The Lost World: Jurassic Park – Jurassic Park 2 (1997)

Directed by: Steven Spielberg | 129 minutes | action, horror, thriller, adventure, science fiction | Actors: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Richard Attenborough, Vince Vaughn, Arliss Howard, Vanessa Lee Chester, Peter Stormare, Harvey Jason, Richard Schiff, Thomas F. Duffy, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Thomas Rosales Jr., Camilla Belle, Cyd Strittmatter, Robin Sachs, Ross Partridge, Ian Abercrombie, David Sawyer, Geno Silva, Alex Miranda, Christopher Caso, Gordon Michaels, J. Scott Shonka, Harry Hutchinson, Billy Brown, Brian Turk, Jim Harley, Colton James, Carey Eidel, Katy Boyer, Eugene Bass Jr.

Due to the huge box office success of ‘Jurassic Park’ in 1993, it was almost inevitable that a sequel would be made. Certainly not because writer Michael Crichton himself penned a sequel to his techno-thriller “Jurassic Park” entitled ‘The Lost World’. In the first book his best creation, Ian Malcolm, still died, in the second book his character – as in the best soap tradition – simply reappears. The filmmakers don’t make it that much, but it’s clear that ‘Jurassic Park: The Lost World’ was only made to make a financial profit.

Originality and innovative elements that propel the story in a different direction (which, for example, characterize superior sequels like ‘The Godfather: Part II’ and ‘Aliens’) are omitted here. It also doesn’t help much that screenwriter David Koepp has only taken some names of characters and two or three scenes from Crichton’s techno-thriller. Furthermore, he seems to have looked especially closely at his own script from the original ‘Jurassic Park’. What does that mean? Especially more of the same. Jeff Goldblum returns as mathematician Ian Malcolm, this time taking the lead role. Also back, if only for small roles, which are more of a cameo, are Richard Attenborough as the now wiser John Hammond and Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello, who played Lex and Tim in the previous part.

Hammond is now more concerned with preserving the dinosaurs’ “natural” habitat, revealing that there is a second island where the dinosaurs were farmed (site B) before being released into the park (site A). The wealthy elderly has asked palaeontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), Malcolm’s girlfriend, to go to the island to observe the habitat of the dinosaurs. Reluctantly, Malcolm plunges back into the dinosaurs, mainly hoping to save Sarah from certain death. Together with activist and documentary maker Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn) and gadget man Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff), he goes looking for Sarah. And oh dear, his daughter Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester) is coming along as a stowaway. And, of course, she also has to be rescued again. Meanwhile, Hammond’s cousin Ludlow (Arliss Howard) hatches nefarious plans to house dinosaurs in a special zoo near San Diego, and coincidentally also just happens to head to the island with a team of paleontologists, hunters and mercenaries.

So far nothing new under the sun, because of course it comes to confrontations with the carnivorous dinosaurs, such as the fast and smart Velociraptor and the Tyrannosaurus Rex. To top part 1 there are now not one, but two adult Tyranosaurs and as an extra bonus a young one too. It seems like a cheap trick on the part of the filmmakers, but this element has been taken from Crichton’s book. The story is so predictable that the main protagonists will survive and the bad guys will die. The only question is how. One of the rules of thumb of the sequel (once hilariously explained for the horror genre in ‘Scream 2′’, also released in 1997) is that there are more deaths in the second part and the death scenes more grandiose. Those rules are indeed observed here.

Jeff Goldblum is again, as in part 1, the best element of the film – of course after the special effects that realistically bring the dinosaurs to life. Julianne Moore is his girlfriend Sarah, but has hardly any chemistry with Goldblum’s character. She basically takes Laura Dern’s place as Ellie Sattler, as Vince Vaughn’s Nick is a stand-in for Sam Neill as Alan Grant. Both Sarah and Nick do stupid things that drive the plot, but make little sense. As a paleontologist who’s been on the island for a while, Sarah suddenly “forgets” that her T-Rex baby blood-soaked jacket could be a lure. Nick, who is not only a documentary maker, but also an activist, frees the cages of already captured dinosaurs in the camp of the second group, which then break free and destroy the camp. Bad way to repay the people of InGen after they saved you from certain death by deliberately endangering their lives. In addition, Nick extracts the cartridges from the shotgun of InGen hired fighter Tembo (strong role by Pete Postlethwaith). What if Tembo had wanted to save someone (eg Nick himself) by shooting a dino? Such actions cause quite a bit of irritation about the quality of the screenplay.

That scenario limps on several minds, becomes clear when the film has pretty much exhausted all the possibilities of the island and then the whole mess is swept together to continue in San Diego. It’s a trick to unleash the T-Rex in an American city. Pay particular attention to the background. There are some funny movie references to other famous actors. Finally, it comes to an incredible climax on the boat (SS Venture, does that sound familiar?) that transported the T-Rex to the United States.

In terms of tension build-up of the action scenes, visual effects and the overall technical execution, ‘The Lost World’ cannot be faulted. Even on a bad day, Spielberg can pass this level flawlessly, but the inspired spark is clearly absent. He would therefore leave the direction of the next part ‘Jurassic Park III’ to buddy Joe Johnston.