I love returning to films that I have not really posted on before, because it gives me an opportunity to think about the reason they stay in my head so long that I want to revisit them. “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” has not been ignored on this site, it was part of a Triple Feature Screening Video that I posted 9 years ago.  This however is the first time I am writing about the movie, and that requires some thought and analysis as well as some cheerleading. 

The main reason that anyone should be coming back to this subject for a sequel, four years after the original, is to spend more time with nearly everyone’s favorite character from the first film, Ian Malcom. In the original “Jurassic Park” once you get past the dinosaurs, which were terrific innovations at the time, the most interesting element of the film is Jeff Goldblum as  chaotician Dr. Ian Malcom. The character has all the idiosyncrasies of the actor, plus the clever lines of humor, as well as narration of  the science and the morality issues in the film. Goldblum brings the standard thriller adventure to life with, as John Hammond says” You’ll have to get used to Dr. Malcolm, he suffers from a deplorable excess of personality”. In “The Lost World” you get a double dose of that personality, with frequent and completely justifiable moments of “I told you so.” There are new characters for him to mock, cajole and kibitz with. Whatever they paid Goldblum was completely worth it.

Of the new characters, Pete Postlethwaite as Roland Tembo, the big game hunter brought in to collect specimens from the laboratory island for the new zoo attraction, is the most interesting and fun. He has no sense of humor and feels quite stern, bit his aura of authority keeps the action together once the shit hits the fan in the plot. Julianne Moore as Ian’s girlfriend and paleontologist, Sarah, is the new John Hammond, at least when it comes to making mistakes about how to deal with the animals. She is responsible for the biggest error in the decision being made when she brings the wounded baby T-Rex into their mobile lab. It creates the scenario that produces one of the best examples of Steven Spielberg action directing, you will ever find.   I will get to that in a moment. Vince Vaugh is a serviceable action hero during the second act, and Arliss Howard as the unctuous Peter Ludlow, the new Chair of InGen, is suitably loathsome while also being out of his depth. One more character that deserves mention is played by future West Wing star Richard Schiff as Eddie Carr, the logistics man for Malcom’s expedition to the island. Schiff is surprisingly great as a man of action, who performs the most heroic deeds in the film. His on screen death was one that was not played for laughs like Gennaro in the first film, but as a tragedy for all still alive.

The most spectacular set piece is the dual T-Rex attack on the mobile laboratory and the struggle of the character to survive. Spielberg paints a picture of the attack, mostly from inside of the vehicle. There are a few exterior shots, but mostly the action plays out in the confines of a double long recreational vehicle. The roll over effect is nicely staged, and the pushing of the vehicle so that the trailer half is hanging off the side of the cliff, makes the car in the tree scene form “Jurassic Park” look like the warm up act. When people criticize sequels for just repeating stories with bigger budgets, they would be ignoring this scene which also has bigger stakes and technical planning. The ambition compounds the threat, includes more of the dinosaurs and ratches up the tension repeatedly. There are multiple moments when the situation grows worse, and just as they start to resolve a complication, something new arises and doubles down on the characters desperation.  This is Spielberg at his merciless best in building tension and releasing it over and over. This scene stands up next to the T-Rex attack in “Jurassic Park”, without any need to feel inadequate. It is an exquisite four minutes of movie magic.

One of the biggest criticisms of the film when it was first released was the final chapter set in San Diego. I recall people saying that it cheapened the film, but I always thought it answered the problem of Ian Malcom’s credibility quite effectively, and it set the stage for InGen as a villain in subsequent films. They are always chasing the dollar, and underestimating the risks at someone else’s expense.   Besides, there are two or three great visuals in that sequence, the Venture coming out of the dark and running into the dock is frightening and the T-Rex in the backyard, with the doghouse dangling from it’s maw is disturbing. 

Even the moments in the film which are contrived, such as the gymnastic move by Ian’s daughter, still work because Spielberg knows timing and setting well enough to make us invested, even in the ridiculous. We saw this film at an Alamo Movie Party Screening, and audiences are encouraged to react out loud to things on screen. This moment got some hoots, but not a lot, and there was even some cheering when the raptor goes down. 

This movie is not as essential as it’s progenitor, but it is entertaining as hell, with laughs provided by Malcom’s sanctimony and thrills provided by other characters stupidity. This may be the reason we keep going to films in this franchise, because we know, sometimes in spite of the obviousness, we can be entertained by suspense and action that is well done.