Review of The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) by Anthony G — 11 Jun 2018

I recently re-watched this film and although it is probably the best sequel, technically it is a very flawed movie. The film was over hyped upon release and was seen as a let down. With fresh eyes you can see why. The film feels very much like the other big budget films of the 90's namely Independence Day and Godzilla., very surprising from Spielberg.

I watched Jurassic Park first before watching this film and that highlights the stark contrasts and problems with this sequel. Its not a complete disaster and I can sit through for parts of it but overall I always feel a sense of let down...even 20 years later.

The main issue or flaw is Jeff Goldblum, he was a standout in the first film and the early scenes with him and John Hammond are welcome and enjoyable. Goldblum delivers some great dialogue on the dangers of sending people to another island populated with dinosaurs and we get a brief cameo of the kids from the original movie.

Although I liked these scenes as a fan of the first one I was unsure why Jeff Goldblum's character was the lead in this movie? he is not a dinosaur expert and if you brought back the kids and John Hammond why not use them more?! It all seemed like a waste.

So, we get a few scenes to explain the basic plot they came up with for a sequel. Although Spielberg himself set up a potential sequel with his first film by having the samples buried in mud and/or the hatched eggs they found this is all thrown out the window. Instead it turns out there was another island where dinosaurs roam free and Dr Hammond wants to preserve the island so sends a small group to document it in the hope of getting public backing?? He tells Goldblum's character he has been ousted from his company and they plan to recoup their losses by exploiting the dinosaurs. Not a great basis for a sequel but it is brief and after 20 minutes we are on our way to the island.

My biggest disappointment was not seeing Sam Neil back in his previous role. I thought he was a great character and showed he can be very effective in the action scenes. His character was also a dinosaur expert. This time going to the island we have 4 characters, 2 of which are Documentarians, a specialist in African predators and Jeff Goldblum's chaos theory Dr...no dinosaur experts.

The predator specialist is Goldblum's characters girlfriend and they use her to get him back to the island. In doing this they ruin his character completely! His daughter is introduced and is very annoying and manages to drop into an argument she got dropped from the gym team(this lazy bit of writing will eventually kill this movies best action sequence).

Goldblum learns his girlfriend is already on the island so decides to go to the island to save her. His daughter stows away on the ship for reasons I still don't understand and we eventually arrive on the island, site B.

Site B was apparently where the dinosaurs lived before being moved to Jurassic Park to be exhibits. In the four years since the first film they have been kept secret from the board and public due to Hammond who is trying to protect them...with his elaborate plan to expose them to the public!

The set up to this movie, unlike the first film is slow and complicated and does not build tension. We are introduced to some boring characters and some new dinosaurs to marvel at but at this point it is really only the impressive visuals of the dinosaurs that get you interested. The CGI is very impressive even by todays standards.

Julianne Moore plays Goldblum's girlfriend and although I like her a lot as an actress she never gets to grips with this character. Her and Goldblum bicker back and forth and unlike Laura Dern and Sam Neil they show no chemistry and their interactions are boring.

In introducing new characters the film takes a step back before it gets started. Goldblum's character in the first film was like a rock star. He was charming and funny and a great highlight. In this film he whines constantly and says "I told you so!".

During all the set up a mysterious crew of hunters arrives on the Island to capture dinosaurs, sent by Hammond's board and lead by Pete Postlethwaite who, is an expert hunter of predators and immediately tells us he is there to hunt a T-Rex. There is no more set up for his would be interesting character. I did see a deleted scene where he is introduced at a bar as a big game hunter but it did not add much either. It was a fun scene though.

The group of hunters captures dinosaurs and cages them and it turns out Hammond expected this as one of the Goldblum's group is actually a professional saboteur and animal rights activist (again really lazy writing).

He frees the dinosaurs and they cause havoc to the hunters crew. During this the saboteurs find a baby T-Rex that was being used as bait and is wounded. They take said dinosaur back to their camp and finally we get some action!

The scene with the 2 T-Rex is pretty well done. The close ups of their heads is menacing and they are here for their young baby so we get some exciting action scenes.

The scenes are good but it stops pretty abruptly after one of them is eaten, with Goldblum and his team still hanging from a cliff the dinosaurs just walk off...

Also, prior to this Goldblum put his daughter in contraption up in the trees, close by to watch all this alone...surely she would scream or the dinosaurs would attack her?? a missed opportunity for some more action involving the T-Rex.

Instead they are rescued by the hunters and they all quickly decide to band together to further the plot, to get off the island.They are struggling to get a signal to contact anyone off the island to summon a rescue but there is an old lab in the middle of the island where they can use a phone...?

This film feels like the script was not fully fleshed out at this point and they were making changes on a whim. I don't think they had a solid plan and that's why it all feels wishy-washy.

The beginning of this movie or the whole build up to the actual meat of the film took an hour and other than the T-Rex scenes it is pretty bland. When they band together there are just too many characters and no real tensions. It's very artificial.and lazily. Spielberg must have been on auto-pilot during this film as the lack of interesting dialogue or tension is surprising. The film was hugely anticipated and maybe the pressures from above and interference was rife but this film feels very hollow compared to other Spielberg movies, the characters are just so bland...and the lack of children, who in the first film were a highlight, leaves little tension or scares. None of the crew seem too bothered to be there and until attacked, they are all calm and happy??

The first film had Sam Neil stranded with the 2 kids and you felt a real sense of danger. This time you don't know who to care about and there is no sense of dread...or drama.

Spielberg opted to use the opening build up to this film to wax lyrical about the evils of mankind on animals and it's admirable. His point is blunt but effective. Basically we should hope dinosaurs are not brought back as we would hunt them, imprison them and just be awful human beings like we already have been...

I believe it was so you would root for the dinosaurs against the greed corporations but its hard when they're eating people! the film is clumsy and these elements are thrown together.

This is in stark contrast to the clever and philosophical opening of the previous film that had Goldblum delivering wonderful moments to ponder without bashing you on the head. Did we really need to be told after the first film what a bad idea this all was!