According to the publicity campaign for Steven Spielberg's mammoth dino-sequel, "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," something has survived.
Something has indeed survived, but unfortunately for moviegoers, said survivor is merely a decaying carcass of the original film - fundamentally the same, though with more scavenging creatures and festering holes that provide more excitement, but are ultimately just nauseating.
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The Lost World Three Stars At Briarwood and Showcase |
The all-too-mechanical, non-dino plot mechanics adapted here - actually quite intriguing, since Michael Crichton's novel "The Lost World" was the literary equivalent of acid reflux - involve a certain Site B, a backup to the ill-fated theme park, which was conveniently kept a secret in the first film. This "lost world" has been living for four years in perfect harmony, leading eccentric billionnaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) to send a team of scientists to study this undisturbed paradise.
When Hammond sends spunky paleontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) into harm's way, now washed-up and wisecracking "Park" survivor Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) leads the expedition to save his cuddly girlfriend.
Along with photographer Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn) and stowaway daughter Kelly Malcolm (Vanessa Lee Chester), the good guys must fend off both angry, territorial dinosaurs and bureaucratic poachers led by Mr. Clean lookalike Roland (Pete Postlethwaite) and corporate weasel Ludlow (Arliss Howard), who are looking to create a mainland Jurassic Park franchise in San Diego.
Of course, everything goes awry and initial awe turns to running and screaming as the naturalists and capitalists join forces to get the hell off the island.
Attempting some heavy-handed moralizing about parenting, environmentalism, capitalism and genetic engineering along the way, "Lost" remains just that until those big, bad dinosaurs come and devour those little, boring humans, ripping them and their harebrained morals to individually wrapped, bite-size pieces.
Depicting nearly every snarl, bite and chew of the predators, the film's body count escalates to startlingly non-PG-13 heights, not even sparing animal-run-amok-film taboos like little girls and puppies.
That no-holds-barred approach to the depiction of human suffering may be a bit much, but it is a much-needed alternative to the tedious fat-chewing of the homo sapiens, courtesy of David Koepp's brisk and nearly wordless screenplay.
With not much to do, the actors strangely make their roles fascinating - Moore injects Sarah with plenty of sass, becoming nobody's doormat; Vaughn's Nick is a smirky, cocky mess of gum-snapping and name-dropping; and Goldblum's Malcolm is engagingly quirky, though all too familiar.
With its graphic nature, improved visual effects, numerous creatures, faster pace and more ingenious action sequences (check out that trailer scene and the raptor-village chase), Spielberg makes "The Lost World" more enjoyable, though more dizzily preposterous, than its predecessor.
Regardless of new attractions or thrills or even the campy Godzilla-esque climax in San Diego, "The Lost World" is just a "Jurassic" redux: a meaty, sometimes engaging and scary "Jaws" remake that provides a ride well worth the seven dollars, 2 1/4 hours and gratuitous gore.
And that's something summer movie audiences, alongside the T-Rexes, can really sink their teeth into - even though it's a little hard to swallow.
