Time to put this series to bed
It was inevitable that with the box office of The Lost World somebody would try to squeeze at least one more episode out of the Jurassic Park franchise; and boy is this one squeezed, except that there's no blood left (pardon the pun). Every tired cliche has been trotted out once more, and you get the feeling like the writers even felt bored of the whole process. Even the music seems stale: the grandeur of John Williams' score sounds lifeless and canned, totally drained of wonder.
I don't think a plot rehash is necessary, because what there is of a plot is quickly dispatched with so that we can get what we paid for: cool looking dinosaurs, lots of screaming, running around, last minute escapes, and special effects galore. Suffice it to say that when Sam Neill is tempted back to the dino islands by a huge wad of cash via William H. Macey, it's as if you're REALLY seeing Sam Neill the actor being handed wads of cash by the JP people, his reluctance to do a sequel overwhelmed by all the good films he could do with this paycheck. In fact, you pretty much know who's going to survive based on salaries in this movie. And the rest of the film has a similar taint to it: gouts of money thrown at the film to make it look decent and fistfuls thrown at the audience in the hopes that the audience will throw money back. It's only partially works.
The film starts out quite well, actually. There's some suspense, a child in peril, and a bickering divorced couple. And once we get the requisite stranding on the spooky island, there's quite a bit of tension built up. But soon all the neato creatures get introduced early on and JP3 rapidly uses up its arsenal of tricks, and when the film ends its more like a tree falling in the forest, you almost don't even notice although the thud is resounding.
For JP movies I am willing to toss a lot out the window for a good thrill: take away character development, pacing, plot continuity even, but at least exhilerate me! Alas, JP3 does none of these things. See it if you must, but consider yourself warned.
I don't think a plot rehash is necessary, because what there is of a plot is quickly dispatched with so that we can get what we paid for: cool looking dinosaurs, lots of screaming, running around, last minute escapes, and special effects galore. Suffice it to say that when Sam Neill is tempted back to the dino islands by a huge wad of cash via William H. Macey, it's as if you're REALLY seeing Sam Neill the actor being handed wads of cash by the JP people, his reluctance to do a sequel overwhelmed by all the good films he could do with this paycheck. In fact, you pretty much know who's going to survive based on salaries in this movie. And the rest of the film has a similar taint to it: gouts of money thrown at the film to make it look decent and fistfuls thrown at the audience in the hopes that the audience will throw money back. It's only partially works.
The film starts out quite well, actually. There's some suspense, a child in peril, and a bickering divorced couple. And once we get the requisite stranding on the spooky island, there's quite a bit of tension built up. But soon all the neato creatures get introduced early on and JP3 rapidly uses up its arsenal of tricks, and when the film ends its more like a tree falling in the forest, you almost don't even notice although the thud is resounding.
For JP movies I am willing to toss a lot out the window for a good thrill: take away character development, pacing, plot continuity even, but at least exhilerate me! Alas, JP3 does none of these things. See it if you must, but consider yourself warned.
- Gouda-3
- Sep 2, 2001