Lost World, The: Jurassic Park (1997) Review

"The Lost World: Jurassic Park" American Theatrical Poster

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: David Koepp
Producer: Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. Molen, Colin Wilson
Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Vanessa Lee Chester, Pete Postlethwaite, Arliss Howard
Running Time: 129 min.

By HKFanatic

When we’re first introduced to Jeff Goldblum’s character in “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” he’s yawning in front of a fake painted backdrop. Clearly something is amiss: if the acclaimed thespian can’t even muster any excitement for this “Jurassic Park” sequel, how can we, the audience? And, in truth, Goldblum spends the rest of the movie appearing quite bored in front of a lot of computer-generated scenery.

Rewatching “The Lost World” on blu-ray was a real eye-opener. Although the film was a favorite as a child (I saw it at least twice in theaters), I found that time has not been kind to this picture. In many ways, “Lost World” is just as abysmal as Spielberg’s much-maligned Indiana Jones sequel “The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” though it doesn’t catch nearly as much flak from fans. Probably because this “Jurassic Park” sequel arrived just a few years after the original while Indy had twenty years of fan expectation riding on it.

Either way, “Lost World” is a stinker that finds Spielberg making the same mistakes he did with “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”: the sequel trades in a darker aesthetic than the first but the humor is played much broader, granting the film an uneven tone. So while the overall look of the “The Lost World” is pitch black and rain-soaked, the foreboding atmosphere is ruined by cringe-worthy jokes and the sight of a child actress using gymnastics against a velociraptor.

Early in the film, John Hammond informs us that there is another island full of dinosaurs besides the one visited in “Jurassic Park,” this one named Site B. The filmmakers clearly don’t want us to to think about the logistics of such a thing since we’re whisked away to dinosaur territory much faster than in the original film, which actually took its time with characterization and plot development. The emphasis here is on action at the expense of nearly everything else. It’s just too bad that the entire production feels like Spielberg is merely going through the motions, with a dour color palette and uninspired location shooting. The background shots full of Redwood trees and other forestation straight out of the Pacific Northwest fail to sells us on the fact that this is supposed to be a tropical island off the coast of Costa Rica.

After a dreadfully slow first act, “The Lost World” receives a much needed shot in the arm from the emergence of the “evil” InGen Corporation. While Jeff Goldblum is trying to rescue his girlfriend (Julianne Moore) and some other researchers off Site B, Hammond’s smarmy nephew has assembled a team of ace hunters and dino experts to capture a few live specimens and return them to San Diego to open a new Jurassic Park in the city. InGen has been bleeding money due to lawsuits and the failure of the original park, so if they don’t pull this off the company will likely go under. Thus begins the most impressive sequence in the film as a fleet of helicopters carrying Humvee and other equipment soar over the island and then land to start rounding up dinosaurs as if they were nothing more than a pack of stray dogs. Some guy even has the balls to ride a motorcycle underneath a moving brontosaurus!

If the entire film had been about the InGen hunters, chances are “The Lost World” could have actually been pretty bad-ass. At the head of their team is the late, great Pete Postlethwaite, playing the kind of big game hunter who has seen and done it all; capturing a T-Rex dead or alive represents his one last shot at glory. His character is about the only interesting human being in the entire film and the script gives him all the best lines. Postlethwaite delivers a scene-stealing performance – I’m sure most people, even if they hate the film, remember his great quote: “Let’s get this moveable feast underway!”

Spielberg paints the InGen hunters as the bad guys but, really, there’s not much you can hold against them. They’re smart, professional, and they manage to round up most of the dinosaurs without hurting the animals or themselves. It’s only when our “heroes” Julianne Moore and Vince Vaughn intervene and free the dinosaurs from their cages that it all goes to hell. Dinosaurs get loose, people die, all of InGen’s equipment is destroyed, and now two angry T-Rex parents have their scent. Suddenly everyone, Goldlbum and InGen alike, is stranded on the island and with no way to contact the outside world. Wait a minute, remind me why Goldblum and company are the good guys again? Due to their terrorist action – or to be kinder, sabotage – everyone’s lives are in danger for the rest of the film. If they had left InGen to their own devices, chances are things would have worked out fine. InGen was only planning on bringing herbivore dinosaurs back to San Diego anyway!

