Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World
"Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running, and screaming." - Dr. Malcolm
release year: 1997
genre: action/adventure
viewing setting: hotel room 6/12/21 and home DVD, 8/4/14 and 1/4/09 and theater 6/15/97 and 5/24/97
synopsis: Something has survived...in fact, an entire second island, full of dinosaurs. So of course, people have to go there to check it out.
impressions: Good sequel, though it wandered a bit in the second half. Like the first movie, this one contained the theme of people having little understanding or respect for the dinosaurs, at least until they were being chased or eaten by them. It's a tough lesson to learn, I guess. This one had a small group of good guys (who were there simply to snap pictures) and a large group of bad guys (mercenaries who were there to hunt and capture dinosaurs and bring them back to San Diego.) As expected, survival rate in this situation was pretty low.
something this movie has that no other movie has: A T-Rex stomping through the streets of a major city.
acting: Jeff Goldblum becomes the prime good guy, his chaos-theory scientist returning from the first movie. Julianne Moore is his girlfriend, who does dumb things like helping a baby T-Rex without thinking about how its mother might react. Vanessa Lee Chester is Goldblum's daughter, who at one point thinks it's cool to stow away (when she gets bored and realizes that everyone else is going to the dinosaur island) then later starts bawling and wants to go home (after realizing that dinosaurs will kill and eat her if they get the chance.) Vince Vaughn is a photographer who has a secondary objective, and he's more serious than in his later comedy roles. Pete Postlethwaite is the big bad hunter who only cares about triumphing over a T-Rex. Richard Schiff is the engineer in the good guys' team.
final word: Good sequel, worth seeing and owning.
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