A Jurassic Review
June 25, 2008Jurassic Park was the first movie I saw in a sold out theater. The buzz around the opening was enormous. Dinosaurs! That look real!
And it was incredible. From the first notes of the score when the dinosaurs are first spotted to the climactic end, the movie set a new standard for special effects. Of course, most of the thanks goes to Stan Winston, who recently passed away but left an amazing legacy of an imagination running wild.
What set Jurassic Park apart from other movies was not just the effects, but the finely choreographed action sequences. Each one, starting with the attack in the thunderstorm, set themselves apart from the rest of the film and played out like individual short movies.
That style of filmmaking where a scene evolved into it’s own movie has now become a mainstream idea (see The Matrix: Reloaded or The Transporter).
The film was flooded with humor and fine performances, most notably Jeff Goldblum’s fine portrayal of a man expecting the worst..and usually getting it.
Still, the movie lost some of it’s hold for me. It’s still a great film, and a groundbreaking one at that. But it’s not one I’ll watch often or even have seen regularly since it’s release.
The Rundown:
Quotable: Yeah especially Goldblum and Samuel L. Jackson with his “Hold on to your butts.”
Defining Scene: Pick any scene with a velociraptor.
Remembered After Two Days: The special effects will keep this movie around for a long time. It’s a great adventure film with plenty of heart and comedy. But it’s not one of my favorites all-time.
Top 50 Rating: 50
Not a knock against a great film, but I know there are 49 better ones.
Next up: The Matrix
