Lost World: Jurassic Park, The (1997)

reviewed by
David Wilcock


Please note, there are *SPOILERS* here. If you have not seen the film, please do not read on, unless you want to spoil it.

Many people consider the The Lost World to be 'disappointing', and 'not as good as Jurassic Park' However, The Lost World (to be known as TLW from now on) is far, far superior to Jurassic Park. Let me explain.

1) The action sequences. In JP, there just wasn't enough. There were only two good scenes that had any amount of suspense. The T-REX scene, of course, and the kitchen scene. I was very, very disappointed by any other action scenes that they were. However, TLW, not just had better action sequences, but more of them. JP seemed to think it was a drama, but the characters weren't strong enough for that. TLW, however, gave up completly on plot and characters. It just wanted to give the audience a good time.

The action scenes in TLW were among Spielberg's best. The trailer scene, although streched out, was fantastic fun. There was a lot of tension. It was far more exciting than the T-Rex escaping scene in JP, because a) It was a much bigger drop, and b) We didn't have a clue when the T-Rex would come back, which just added to the danger.

2) The tone overall was much darker than JP. JP seemed too light for what was quite a horrific movie. At least TLW was dark and horrific

3) There were much more 'rollercoaster ride' elements in it. The scene where the hunters first arrive, and they duck between the dinosaurs legs were awesome fun. This scene was far more adventurous than anything really in JP

4) The ending. Call it silly, but I thought a T-Rex wandering around San Diego like something out of Godzilla was hillarous. And Steven knew it too. The whole thing was tongue in cheek, mocking the film but making people (and dogs!) getting eaten, and causing mass destruction. Call it a time filler, but I loved it.

5) The bad guys died at the END of the film. JP really annoyed me in this respect. In just about every Spielberg film, the bad guys always die in a horrific way at the END of the film. The Indiana Jones Trilogy shows this. But not in JP. The only remotely bad guy, Gennearo, died in the middle. Great. If there's one thing I love doing, it's guessing in what totally horrible way the bad guy will die. TLW didn't disappoint. The guy with the specs, getting eaten by the baby T-Rex (after being nudged by it's Mom, which was a cute touch) was a great demise. I loved it.

6) It was much, much scarier than JP. The beginning with the little girl was really scary. The way the guy from Fargo was killed was scary, yet funny at the same time. Also, the way the camera pans down to show the severed hand, gave the audience a rush of fright. Didn't experience that once in JP. Nothing really scared me at all like the scenes above.

7) Pete Postheiwate (sp?) and Jeff Goldblum. Both were excellent. Even the kid wasn't that bad. (Thankfully, she didn't really say much. More on her in a mo)

Of course, TLW had its bad points. The girl only appeared to be in the film at all to kick the raptor off the ledge. The music, by the great John Williams, was awful, tuneless rubbish. And the much discussed boat scene was poorly explained. But overall, the film was far better than Jurassic Park. So there!

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DAVID WILCOCK
david.wilcock@btinternet.com
http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/9061

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