A Classic Filmmaking

Rating: 9/10 (17 June 2015)

Back in 1993, when I was a foreign student in Washington, DC and had lived in an area called Van Ness East, Steven Spielberg and Michael Chrichton were already household names. I watched and read their works well before my coming to America. Upon this film's release, one could see the familiar poster of a T-Rex caricature advertising the film at every Metro (subway) stop. Despite all that, I had no idea how this far-fetched film could find itself a film classic of the world, even more obvious in decades later. My first round at "Jurassic Park" occurred at a movie house in Woodley Park, where the National Zoo is. That edition of Time Magazine already had the film on its famous cover and entitled it as "Jaws 2". I was confused. How could Spielberg's dinosaur family movie be branded as a monster-horror movie like his own "Jaws" years ago? Then, it hit me in the forehead. The ride stoppage in a T-Rex area of the park not only built up fear and extreme excitement for me, but also brought about true shock and deep scar, which remains with me to this day. The devouring of the "bad-guy" lawyer made my hair rise up like I myself was eaten. There is no scene in "Jurassic Park" that I sensed the director's attempt to do more. It is a masterfully restrained act of the best kind. When the story is that good, someone much wiser told me, you don't have to shout to tell it. This is exactly what Spielberg had done with "Jurassic Park". He realized a good story, packaged it with the best ideas and people, then told it solidly and calmly. "Jurassic Park" becomes a classic because of such restraints, and not the over-dramatization tried and erred by several subsequent directors.