The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 217 Days to go: 218
Movie #160: Jurassic Park
So much of Jurassic Park is exposition and world-creating, it’s hard to believe it’s as successful a monster movie as it is. But, oh man, is it ever successful. I remember seeing this in the theater and just having the pants scared right the hell off of me by the tension and the set up and the gruesome payoffs.
In the matter of storytelling, exposition is often required, but the film is well-constructed to frame the exposition in unique and satisfying ways: the instructional film, the park ride’s audio, the malicious description to a bratty kid of how a velociraptor would eviscerate him, and a cast full of scientific expert characters meant to educate the hobbyists and children (as well as the audience).
Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum are those scientific experts, Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler, and Dr. Ian Malcolm. Each with their own area of expertise, they provide insight into the biology and behavior of dinosaurs, as well as the unpredictability of life. Their expertise butts heads with the hubris of resident mastermind John Hammond (the late Richard Attenborough), as he fails to see how reckless and dangerous it could be to bring humans and dinosaurs together.
Every monster movie also needs the corrupt and/or negligent fool (Wayne Knight) whose self-interest puts the people in danger, as well as a couple of supporting role heroes (Samuel L. Jackson and Bob Peck) who will inevitably make the ultimate sacrifice. But no monster movie is complete without the requisite monsters, and Jurassic Park has quite a few.
There’s the venom-spitting carnivore that gets Knight’s character — a messy, fitting end to him and his misdeeds — that is a personal favorite of mine, and an underrated villain as far as I’m concerned. But, of course, the real marquee monsters are the T-rex and the velociraptors.
The T-rex is imposing and terrifying, stomping through the terrain and terrorizing all the lesser animals, screaming her blood-chilling roar. She gets herself a goat, a human victim, and goes after Dr. Grant and the kids (Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards), only being foiled by her tricky motion-sensor vision. The best and most terrifying aspect of her approach, however, is the tremor going through the water cup (which I read Spielberg created by stretching a guitar string under the Jeep and plucking it) — though the chase seen through the side mirror is iconic and amazing as well, for the ingenuity as well as the flawless depiction of the massive creature.
The raptors, on the other hand, are small and lithe. They move quickly and silently, pouncing on prey almost undetected. Their threat is a more panicking one, if only because it uses your imagined fears against you and then usually proves them to be true as well. Who could forget the sneak attack on Muldoon (Peck), prompting his oft-quoted “Clever girl” line? Or the tense and spectacularly scary kitchen scene in which the raptors engage in a battle of wits with the children and only just lose out.
The movie is wonderful, on all levels, from the strong-minded and brave presence of Dern’s Ellie Sattler, to the shocking (haha) turn of events on the electrical perimeter fence. And the movie doesn’t shy away from the awe-inspiring beauty and grandeur of these animals, making it at least somewhat understandable why someone would act as Hammond does. The beasts are truly both great and terrible, which is why the T-rex, in its way, is hero as much as villain.
Honestly, it’s not all that different from various portrayals of Godzilla in that sense. But that’s another post.
Viable Option 