50s monster movie action

Rating: Null/10 (12 April 2002)

I like trilogies in which each film is a little different. Such is the case with the JURASSIC PARK movies. The first is sort of a science-fiction/epic adventure. THE LOST WORLD is more akin to a 50s monster movie. And JURASSIC PARK III is just a full-blown action movie. Like the best 50s monster movies, THE LOST WORLD offers a simple premise: the good guys travel to an island to rescue another good guy, but get stuck there with a bunch of bad guys and living dinosaurs. Although the movie never really gets going until the forty minute mark (which could have used some editing here and there to quicken things a little), once it does, it doesn't let up. The action is non-stop, the dinosaurs seemingly more real and menacing than before.
Though following the old monster movie standard of set up and attack, set up and attack, Spielberg does a great job with it. The child character adds some cornyness to the film (a part that should have just been left out; does she really do anything important?), but the rest of the film makes up for that flaw. Jeff Goldblum is good as always, even if he is just playing himself, and there's good support from Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Arliss Howard, and Richard Schiff, though Pete Postlethwaite steals many scenes. His (deleted) introduction scene at a marketplace in Africa is very cool. Check it out on the DVD. As a fan of the book, I was very disappointed with all the changes (the book was awesome). But as a movie fan, I was pretty pleased. The film does have its flaws (nearly every movie does), but it's an otherwise well-made monster movie that delivers.