Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997)

From: [email-masked] (Mark R. Leeper)
Date: 29 May 1997 21:22:35 GMT

THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK
                      A film review by Mark R. Leeper
                       Copyright 1997 Mark R. Leeper

               Capsule: Darker in tone than JURASSIC PARK,
          this sequel concerns another island that Ingen has
          populated with dinosaurs.  The film has
          considerably more dinosaur effects, though most
          take place in the dark, possibly as an economy
          measure.  The film has more action than its
          predecessor but less of a sense of wonder and
          amazement.  The last half hour is great fun.
          Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4), 6 (0 to 10).
          New York Critics:

     Steven Spielberg has fashioned a sequel to his supremely
successful JURASSIC PARK that in many ways does what a sequel should
do: it continues the story rather than remaking it.  The film features
the same terrific dinosaur effects, but this time around Spielberg
changes the tone to make a darker and more somber exercise.  At the
same time has removed much of the anti-science sentiment of the
previous film.  But perhaps the most interesting touch is that since it
is based on Michael Crichton's novel which borrows the title of Arthur
Conan Doyle's classic novel, Spielberg has played up the similarities
in plot to the Doyle novel and its 1925 film adaptation.  THE LOST
WORLD: JURASSIC PARK also borrows from KING KONG and GORGO.  On the
negative side the character it builds the story around is Dr. Ian
Malcolm (played again by Jeff Goldblum).  This was not a very good
decision since while Goldblum had some good lines in the first film,
his character was never very well developed and does not have the
appeal to carry the sequel.

     It is four years after the incidents of JURASSIC PARK.  The entire
experiment has been hushed up.  Ian Malcolm has tried to tell his story
to the world and has been made to look like a sensationalist kook.
Meanwhile there has been a power struggle at John Hammond's company
Ingen.  Each faction wants control of an island that was a laboratory
and breeding ground for the ill-fated park and where, unbeknownst to
the world dinosaurs still live and breed.  John Hammond has sent a team
of four scientists to the laboratory island to document what is there.
Ingen, now led by Hammond's nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) has
sent a team to secure the island.  The team leader is hunter and
mercenary, Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite).  Tembo's team is composed
of what are supposed to be crack mercenaries, but Tembo knows them to
be unprepared for the situation they will be facing.  The hunter cares
little that his team is incompetent so long as they can provide him
with an opportunity to kill a T. rex.  As with the earlier film David
Koepp has adapted the Crichton novel.  His film is mostly dark and
somber until the last half-hour when finally the film cuts loose for
some fun.

     To make Goldblum's Ian Malcolm the tie to the previous film seems
almost an act of desperation.  Alan Grant or Ellie Sattler's characters
had more appealing personalities.  Malcolm was slickly obnoxious and
remains so in this film.  The worst fault of the script is its failure
to create a character that that audience really cares about.  In this
film Pete Postlethwaite's villain is almost as appealing as the hero.
Of course with dangerous dinosaurs on the loose, it is not clear the
story really needed a human villain to start with.

     In contrast to JURASSIC PARK, Spielberg has chosen to visualize
this story in muted colors, often with light sources blurred.  There is
intentionally no natural scene that looks as beautiful as the
helicopter landing in the last film.  The new island is not to be
confused with a paradise.  The film has more time on the screen of
dinosaur effects, but in many it is harder to make out details.  Also
curiously some of the effects sequences are cut short, as if they were
not completed to save time.  There will be a stegosaurus attack and the
camera will flash to Goldblum who says something like "they're
leaving," rather than showing them leave.  Spielberg does have some
feel for suspense, and this film includes one suspenseful sequence
involving a glass window that is almost sure to be borrowed by other
films in the future.  John Williams has scored the film, but this is
sure to be considered one of his lesser scores with some standard
suspense music and no really memorable new themes.

     The most impressive touch in THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK is how
successfully it pulled together the plots of both Crichton and Doyle.
It delivers a few thrills, some nice dinosaur effects, and packed
theaters.  I rate it a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.

					Mark R. Leeper
					[email-masked]