Spielberg's sequel failure

Rating: 4/10 (19 August 2016)

I'm a big fan of dinosaur movies, whether they be stop motion creatures, man-in-a-rubber-suit fun fests or computer generated terrors. Sadly, THE LOST WORLD is not one of the best dinosaur films around. It's not even very entertaining. It only took Spielberg four years to churn out a sequel to his huge 1993 hit JURASSIC PARK, which really took special effects technology one step further in the world and along with TERMINATOR 2, contains effects which are truly wondrous when first seen.
Unfortunately, by 1997, these kind of special effects were old hat and therefore the wonder was gone. Gone too was the charm and magic we used to associate with Spielberg's films, leaving me with a cold feeling of cynical marketing. THE LOST WORLD is simply a rehash of the first film, but without the plot and clever bits. It's a bit like a roller coaster ride in a thunderstorm, it's exciting at the time but it leaves you feeling ill afterwards due to the insubstantial nature of the movie. For it fell into the trap of letting the special effects flourish at the expense of any wit, characterisation, or plot, much like MEN IN BLACK, VOLCANO, and countless other recent 'blockbusters' have.
I'm not criticising the special effects, as they are as brilliant as ever, but as we've already seen them all before there's not much to get excited about. The actors and actresses in the film are all accomplished but are not given much to do. Jeff Goldblum looks tired and old and as if he wants to be somewhere else, while Julianne Moore is one of the most annoying heroines I have ever seen (almost as bad as Penelope Anne Miller in THE RELIC). Vince Vaughan is bland and expressionless in his worthless part while Richard Attenborough puts in a cameo appearance and looks like he was glad to leave. The only acting of note in the film is that from Pete Postlethwaite as a big game hunter who wants to bag the biggest game of all, i.e. the Tyrannosaurus rex. With his big hat and powerful gun he's clichéd and a lot of fun in his sadly small role.
There are a lot of things to laugh at in the film. Sadly, they're not intentional laughs, instead you will find yourself ridiculing the events taking place. Ian Malcolm, a white character, has a black daughter. Excuse me? I'm not one to take the mickey but I find this a rather unlikely example of tokenism done perhaps in response to the lack of black leading characters in the original. One set piece of the film is a moment where a caravan falls over the edge of the cliff (a rehash of the car over the cliff scene in JURASSIC PARK). It lasts for so long that it soon gets very boring - and stupid - indeed.
The only thing of interest in the film is the increased violence level, which somewhat controversially gave the film a 12 certificate in the UK. One man is ripped apart by tiny dinosaurs, a girl dies in the opening credits, and in the best bit of the film, a man is torn in half by two Tyrannosaurus rex. These sadistic streaks are totally out of the blue and obviously in my case the best bits of the film. Otherwise, get out the original for some really fun dinosaur escapades.