Lost World: Jurassic Park sees Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) return to the
island of dinos--actually, to a 'B' site, on a separate island, with its own
dino population that got loose--to search for his girlfriend, paleontologist
Sarah Harding (played with great exuberance by Julianne Moore), who had been
invited by InGen company founder John Hammond (Sir Richard Attenborough) to
investigate the explosion in the dino population on the island.
However, after the disastrous events of the first film, InGen basically fired
Hammond and placed his nephew, Peter Ludlow (played with the proper snooty
attitude by Arliss Howard) in charge. Ludlow has sent his own, more massive
team to the island to harvest it of dinos for his new theme park, which will be
located in San Diego. Roland Tembo, a great white hunter who is superbly played
by Pete Postlethwaite, leads Ludlow's team. There are some great scenes of this
high-tech safari capturing dinos on the island, and this is one of the few
times when The Lost World really soars. The other great sequence is at the end
of the film, when a T-Rex is unleashed on the good citizens of San Diego. But
despite these great moments, The Lost World doesn't really add up to a great
movie for me. In fact, watching this movie is often an exercise in frustration.
Part of the reason is director Spielberg's reluctance to allow any of
the dinos to be shot--despite the fact that Ludlow's team is well armed with
automatic weapons and even grenade launchers. The result is a really annoying
scene when a pair of T-Rexes are chasing both Malcolm and Ludlow's teams, and
nobody thinks to simply hold their ground and fill the big lizards full of lead.
In any event, the effects in The Lost World are superior to the first Jurassic
Park, and there is a better mix of dinos this time out. The sequence with the
T-Rex "doing" San Diego fondly recalls the original King Kong, as well as the
work of the legendary Ray Harryhausen. So if you're looking for a big budget
popcorn movie to watch, this should do the trick. The DVD is equipped with a
decent set of features, including the customary "making of" feature, deleted
scenes, and storyboards, production drawings, and design sketches. Once again,
there are no commentaries.--SF
The same is true when they come under attack by Raptors; our heroes expertly
duck and dodge the Raptors, but a gun is never used, nor even do they think of
using a sharp object for stabbing. When you put characters into life or death
situations, they should do anything and everything to stay alive, including
fighting back by using whatever means necessary, especially if their back is up
against a wall. The dinosaurs may just be animals hunting for food--in other words,
there is no malice involved in their part. But even prey has the right to defend
itself, up to and including killing the predator when it can.