The Lost World: Jurassic Park 2 (1997) Dir: Steven Spielberg
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Most people who have either seen or heard of the Jurassic Park franchise are aware of the torrid reputation of this Steven Spielberg sequel. It had been a long time since I last watched it, and I didn't exactly have fond memories of it. I was hoping I'd enjoy it, even if it was still bad.
The visuals seemed so much less impressive than the first film - perhaps that's more to do with how the CGI was used. It was less of a spectacle, that much was for certain. I think, if anything, there was too much CGI. The physical effects still looked good though, so that was something.
The set-up was actually pretty intriguing, but the film soon lost the plot by falling down a well of absurd and poorly conceived and terribly executed plot points and ideas. As much as the story absolutely sucked, especially in comparison to the original, I still had fun. Admittedly, this was mostly because I was laughing at the stupidity of it.
Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of Jeff Goldblum this time. His sarcasm was honestly too much, which surprised even me to be honest - usually I like his wit, but it was never-ending. Furthermore, the writing and development of his character was just awful. It was such a shame for one of the first film's best characters.
Julianne Moore actually gave a good performance, in spite of the film's lack of quality. She was easily the best thing about the whole film. I found her sympathetic, endearing and generally the most consistent presence on-screen.
Vince Vaughn felt like a bad casting choice to me, and it was kind of a relief when he basically disappeared from the film in the final half an hour - I didn't like his acting much at all. I also wasn't a fan of Vanessa Lee Chester. Her acting wasn't that bad, but her character was completely unnecessary for the film, and actually hindered the film.
Peter Postlethwaite provided the most notable performance of the supporting cast, while Arliss Howard, Richard Attenborough and Peter Stormare each deserve mentions at least. Beyond those names, I wasn't bothered by the rest of the cast, in truth.
Overall, whilst there is no denying, in my mind, that this is a bad film, I actually kind of had a good time watching it. Maybe that's just what you get when dinosaurs attack humans, maybe it's a little hit of that so bad it's good mentality. Either way, it's a rubbish film, but at least one you can enjoy - just don't think about it too much.
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