Jurassic World sequel with Jeff Goldblum

[The Joker]

The follow-up to Jurassic World is looking more appealing now.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/jeff-goldblum-joins-jurassic-world-sequel-997569

[johnnygobbs]

Now all they need to do is bring back Sam Neill, Julianne Moore, and Laura Dern.  How awesome would that be?

[The Joker]

I always forget about Julianne Moore being in the 2nd one. Course it is the one JP movie I've re-watched the very least.

Liked her in other movies though. Top notch in Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and that Alice movie.

[Azrael]

Now all they need to do is bring back Sam Neill, Julianne Moore, and Laura Dern.  How awesome would that be?

Agreed, especially about Sam Neill.

Two blockbuster movies I disliked in 1997, Batman & Robin and The Lost World. Nowadays I enjoy B&R, but, outside of a few cool dinosaur scenes, I still can't stand TLW.

I enjoyed Jurassic World: of all the sequels with a 20 year lag I can think of, or of all the modern movies primarily relying on nostalgia for an older movie, it was maybe the best.

[The Dark Knight]

I love The Lost World.

It's much like Batman Returns in the sense it aims for a different atmosphere. Where Jurassic Park emphasised wonder and magic, The Lost World was a darker and more cynical take. That is reflected in the soundtrack. It's more tribal and suspenseful. The main theme is rarely used. And when it is, it's played subtly. It's more of a haunting reminder that Hammond's dream is now dead. Case in point the old painting Nick glimpses when he's walking around with his flashlight.

The Lost World offered a look behind the curtain. Isla Sorna was where the animals were first created before being sent over to Nublar. The original island had fences. The sequel had no fences. The set pieces were excellent. The trailer dangling over the cliff is probably better than anything we see in the original. The long grass sequence is also a franchise highlight. Along with the fact the small compys were made just as lethal as anything else you'd encounter on one of these islands.

Jurassic Park III is total filler and I wish it was never made.

Jurassic World offered a new slant because it presented a Park that had been open and running successfully for a long period of time. The hybrid dinosaur was interesting even if they went too far with its intelligence levels. I loved that Henry Wu came back. But is the film better than The Lost World? Not for me. It's a rather uneventful and tension free movie. The only things that really happen are the pteradon breakout and the iRex finale. I was a bigger fan upon release. But I now find it a rather boring movie as time goes on. It's not awful.

I wasn't that keen about the trained raptors or the implications the dinosaurs will be militarized. But when you're dealing with sequel after sequel with these films, new concepts have to be explored to justify their existence. I get that.

Honestly, I would've been perfectly content with the first two Spielberg films. But as a fan of those two, I still remain interested in the franchise.

[Azrael]

I love The Lost World.

It would be interesting to read your take on the actions of the designated heroes (the Vince Vaughn and Julianne Moore characters) in TLW.

Hell, just remembered the scene where they grab the Tyrannosaurus cub, the peril that followed was entirely their fault.

[The Dark Knight]

Mistakes are what drive drama, especially in films such as Jurassic Park.

Just a few examples:

The kids turning on the flashlight during the T-Rex breakout?
The kids in the gyrosphere going into a restricted area and ignoring warnings to return?
Billy stealing raptor eggs and carrying them?
Using a megaphone on the island?
Not checking the i-Rex's tracker before sending someone into the pen, which causes it to escape?

All dumb.

The Lost World's characters don't have exclusivity on this stuff. Jurassic World 2 will be the same.

[Azrael]

Anyway, since I'm not one for analysis, this article sums up my feelings about it pretty accurately.

Ten Things I Hate (and a whole lot more) about The Lost World: Jurassic Park

If you're a scientist like Sarah, or an environmentalist like Nick the Photographer, a.k.a. Earth First Guy (Vince Vaughn), you're automatically morally superior to the grubby capitalists. Therefore, it's OK to sabotage their camp, even if it gets a lot of people killed. And no one will in any way imply that you're a terrorist. This is an example of Douglas' Designated Hero™ rule, which partly stipulates that those that a movie chooses as its heroes shall never be held responsible for any deaths caused by their actions.

Sarah was originally doing work at the San Diego zoo, but is apparently horrified by the idea that the dinosaurs would be captured and...taken to a zoo in San Diego.

Inherent in Douglas' Designated Hero/Villain rule is that positions won't be judged on their objective merit, but rather on who is advancing them. Peter's position that they have a right to 'exploit' the dinos (i.e., put them on display) because his company created them is hardly insane. However, the film dismisses the argument because it's being advanced by the Evil Capitalist. More to the point, it has the argument advanced by the Evil Capitalist so that it can be dismissed. Yet, because Earth First Guy is a hero, his causing the deaths of literally dozens of people is ignored. In other words, the film openly judges the caging of (artificially created) animals to be more of a crime than killing other humans.

[thecolorsblend]

When you become wise to the Designated Hero bit, you find all sorts of interesting ideas... coming from the mouths of villains in order to discredit those ideas without rationally answering them.

Good on you for noticing.

For everything else, well, it's worth remembering that as talented a filmmaker as Steven Spielberg might be, (1) The Lost World is an absolute dud (2) it's a money-grab and (3) Spielberg is just another Hollywood liberal... to say the very least.

Of course TLW sucks. I tried rewatching it a few weeks ago but I couldn't force myself to sit through the entire farce of idiotic characters doing idiotic things. I realize that a certain amount of stupidity breeds drama. There's all the obvious stuff from the original JP to consider on that. But the idiocy of TLW far surpasses the dumb mistakes and bonehead plays of JP. The idiocy of TLW borders on retardation.

[The Dark Knight]

People either like something or they don't. People here don't like TLW and that's life.

I think TLW is a good piece of entertainment and I never really understood the brutal hate that exists for it. It's as if the different tone rubbed people the wrong way. Those who wanted a replication of the original were left cold. Batman Returns haters are much the same. Opinions become set and each side just doubles down.

TLW isn't a perfect film which needs to be placed into the hall of fame. The characters in the film aren't all Einsteins - just like the other JP films. But if anything is an absolute dud and a money grab, it's Jurassic Park III which plods through the motions. Nothing in that film reaches the heights of The Lost World in my opinion. Nothing. I argue the same for Jurassic World. Not one set piece in that film bests the trailer going over the cliff or the long grass raptor hunt. Pratt isn't better than Goldblum either.

Peter Postlethwaite was one of the best actors of all time, and he's also good in TLW. I actually prefer him to Muldoon in the original. I also dig that Spielberg ended the film in the city with the T-Rex rampage. For some people it's a big weakness, but it doesn't bother me. If another film in the franchise goes for that angle it's not new territory. It has already been done.