Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (1993)
Writers: Michael Crichton (novel), David Koepp (screenplay)
Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, B.D. Wong, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight
Synopsis:
With the help of advancements in genetic engineering, theme park mogul John Hammond (Attenborough) has created an island populated with living dinosaurs for the public's enjoyment. However, an accident at the park causes some concerns from his investors and they want Hammond to get a group of experts to sign off on the park or they'll pull funding from the project. Hammond invites Dr. Allan Grant (Neill), Dr. Ellie Sadler (Dern) and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Goldblum), along with his grandchildren Lex (Richards) and Tim (Mazzello) to tour the park for a weekend. Unfortunately, disgruntled employee Nedry (Knight) chooses that weekend to enact a plan to steal the dinosaur embryos stored at the park to sell them. In the process, he shuts down power to the park and ends up releasing all of the dinosaurs. with a tropical storm bearing down on the island, the visitors must avoid the dangerous creatures and survive long enough to be rescued.
First Impressions:
One of the greatest regrets of my movie going life is that I failed to watch Jurassic Park in the the theaters. I'm not exactly sure why I didn't. I mean, it's a Spielberg movie and I loved those. It's solid sci-fi, which I also enjoyed. Whatever the reason, I didn't end up seeing this film until it came out on video. Back then the special effects were a sight to behold and introduced a new way of making movies to the world. I enjoyed the film well enough back on initial viewing, though it didn't rise to the same level as some of Spielberg's other hits, at least for me it didn't. Still, I liked enough to have purchased it on a number of platforms over the ensuing years. It's been a few years since I last watched it, so let's jump in and see how it holds up.
Story/Direction:
"Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should."
This film is just some good old fashioned science fiction. I know that due to it's contemporary setting (for the time) and its subsequent action-focused sequels, it's not often thought about as such but it really is in my book. The film's story deals with the act of creation and the concept of man playing God. Often in classic sci-fi this type of story would have involved a robot or some other form of AI, but here Spielberg uses genetic engineering, which was very much in the news at the time. Jurassic Park also explores the themes of commercialism and capitalism, as well as the ethics of bringing back to life an extinct species merely to profit from its existence. It's a genre that I think has become more important as time has gone bay. In this day and age many in society have almost deified technology and we've often turned a blind eye to many of the dangers it represents because it's made our lives easier. I think this was very much on the minds of writer's during the genre's early days. They saw technology advancing so quickly and worried what the cost of all that change was. It's an idea that still has merit nowadays and I think even if you're not a massive nerd like myself, the genre has a lot to teach all of us.
So, what was the film's story actually like? Well, I like the way Spielberg goes about telling this story. He gives the audience a glimpse of the majesty of these creature by showing them the more docile species. Much like Dr. Grant and company, the audience is left in awe by what they see. As the story progresses though Spielberg shows us that while the recreation of these long extinct species is an interesting idea, it is also fraught with complications and dangers. As is mentioned in the film, dinosaurs and man have been separated by 65 million years and no one has any idea what to expect from their reintroduction into the world. Of course, things go wrong and all hell breaks loose (it would be a pretty boring movie if its didn't) and we see why it might not be a good idea to bring back to life a 20 foot tall mouth with legs.
As far as issues with the story, well there were a few dangling threads that didn't get tied up. Some of these get resolved in the sequel but, at the time of release a sequel wasn't a sure thing and I think they should have been wrapped up better before the end of this particular film. These are really just minor quibbles and, for the most part, the story works well and is enjoyable.
Acting/Characters:
There are a ton of great actors cast in this film and unfortunately I can't cover all of them in this section. Let's start with the film's protagonist, Dr. Grant, played ably by Sam Neill. Grant as a character has a very dry personality and he's quite introspective. This is a bit unusual for the hero of a big-budget science fiction film but it works extremely well here. This is good because Sam Neill isn't anybody's idea of am action hero but he plays Grant as thoughtful and introspective, plus his discomfort around Lex and Tim provide a lot of good comedy.
Then there's Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm. I've always found Goldblum to be an interesting actor because his line delivery is so staggered and broken. I like that because it's closer to how people talk. However, it also has a tendency to bother me at times because I just want him to spit it out for God's sake! Still, Goldblum has an undeniable charm that usually overcomes that frustration. He plays Malcolm with a fair bit of that aforementioned charm and even though his role is diminished somewhat in the second half, he's still given many of the best lines in the movie.
The rest of the cast is solid, with highlights including Richard Attenborough's optimistic John Hamond and Bob Peck's intense game warden Muldoon. Of course I can't go through a review without mentioning the great Sam Jackson as the perpetually frustrated Mr. Arnold. Wayne Knight also shows up as Nedry, the closest thing the film has to a human antagonist. It was hard not to look at Knight and think "Hello, Newman." But he still did a pretty good job. Laura Dern also does a pretty good job as Dr. Sadler who gets to pay an active role in the goings on of the film and isn't just relegated to "love interest" status.
Visuals/Action:
Jurassic Park is one of those touchstone films in the history of cinema that really changed the way movies were made. It's not the first example of a movie using CGI characters, as films like Young Sherlock Holmes, The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgment Day beat it to the punch a few years earlier. However, in those other films, the CGI was kept to a minimum and only shown off in short bursts. Here, there are a number of extended shots with fully rendered characters on display which showed the moviemaking world that CGI was a viable option for big special effects movies. Do the effects hold up 30 years later? well, yes and no. The bits where the film uses animatronics still look fantastic, however, the CGI parts do look a little dated now, almost like a video game. Still it's been three decades and computer graphics have advanced a great deal in the time. It's not enough to impact my enjoyment of the film though.
The film also has a decent amount of action, with a good balance between tense and bombastic. Of course, the scene where the T-Rex makes its first appearance is a classic and the standoff with the raptors creates a nice bit of tension. The highlight action set piece would have to be the escape from the raptors in the kitchen, which still holds up well today.
Music:
Ho-hum. Another Spielberg film, another fantastic musical score from John Williams. At this point, I've done a number of reviews involving the work of Mr. Williams and I'm honestly running out of things to say about him. Like most of his work, the music for Jurassic Park is a classic. The main theme being the most recognizable and I've been humming it ever since viewing the film several weeks ago. Williams is the undisputed king of the movie score. Nuff said.
Final Verdict:
This is still a great movie and when you look at it and compare it to the unfortunate Jurassic World series that has hit cinema screens over the past few years, it looks even better. It's unlikely that anybody reading this review hasn't seen this film but if you are one of the few that hasn't, do yourself a favor and go watch it. Right now. Go! Put down the phone and go watch the movie!
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