The Lost World: Jurassic Park A movie review by Monika Huebner Copyright 1997 Monika Huebner
Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Peter Stormare, Pete Postlethwaite
"Something has survived" we are advised by the movie poster. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) who remembers his terrible experience at Jurassic Park four years ago only too well, is horrified when he finds out. The dinosaurs should have died of lack of lysine according to their genetic makeup, but they didn't only survive on Isla Sorna but formed a new closed eco system. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), has turned from evil capitalist to reformed environmentalist and wants to send a team on the island to watch the dinosaurs in their natural environment.
He hopes for Malcolm to be the fourth man on the team and is surprised to find him less than enthusiastic about the whole idea. Malcolm has lost his job after spreading stories about dinosaurs in public and really doesn't have much of an alternative. But he only changes his mind when he finds out that the team's paleontologist is his girl friend Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) and that she is already on the island on her own. Now he rushes the other participants, camera man Nick Van Owen and technical specialist Eddie Carr, to leave immediately.
After their arrival on Isla Sorna they first find Sarah's torn back pack and then herself, happy as pie and just about to watch a group of stegosaurs with their young. On returning to their trailers they find Malcolm's teenage daughter Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester) who came along without her father's knowledge. Malcolm wants his girl friend and daughter off the island immediately but can't handle the radio equipment and Sarah's resistance.
In the meantime a second team led by Hammond's nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) lands on the island. They are not here to take pictures, though. They want to catch dinosaurs for their theme park in San Diego. Ludlow hired big game hunter Roland Tembo and his team, among them hunter and loudmouth Dieter Stark (Peter Stormare) and paleontologist Robert Burke (Thomas F. Duffy). In spite of their contrary interests both teams end up depending on each other in their fight for survival. The second team is successful: they manage to load a T. rex on their ship and take him to San Diego for the showdown.
When JURASSIC PARK hit the movie theaters five years ago it seemed hard to believe that those special effects could be topped. Nothing is as short-lived as the computer industry and you can tell right away that enormous progress has been made. The dinosaurs in THE LOST WORLD are unbelievably real. Of course some anatomic details are off just as in JURASSIC PARK, but who cares about details when a herd of stegosaurs tramples over the screen as if this could happen any day or when some angry pachycephalosaurs work out by ramming the intruders' cars. Incredible. The animatronic models are just as good as the computer generated dinos.
The dinosaurs are the stars of the movie and easily push their human counterparts aside, even if THE LOST WORLD boasts a number of fine actors.
Jeff Goldblum reprises his role of chaotic chaotician Ian Malcolm, who didn't have much to do in JURASSIC PARK except for warning everybody about the consequences of genetic engineering and wasn't too nice a guy there either. Including him in the movie again was a good choice, and he can handle his lead. Bizarre parts seem to be just up his alley. This time he gets to be the hero instead of breaking his bones five minutes into the movie. His cool speeches are plenty and provide the neccessary humor. He also shows that the movie isn't taking itself too seriously.
No such luck for Julianne Moore. She and Vanessa Lee Chester are the token women of the movie. The script sees her in one function only: the woman that can be rescued by the guys whenever the need arises. Although she supposedly is a paleontologist and behaviorist she introduces herself by patting a baby stegosaur - the dumbest scene in the movie by far. The second dumbest thing she does is hanging her jacket with baby T. rex blood in her tent to dry off. She might as well put up a sign "Dinner's ready, come and get it!" But her method is more effective, since dinosaurs can't read.
As far as the part of Sarah Harding is concerned the auther should have stuck to Michael Crichton's book a lot more. But the scenario "Sarah saves Ian" can't be accepted by Hollywood as yet. So she has to depend on her luck which luckily never leaves her even as in the end she crosses paths with some velociraptors who prefer to fight among themselves instead of going for the easier prey.
Richard Schiff, Vince Vaughn and Vanessa Lee Chester are the rest of the "good guys". Obviously a Spielberg movie can't do without kids and so Malcolm is stuck with a daughter left to him by one of his ex-wifes. Kelly is there to save her father from a velociraptor in one of the not so well done action scenes. Vince Vaughn saves an injured T. rex baby with Sarah. That wasn't so good an idea after all, because the frightening reptiles turn out to be good parents and don't like this at all. They provide for one of the most gripping scenes in the movie when they push the trailer over a cliff although their young has been given back to them. This is Richard Schiff's big moment. He tries to pull the trailers back or at least save the people inside. Unfortunately mommy and daddy are still very angry and he finds a tragic end.
The outstanding bad guys are Pete Postlethwaite and Peter Stormare. Postlethwaite is big game hunter Roland Tembo whose grand desire it is to add a male T. rex to his hunting trophies. Anybody can have a deer's, elk's or lion's head hanging on his wall, but a T. rex... He supposedly never heard of sexual dimorphism of tyrannosaurs or else he'd have prefered a female whose head would have been bigger. Well, he gets neither but is one of the more interesting characters. Peter Stormare as Dieter Stark lives up to his sadist image from FARGO. He tortures a procompsognathus with an electric stick after making sure with Robert Burke that this species is harmless. Boy was he wrong. Animal rights activists will be glad to see that punishment isn't far away.
Robert Burke is one of the movie's best in-jokes. Unfortunately not too many Europeans are likely to notice. Paleontologists are public figures in the USA. For example the enfant terrible paleontologist Robert Bakker who upsets the experts with his revolutionary theories. All those who are familiar with Bakker's appearance will notice the incredible likeness with LOST WORLD scientist Rober Burke. Hat, glasses, beard, down to the tips of his shoes. That of course is intended. Actor Thomas F. Duffy allegedly spent a day with Bakker at excavations to study him. He brings the scientific touch to the movie by calling the dinosaurs by their correct names and explaining when and where they were discovered. Those who don't agree with Bakker's theories may enjoy the fact that his movie alter ego falls victim to a lively T. rex - as Bakker defends the theory that dinosaurs were active, warm blooded animals.
THE LOST WORLD provides 129 minutes of exitement. One action scene chases the other, leaving the story behind at times, but you don't expect a drama full of dialogue when you go to see this movie. It is very funny until the end. Especially the dinosaur chase in San Diego is full of funny little details. You only have to look for them. E. g. japanese tourists running from the T. rex who resembles Godzilla or the cameo by David Koepp, the author of the script. He suffers the same fate as Robert Burke. Feeding time for dinosaurs.
Rating: *** 1/2 out of ***
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