In 1975, after its enormous success, Steven Spielberg was approached about directing a sequel to Jaws, and he utterly refused. Various reasons seem to have included the hectic production of the first movie, a genuine belief that there was no more story to tell, and even a little pomposity regarding the very idea of sequels. Jaws 2 was made without him, as were the subsequent two movies, each progressively worse than the last.
In 1982, he firmly put his foot down on a sequel to E.T.as well, feeling it would cheapen the original. And he really only made the two Indiana Jones follow-ups because he was pressured into them from the beginning by George Lucas. But by the mid-1990’s, his mind appeared to be changed towards the idea, having been announced as director of The Lost World, the sequel to Jurassic Park, based on the equivalent sequel novel by Michael Crichton.
It’s also worth noting that The Lost World was Spielberg’s first movie in a four-year hiatus after Schindler’s List, the longest break between films of his career. What about Jurassic Park beckoned him back where Jaws couldn’t? It might be the fact this sequel had a novel itself to fall back on, it might be that the scale and potential of the visual effects excited him, or it might be, once again, that a lighter, more conventional type of Spielberg film for him to direct would be beneficial ahead of two heavier projects.
It’s set four years after the events of the first film where businessman-turned-conservationist John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) has lost his company InGen to a scheming nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard). He turns to Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to join a research expedition to Isla Sorna, where the dinosaurs were originally bred in the open, Malcolm only agreeing when he learns his palaeontologist ex-girlfriend Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) has already gone to the island. At the same time, Ludlow spearheads an operation to “Site B” himself, to raid it for dinosaurs for a theme park in San Diego, with a team of mercenaries led by big game hunter Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite).
Though ostensibly based on the book, The Lost World has little in common with Crichton’s story, adapting one or two plot points and a handful of character names only. The author wasn’t as involved this time –not only did he not contribute to the screenplay, but his attitude towards the book itself seemed an obligation just so another movie could be made. However the movie did pull a couple scenes from the original novel that didn’t make it into the first film. The opening scene was one of the great early chapters, John Hammond’s death becomes Dieter Stark’s (Peter Stormare), and at one point a bunch of characters are cornered under a waterfall as had originally happened to Alan Grant and the kids.
This film is shot noticeably darker than its predecessor, with heavier shadows, faded colouring, starker contrast, and just a lot more of the plot taking place at night. This was the result of Spielberg bringing Schindler’s List cinematographer Janusz Kaminski onto the project to give the movie a rougher tone (Kaminski would subsequently work on most of Spielberg’s movies over the next two decades, accounting for a lot of their visual congruity); and to match a few of the more graphic deaths. However, the grim look sucks any liveliness out of the movie, and The Lost World is already devoid of the wonder that made up half of the originals’ winning equation. There’s almost no build-up once the characters touch down on the island, and while the carnage isn’t as immediate as in Jurassic Park III, it still much too quickly overpowers the narrative to the point the film veers into monster movie territory.
Ian Malcolm is the smartest character of the movie and there’s something just a little wrong with that. Making him the lead wasn’t the best choice, but it is understandable. Jeff Goldblum’s performance was so popular, Crichton resurrected him from the dead for the sequel. But the problem with Malcolm as protagonist is that he’s a cynic, a character with a stubborn ego who’s not invested in dinosaurs or conservationism. Malcolm’s given Sarah to care about and a daughter Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester), but try as he might with his favourite inadequate father theme, Spielberg can’t muster any believable growth in their relationship by the end. One of the reasons Malcolm’s such an uninteresting character in this film is that everything that happens on Isla Sorna and San Diego falls right into his biases. He’s never proven wrong, never forced to look at things from a different perspective, which makes everyone around him look incompetent and condones his smugness too much. Given how much closer he was to her and how much more relevant her field of expertise is, Hammond should have gone to Sattler for this expedition. It would have given Laura Dern the sequel she deserved to headline.
Goldblum is fine though, dropping some of his more eccentric mannerisms from the first movie as he tries to be a cool action hero. He still has to work through some bad comic relief however and a number of his deliveries are terribly off, especially when he needs to be shocked or angry. Julianne Moore has some great moments, but for the most part is underutilized. Arliss Howard, the least memorable marine in Full Metal Jacket, is similarly bland as the villain, Richard Schiff is wasted as Eddie Carr, the put-upon field equipment guy who is cruelly mistreated by the film, and Stormare is a one-dimensional sadist. Vince Vaughn’s eco-terrorist Nick Van Owen is probably the worst, offering nothing beyond being aggressively environmentalist, and actively making everything worse for everybody. None of these characters have a fraction of the personality of even the supporting cast of Jurassic Park. Well, except for Roland Tembo.
Pete Postlethwaite’s determined hunter is the best part of the movie, the only character who really leaves an impression and who you want to see more of. Postlethwaite is such a great actor and such a good commander of the team he’s running, you can’t help but love him in spite of his bloodsport (he also shuts down both Ludlow and Van Owen, earning him awesome points). And Richard Attenborough is of course great, even if he’s essentially just mimicking his brother.
The dinosaurs still look pretty good, though there is a lot more CGI being used this time. There’s still enough of Stan Winston’s marvellous animatronics, but not too many close-ups, and a plethora of cameo dinosaurs entirely rendered. We get to see Stegosaurus and Parasaurolophus, as well as the Compsognathus that played such an important role in the original novel. However these are still only brief appearances; the Tyrannosaurs and Velociraptors are the stars, at the expense of any other dinosaur that could prove interesting or signify a departure from the pure chaos the island represents. There’s more action involving both, more danger and death that only the major characters can avert, and also more silliness, such as the T-Rex drinking water out of a residential pool and a raptor being defeated by gymnastics.
The Lost World doesn’t have anything meaningful to say about science, nature, power, or ignorance, but is by virtue of its plot, espousing some kind of moral of environmentalism. If only maintaining that theme through a certain plot progression didn’t result in the characters representing animal rights coming off as horrible people. Van Owen especially is directly responsible for Carr’s death by bringing the baby T-Rex into the trailer and endangering the whole group, and nearly gets Tembo killed too by stealing his ammunition. And not only does he ignore these actions, he’s incredibly self-righteous to everyone else. You could actually argue the movie is anti-environmentalist if it weren’t for Spielberg’s liberal views on the matter (ironically Crichton was the environmentalism opponent). Ultimately the movie doesn’t say anything substantial with this theme either, relying on the simple “leave animals in their natural habitat” message at the end.
Which is unfortunate, because The Lost World had potential to be a great commentary on animal rights, and could have delved into what conservationism would mean in the context of genetically engineered creatures created purposely for exploitation by humans. This film isn’t interested in complex ideas like that though, it just wants to be a thriller. And it’s good at some of the necessities of that. As structurally anomalous as it was, the tacked-on San Diego sequence is pretty good. The trailer sequence is creative too, the movie has some decent music and pacing; and darkness aside, Kaminski is a good cinematographer. As bad as it is, it’s definitely the better version of this story next to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
Spielberg wanted to do a traditional monster movie and The Lost World gave him his chance. After that, he was done with the franchise, handing the reins for the slightly worse Jurassic Park III to Joe Johnston. Over two decades after turning down a disappointing sequel to Jaws, he’d made a disappointing sequel to Jurassic Park, once again setting a precedent for blockbuster filmmakers into the twenty-first century.
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