Was The Lost World (Jurrasic Park 2) that bad?
starry_rune
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A bit slow to get started, granted, but overall an enjoyable escapade that added to the original.
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starry_rune
Posts: 9,006 starry_rune
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Jurassic Park 3 seems to be the opposite - a few great scenes in amongst mostly silly ones.
Shame the rest of the movie never really lived up to that.
And though the notion of the T Rex loose in San Diego could and should have been an incredible sequence, it was completely wasted.
I thought the 'villians' were also extremely over-the-top and clichéd, Stormare's moustache twirling turn as a heavy, Arliss Howards dreadful English accent, and even the normally dependable Peter Posthlethwaite could not save it.
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JP3 had the perfect length and pace, as did Jurassic Park even though it was the same length as those mentioned above, it never seemed to get bogged down with boring bits.
A great follow up to the original and as with the first, some of the best action moments didn't involve dinosaurs.
I actually think Jurassic Park 3 is underrated, it's better than 2 and World imo.
Except for the bit at the end where they order cheese burgers. Ugh.
After repeatedly saying the T-Rex hunted by sight and movement in the first film (as a plot device) - that then gets thrown out the window in favour of T-Rex hunting by scent (as a new plot device was neeed to get the T-Rex's to the RV).
Also I thought it was very good of the T-Rex to go and lock himself back in cargo hold after he'd killed all the crew on the ship.
I think it was raptors that killed the crew, but they then got lost at sea.
He has the best line in the film "That's how it starts, with ooh-ing, and ah-ing, but later there's running, and screaming".
The RV attack set piece is pretty good.
I thought the Rex was using scent to find it's baby .
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In the Lost World book, there are two kids, a white girl and black boy - for the film they merged the two together, though why they had to make her Ian's daughter I don't know, unless she's actually step daughter
As for The Lost World: Jurassic Park, it feels like one of those films where you can see what they were trying to do with it, but it never quite hits the proverbial nail on the head. In terms of style the film has tonnes of it - the whole thing looks awesome. The cinematography is bold and confident, the whole thing looks sleek and has a clear identity - a lot grittier than the first, 'darker' if we want to use that word. It has a great soundtrack, and wears its military/politics themes well. Unfortunately the story kind of gives up after the halfway point and turns into the more generic jungle-run-adventure that the third film would also be (though at least the third was honest about it!).
It had some clever ideas (among a few daft ones) but never really takes them anywhere. It opts to be a bit more serious than the first film, but then casts the comic relief character from the first as its lead. Jeff Goldblum does the best he can, but it's a farcry from the character we had before - and regardless of post-tragedy changes, if you tell a viewer they're getting Ian Malcolm again you can't just give a pale imitation of him.
The RV sequence was superb, the San Diego bit was decent enough though dated by todays standards and tonally sits at odds with the rest of the film. Pete Postlethwaite and Julianne Moore are great additions and help the film to really come into its own at times. Richard Attenborough makes a nice cameo, but it serves to remind you that this isn't anything like the first film.
A decent film in its own right with some great ideas. But the vision is greater than the product I think, and the film really drags as a result.