out of 4 = fair/below average)

1997, PG-13, 134 minutes [2 hours, 14 minutes]

[science fiction/thriller]

starring: Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Ian Malcolm), Julianne Moore (Dr. Sarah Harding),
Vince Vaughn (Nick Van Owen), Arliss Howard (Peter Ludlow); written by David Koepp; produced by Gerald R. Molen, Colin Wilson; directed by Steven Spielberg;
based on the novel by Michael Crichton.

Seen November 29, 1997 on home video (rented).

They say when you've got a winning strategy don't change your game plan.
That's good advice, unfortunately the one place it doesn't work is Hollywood, or else "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" might have been something original. Instead, it's just a repeat of everything Spielberg's done before and proves some things are only impressive once.

The film opens in typical Spielberg fashion with a supposedly charming scene
that also shows the advances made in special effects. Initially, it is interesting to watch, but within a few minutes we get a lot of screaming and off-screen bloodshed, and it's apparent the film is going to be much like the original "Jurassic Park."

That feeling of deja vu continues to manifest itself as the story unfolds much
like another mediocre sci-fi thriller, "Aliens." We catch up with Dr. Ian Malcolm (Goldblum), who has apparently been shunned from the scientific community for "telling stories" about what happened on that South American island four years ago. He visits Dr. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), the owner and curator of the park who tells him there is another island full of dinosaurs which he is in danger of losing to either the government or poachers
(I couldn't really tell from all the jargon). He wants Malcolm, along with palentologist Dr. Sarah Harding (who just happens to be Malcolm's girlfriend),
and photographer Nick Van Owen (Vaughn), to go there and make sure the park is
stable. Of course Malcolm panics when he realizes Harding is already down there, and agrees to go "rescue" her.

It's not surprising how quickly the opening act is paced. This film is meant
to be a special effects thrill ride, so it doesn't want to waste anyone's time
with a story (God forbid!). Only the bare essentials are necessary, such as Hammond's arrogant newphew Peter Ludlow (Howard), who constantly berates Malcolm, or the fact Malcolm is a bad father to his adopted daughter. The dialogue between these character is trite and blatantly foreshadowing. All the
characters are generic, and thus Goldblum sticks out like a sore thumb since he's the only character with depth.

Once the main characters reach the dinosaur island the film practically becomes a remake of the original. We get many shots of dinosaurs roaming the island which are impressive visually, but almost boring intellectually because
of the bland story. It's no surprise that once a team of hunters invade the island all Hell breaks lose and the film becomes a 100-minute chase scene. We get another scene of the dinosaurs pushing a vehicle off a cliff with our characters inside dangling by a thread. There's more hide-and-seek scenes with
those nasty raptors, who are conviently delt with by the daughter's gymnastics
talent. And of course the brave, mighty hunters turn into cowards and many are
eaten as they flee.

But the film's problem isn't just the fact it repeats itself (and its predecessor), it's the way it does so. There is no sense of satire here, which
means the film wants to be taken seriously, which is hard to do considering how
corny and contrived the screenplay is. It often wanders from the main characters for large blocks of time just to show other people be eaten by the dinosaurs (which is just an excuse to dodge the story and show off the effects). Not to mention how badly it over-doses on the cliffhangers.

The last act somehow shifts the setting to San Diego and much like a modern
"Godzilla," we get a T-Rex wreaking havoc there. Not surprisingly, the ending isn't quite resolved which could (and probably will) leave room for another sequel.

It seems like "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" was meant to be a genuine,
intense thriller, but it's too ridiculous to take seriously.

Our heroes come to the island armed with a neurotoxin which will incapacitate the dinosaurs in 2/1000th of a second. Why don't the hunters from Imgen have that same neurotoxin?

In the opening scene, a girl is attacked by vicious small dinosaurs. When her mother arrives at the scene, she screams, so I expected that the girl had been stripped to the bone! But Hammond later says hat the girl would recover.

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