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Film: The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Year: 1997
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: David Koepp
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore and Pete Postlethwaite
Review:
This film begins with a rich family on a remote island. The daughter, played by Camilla Belle, wanders off and encounters a little dinosaur. She gives it some food and then she is attacked by a bunch of similar dinosaurs.
We then shift to the city and see Jeff Goldblum. He has violated his agreement that he signed from the first film and has gone on talk shows telling what happened. He goes to visit the man’s house that created this all, Richard Attenborough. While there he meets with Attenborough’s grandchildren, as they have grown and they are played by Jospeh Mazzello and Ariana Richards. We then meet their cousin, played by Arliss Howard. He is upset with Goldblum and has ruined his career for violating the agreement.
Goldblum then meets with Attenborough. We learn that there was a second island where they bred the dinosaurs and they expected the island to die out, but some how they have survived. He has set up a team to go there to observe them. Part of it is experts on dinosaurs as well as a documentary filmmaker. Goldblum refuses to go until he learns that one of the experts is his girlfriend, played by Julianne Moore. She is the paleontologist.
Goldblum then meets with Richard Schiff, who is in charge of getting all of the supplies ready for the expedition. Moore has already left so Goldblum is pushing them to hurry as well. Vince Vaughn is the documentary filmmaker. We also see Goldblum’s daughter, played by Vanessa Lee Chester. She doesn’t know where he is going and he won’t tell her, but she wants to come along.
They make it to the island and find Moore. She is documenting some stegosaurs and is almost killed by them. They soon are joined by another group. Howard has brought his own team. Vaughn was warned about this and this is also why they had to hurry. Vaughn is along to sabotage them as well. They also learn that Chester has stowed away.
Running this group is a big game hunter played by Pete Postlethwaite. He has a helper played by Harvey Jason. His second in command is Peter Stormare. Their dinosaur expert is Thomas F. Duffy. Postlethwaite tells Howard that he won’t take a fee; he just wants a chance to kill a male Tyrannous Rex, which is one of the species living on this island. Howard’s crew is there to capture dinosaurs for a new park, which will be in San Diego.
That first day they catch most of what they need, but Vaughn and Moore release them. A triceratops destroys much of their equipment and cripples them, making them unable to call anyone off the island.
Postlethwaite along with Jason finds the T-Rex den and a baby one. They take it, break its leg and are using it to draw the male out. When their camp is attacked, Vaughn and Moore take the poor animal back to theirs.
They mend its leg, but they are attacked by the T-Rex. Schiff is killed during this attack, but the rest get away. They are saved by Howard’s team. They have to move out though as the T-Rex has shifted its territory. The only radio equipment is located in a village on the island that was its command center. In order to get there though, they have to navigate the velociraptor’s area. They are steadily picked off as they do.
The ones that survive do manage to call for help. Much to Moore, Vaughn, Goldblum and Chester’s dismay, Postlethwaite has knocked out the male T-Rex. Howard finds this catch to be enough to bring back to San Diego. The problem is that it wakes up and is free when they get there. It rampages on the streets of the city, can it be stopped? Will it be killed or captured? Can it be returned to its native habitat?
This film is interesting to me. It is a blended concept of Michael Crichton’s novel and Sir Conan Doyle’s. I really like Postlethwaite’s character in this film. I am personally not a fan of hunting for sport, but I’m not against those that do it. For his role, I can understand why he would want to bring down a creature like this. I love that there is an island where humans thought the dinosaurs would die out, but they’ve found a way to survive. It brings that idea back from the first film and shows the true power of nature. I also like that they are using watching them to find out that conceptions about them are wrong as well. I also enjoy bringing the T-Rex to San Diego and it running amuck in the big city as well. Their time on the island and in San Diego is why this is being added to the horror film research as well.
Now with all the concepts that I liked, I wasn’t a huge fan of the story itself. I felt this film wanted to show more dinosaurs and their interaction with people. This is good, don’t get me wrong. I know it would take longer, but would it be safer to stay on the outer rim of the island and go around the raptors to get to the village? Why do they have to take the direct route, which is never fully explained, do they not have enough food or what? How did the T-Rex kill everyone on the ship is another issue I had with this film. Goldblum is supposed to be the star and I feel he takes a backseat in this one unfortunately. Another is that none of the transports will come back until they are told to? Who would set up something as dumb as that on an island like this?
With that said, this film isn’t horrible. The acting isn’t bad, but the story is underdeveloped. The concepts are good and the human/dinosaur interactions as well. I wouldn’t recommend this on its own per say, as it is better to watch it as a sequel to Jurassic Park. It can still be watched alone though, but there will be some references that are missed. Not a bad film to view though.
My Rating: 6 out of 10