As it turns out, Spielberg made the mistake of deleting two exposition-heavy but crucial scenes, now available on the blu-ray. These sequences were mostly likely cut to speed up the already slow first act but they go a long way in giving the audience an actual reason to care about the story and characters – something that’s missing from rest of the film. In one scene, we see Hammond’s nephew presiding over a meeting with InGen shareholders: in a cold, unsympathetic manner he details how InGen is bleeding money, his uncle is out of touch with reality, and how the company has the means to profit off Hammond’s work by raiding Site B for dinosaurs. He speaks with the kind of callous, manner-of-fact disregard for human life and ecological cost that has become synonymous with corporate greed in the wake of oil spills, bailouts, and other Recession-era problems. In other words, his speech gives you a reason to distrust InGen and root against them. Now why the hell wasn’t that in the movie?

The other deleted scene develops Pete Postlethwaite’s character and his friendship with the Indian hunter, Ajay. This scene is rather crucial because without it we have no sense why Postlethwaite is so distraught at Ajay’s fate in the film. The only issue with this scene is that it devolves into some facepalm-inducing physical comedy, including a gag where a drunken tourist has his balls smashed against an umbrella stand. This scene is so embarrassing and out of place with the rest of the film, it’s a wonder that Spielberg even filmed it. I suppose it’s a prelude to Shia LeBeouf’s vine-swinging antics in “Crystal Skull.” Still, “The Lost World” is in dire need of character development so some portion of this scene would have benefited the movie. Visually, it’s also rather similar to the scene in the first film when Dodson meets with Nadry in the cafe, giving a nice cyclical quality to the series.

As for the blu-ray itself, the picture quality sadly underwhelms. I could tell from the opening menu, which features a short clip of Site B coming into view, that the image would not be as vibrant or detailed as the first “Jurassic Park.” I suspect a large part of this has to do with the film itself. “The Lost World” is a dark, overcast, rainy kind of picture – not exactly the type of film that lends itself to a vibrant blu-ray transfer. Although “The Lost World” looks acceptable for a catalog title, this is not a disc you’ll be showing off to friends and neighbors; nor is it a blu-ray that will make you feel like you’re seeing an old film with new eyes like the first “Jurassic Park.”

If there’s an upside to “The Lost World,” it’s that special effects technology seemed to improve greatly in the four years since “Jurassic Park.” The dinosaurs are rendered with a lot more detail and the CG is generally stronger than in the first film, something that does come through on the blu-ray. Models are employed sparingly this time around but that’s mostly due to the fact that the action scenes in this movie call for many dinos to be in the same frame together while moving at high speeds.

The climax of the film is the now-lambasted sequence of a T-Rex stomping through downtown San Diego, considered the moment when the series jumped the shark. In my opinion, this is one of the only fun parts of the entire movie. It’s a guilty pleasure to watch clueless Californians reverse their cars through traffic at the sight of a T-Rex and the big dino slamming a bus through a video store window (look for a movie poster featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger as King Lear).

Although I am rather harsh in my estimation of this film, I have to admit that are several brilliant moments parsed throughout “The Lost World”: InGen’s initial round-up of the dinosaurs, the velociraptors stalking their prey through the tall grass at night, and the aforementioned T-Rex rampage in San Diego. Overall, the film is not without its charms, given the all out dinosaur action – why have one T-Rex when you can have two? – but a blu-ray purchase would be strictly for fans and apologists. This is an anti-capitalist film so poorly written that even in the age of Occupy Wall Street you’ll be rooting for the corporate shill “bad guys.”

The first “Jurassic Park” remains the epitome of a perfectly crafted summer blockbuster. Like the lab-grown dinosaurs of the series, each successive film has been a failed clone of the original.

HKFanatic’s rating: 5/10