Review #934: 'Jurassic Park' (1993)

Jurassic Park was one of the first movies I remember watching at the cinema as a youngster, and I was so blown away I quickly acquired a pirate video of it, which I routinely watched to death. The special effects, the music, the set-pieces, that familiar park logo - it all had me riveted. It's one of the game-changing blockbuster movies, and watching it again an astonishing 22 years later, it's remarkable just how well the movie has aged. It's not quite the perfect experience I remember - those Spielberg-isms are now clear as day - but Jurassic Park's mixture of robotics and CGI blows most modern films away in terms of tension and pure spectacle.

Eccentric millionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) approaches palaeontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and his palaeobotanist partner Dr. Ellie Satler (Laura Dern) to join him on a journey to his newly built theme park. With the promise of a life-changing experience, the young-ish doctors cannot resist, so they journey to Isla Nublar, an island off the coast of Costa Rica, along with mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and lawyer Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero). Upon arrival, they are greeted with the sight of a living, breathing brachiosaurus. Using the preserved dinosaur DNA extracted from mosquitoes preserved in tree sap, Hammond and his company have used cloning technology to birth a wide range of dinosaurs, including the terrifying tyrannosaurus rex and a group of velociraptors.

With this revelation comes the debate of whether man creating life is ethical, or in this scenario, safe. The dangers quickly become apparent to the group of doctors, but they cannot restrain their curiosity and are whisked off on a tour of the park. So confident is Hammond in the safety of his park, he invites his grandchildren Tim (Joseph Mazzello) and Lex (Ariana Richards) to participate. However, disgruntled employee Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) has cut a deal to sell dinosaur embryos to a corporate rival, and when a storm hits the park, he shuts down all the power in order gain access to the eggs. With the electric fences keeping the dinosaurs in temporarily down, it isn't long before the dinosaurs are fleeing their pens.

At first, this is the patient Spielberg who gave us Jaws (1975), opting for a slow build-up to the big reveal rather than giving the audience instant gratification. The introduction of the T-Rex is now an iconic moment in cinema, a thrilling combination of tension and pure terror, with a jump shock thrown in for good measure. But once Spielberg finally unleashes his monsters, the film simply doesn't stop. Delivering set-piece after set-piece, Jurassic Park abandons all restraint and packs it's second hour when it should be preparing us for the next big scene. Jaws gave us that wonderful moment when the crew compared battle scars, but there is no such scene here, just another problem for our relatively bland archetypal heroes to solve.

One of the most interesting aspects of the film is the character of John Hammond, Essentially the main antagonist, Hammond is a good-natured capitalist, a visionary who wants to bring wonder to the masses and make a tidy profit at the same time. Without a second thought for the consequences of his actions or the ethics of playing God, Hammond comes across as misguided, and too likeable to be labelled a villain. Hammond aside, Jurassic Park makes no apologies for its thinly-written characters, as this is a film of visual spectacle after all. When John Williams' famous score kicks in, it's easy to forget about the movie's many niggling problems and, for me at least, be reminded of that kid who would watch it on repeat with his nose a few inches from the screen.


Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie