JURASSIC PARK — Movie Review
By John Argote Rodriguez
If you haven’t seen “Jurassic Park” STOP what you’re going and watch it NOW!
SPOILERS!
“Jurassic Park” was released on June 11, 1993 and is based on the novel of the same name written by Michael Crichton.
“Jurassic Park” stars Sam Neil, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, B D. Wong, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight, Joseph Mazzello, Arianna Richards, and Richard Attenborough.
“Jurassic Park” starts off in one of the most powerful openings in cinema history, John Williams eerie music as the credits start and the directing Spielberg’s doing with making the tress move as if a creature is behind it ready to attack while we see Muldoon’s men ready for what comes next, only for it to be the container with the Raptor, it’s damn art. Muldoon and Jurassic Park workers tying to contain a Velociraptor, the music, the lighting, but one of my favorites is how Spielberg basically used the “Jaws” suspense by never fully showing the creature just his eyes locking with Muldoon establishing the rivalry, but also introducing the Velociraptor as a force to be reckoned with because although we near saw the Velociraptor entirely, we were right off the bat told the danger is established.
It’s no doubt that “Jurassic Park” is one of the most iconic films of all time, this film revolutionized the special effects and movie industry all together, I mean there are tons of movies that are being released today and the CGI in this film from 1993 (25 years to be exact as of 6/2018) still looks better and realistic then most visual effects coming out today which really just shows how this film is standing the test of time.
Look I’m gonna immediately say it, I’m biased over this movie, I am gonna praise it forever and ever because all my life I’ve loved movies and since before preschool I’ve wanted to make movies and as I grew up all of my friends have radically changed what they’ve wanted to be since preschool, one in particular in preschool wanted to be an astronaut and now he’s majoring in dental, I’ve never changed what I’ve wanted to become and before this film I’ve seen many films in my childhood including “Jurassic Park III”, but when I saw “Jurassic Park” I fell in love with movies, I vividly remember watching this film and having my mind completely blown and amazed and as soon as the film ended and the words “Directed by Steven Spielberg” appeared with John Williams fantastic score playing, from that moment I knew what I wanted to be. I wanted to make movies, I’d had this feeling I never had and it’s only a feeling that movies bring. It’s the power of what a great film could do, it was such a beautiful experience that made me fall in love with movies a love and passion I still have to this day.
“Jurassic Park” isn’t the greatest movie of all time because there is no greatest movie of all time to me, there are some many that are very different, but this film had the biggest influence and it changed my life forever which is why every time I watch this movie again I’m a kid again watching the horror, thrill, action, suspense, performances, actors, environment, dinosaurs, everything.
Now with all of that personal history I have with “Jurassic Park” lets actually talk about the movie, I just first wanted to tell you guys what this movie means to me and that it’s not just some movie I liked, but one that set the stage for what my life will become.
Now what can I say about “Jurassic Park”, it’s a fun adventure. It it’s a classic that has stood the test of time and it’s not just the amazing CGI, but it’s the story and the characters in it and in addition you have the greatest director of all time: Steven Spielberg.
The cast did a fantastic job, my favorite being Sam Neil’s Dr. Alan Grant a paleontologist who absolutely loves dinosaurs and isn’t doing so well financially with his dig site in Montana with his girlfriend Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) a paleobotonist who’s part of the Montana dig site. Dr. Grant has a amazing story arc and it is done successfully as we see change in the character and the difference from the Dr. Grant we got in the beginning to the end of the film, a grumpy man who dislikes kids, I mean hell he terrified a kid in the beginning. It was awesome.
Laura Dern was great, I wish she’d been in the car with Dr. Grant and Malcolm during the the iconic Tyrannosaurus Rex attack, but I loved her characters dialogue and chemistry between other the characters such as John Hammond, Robert Muldoon, and Ray Arnold.
“Hey Alan, if you wanted to scare the kid you could’ve pulled a gun on him. “
Now let’s talk about of cinemas greatest characters brought so damn prefect into the big screen by none other then Jeff Goldblum.
“You did it, you crazy son of a bitch you did it …”
Jeff Goldblum as the lovable mathematician and chaotician Dr. Ian Malcolm is a gift from God, he has some of the most memorable quotes in film history that only Goldblum can deliver so perfectly.
“Dr. Sattler I refuse to believe that you aren’t familiar with the concept of attraction?”
Goldblum has so much energy and charisma that it makes you energetic, but I love that he’s also a smart character despite his odd but enticing personality and his speech about why cloning the dinosaurs is a bad idea is great, “Life, uh, finds a way.” Also who can’t forget that laugh?
Richard Attenborough as John Hammond is a huge departure from the novel, in the film he’s a nice lovable old man, but it the novel he’s a greedy selfish bastard and that worked for the novel, but this Hammond we got was great for the movie, I feel like he gets too much crap, I mean yeah cloning the dinosaurs was a colossal mistake that was proven right in every sequel after, but his purpose for creating Jurassic Park was innocent and his heart and intentions were in the right place. He definitely changes in the end, going from wanting endorsement from his invited visitors to changing his mind and reluctantly facing the fact that he’s tampered with mother nature and let life go on in the island.
Robert Muldoon played by the late Bob Peck. Muldoon’s a supporting character, but he’s a man of few words, he’s very intriguing and every line he has is great, his character is similar to another Steven Spielberg classic, 1975’s “Jaws”. In “Jaws” there’s Quint, played by the late Robert Shaw, Quint has a huge deal of knowledge about the shark similar to Muldoon’s knowledge about Raptors, Quint has lost people from the sharks, Muldoon lost one of his men in the opening of the film, but both have the flaw of wanting them dead that led to their gruesome deaths by their prey. In the end the hunter became the hunted. It’s why I love the beginning when Muldoon and the Raptor lock eyes, it sets up this rivalry.
Muldoon suffered a horrific and painful death, because Jesus! You never see the gore or blood (PG-13) but hearing the horrifying screams from Muldoon’s agonizing death was brutal as 💩.
Muldoon’s death is foreshadowed by Dr. Grant earlier in the film when he’s scaring the shit out of that kid. The foreshadowing is when Dr. Grant says…
“You stare at him and he just stares right back. And that’s when the attack comes, not from the front, but from the side. From the other two Raptors you didn’t even know were there.”
The foreshadowing was also in how smart the Velociraptors are because Muldoon was ultimately outsmarted by them which led to his painful death.
I loved the supporting characters played Samuel L. Jackson and Wayne Knight as Ray Arnold and Dennis Nedry. Jackson as Ray Arnold was great because he wasn’t a main character he was just a supporting character and not screaming “motherfucker!” every minute. Ray Arnold did have some memorable dialogue and the famous close up shot of his mouth with the cigarette.
Followed by ine of the most iconic lines of the film and what is perhaps the first ever gif…
“Uh uh uh, you didn’t say the magic word. Uh uh uh…”
Dennis Nedry was such a greedy bastard, that when that famous Dilophosaurus death comes it’s satisfying, Karma’s a bitch. One that that I always found odd is that Hammond would hire him to be essentially be in charge of the entire park … I get it, don’t judge a book by its cover, but come on just look at this greedy bastard it shouldn’t come off too shocking to the characters when they discover what this intentions were because frankly he had betrayal written all over himself.
Now B.D. Wong plays the role of Dr. Henry Wu, the man responsible for the cloning of the dinosaurs in the park. Now this Dr. Wu is radically different from his novel counterpart, now with that said, Wong’s time in the movie was nice, but he basically just had a cameo role in the film, Wong eventually went on to get the role of therapist Dr. George Huang in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” for a number of years, he did eventually return to the franchise in 2015’s “Jurassic World”, a whooping 22 years later with a bigger role, though more of a supporting role (more of that in my “Jurassic World” review).
As I’ve said various times throughout the review, “Jurassic Park” has a sense of wonder and magic, but a major player in what brings that alive is John Williams beautiful and iconic soundtrack, for example, the scene when Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler see a dinosaur (Brachiosaurus) for the first time it’s such a beautiful scene watching the character and us for that matter to see in aw and wonder and Williams did this scene justice. My favorite track in the soundtrack being “Journey to the Island”, watching that scene when Hammond said “There it is.” followed by the shot of the helicopter approaching the island with the big rock on the left was so beautiful and magical, it was then as a 4 year old and it still is now. It’s such a beautiful scene, so much that it was recreated it “Jurassic Park III”.
Another example would be the scene with the sick Triceratops. That scene resonates with me because watching Dr. Grant letting his inner child returning watching this beautiful animal always gets me smiling like a dumbass because this is what the film is to me, hearing Dr. Grant saying-
“She was one of my favorites when I was a kid and now I see she’s the most beautiful thing I ever saw.”
Was so powerful because Grant isn’t so fond of children and for him to turn into one in that moment showed character, and Williams score added so much to that scene.
Then there is of course the appearance of star of the movie as Steven Spielberg himself says. The Tyrannosaurus Rex. Holy shit, she is gorgeous. From her introduction to her epic finale, every scene she was in I saw a T-Rex. The CGI for her was groundbreaking and what I loved was that for close up shots Stan Winston created a full animatronic of her and she looks so real and badass. Who could forget iconic scenes like her eating the goat, her first roar which is the stuff of nightmare and badassery, the shot of her eye shrinking then growing with the light in her eye watching Lex and Tim then immediately proceeding to attack the car, and when Dr. Grant’s character defining moment comes to light when he decides to risk his to save the children followed by Ian Malcolm distracting the T-Rex to buy Dr. Grant sometime and for some reason I’ve always loved how Sam Neil delivered the line “IAN FREEZE!”. Then there’s of course..
It’s cool to see this coward who left children to die get what he had coming, but my God that is such a horrific way to go out. The T-Rex has the strongest bite force and in addition to that, Gennaro getting violently thrown back and forth is breaking his bones and making his insides mushy to be easier to eat. That’s just a bad way to go out, but awesome nonetheless.
There’s also the “Must Go Faster” which was so thrilling. The shot of Robert Muldoon watching the mirror that says “Objects in mirror are closer then they appear” which the T-Rexes humungous Jaws appear closer with Muldoon, Sattler, and Malcolm having to duck due to a tree being on the way and the T-Rex goes through it like as if the tress was a twig. Then finally the finale. T-Rex vs. The Velociraptors epic finale Spielberg added in to not disappointed fans and he didn’t. Though how no one heard her coming in the visitors center I have no idea.
As you probably guessed already, I fucking adore this movie with all my heart, a movie that influenced and changed my life forever and it’s not just that, “Jurassic Park” is a fantastic movie with amazing and memorable characters and lines, groundbreaking CGI that still holds up 25 years later, it’s a truly intelligent movie about Man vs. Nature and man tampering with with nature has done and then recreating it, such as the lunch scene where characters like Dr. Grant and Sattler who despite loved seeing a dinosaur alive had grower and learned that maybe Hammond shouldn’t of played God or Grant’s change of perspective on children, it’s all great.
The film was re-released in 3D in theatres in 2013 to coincide with the movie’s 20th anniversary and I never got to see it. It’ll be back in theatres eventually, probably 2023 for it’s 30th anniversary. I’ll be the very first in line at the Dolby/Prime in AMC or any theatre for that matter, in the mean time my DVD and VHS’ll do like they have since childhood.
Guys you know the grade.
“Welcome to JURASSIC PARK.”
Grade: A+
