Written by: Lord Gremlin
Few films are as important to me as Jurassic Park. Kids in the late 1970’s
had Star Wars and kids in the 1990s
had Jurassic Park. That first film was a true paradigm shift for
the industry as far as special effects are concerned, and it also managed to
totally wow a whole generation of movie goers. To this day, I still consider it
one of the finest action/adventure films ever made and its legacy is still felt
even after the 20 some odd years since its release.
Most fans are lukewarm on The Lost World: Jurassic Park and most
fan still are in the same boat about Jurassic
Park III being a giant pile of Brachiosaurus shit. I myself still find The Lost World: Jurassic Park to be a
worthy follow up despite some very grating script hiccups and I could write a
thesis on how much I hate Jurassic Park III,
but considering I have more pressing matters to write about, I will spare you
that particularly vitriol filled tirade for now.
Rumors of a 4th film had been
floating around for years. They even passed around an idea about creating
human/dino hybrids for the next installment and I (along with the entire
fandom) flipped my shit at how totally ASS that sounded. Luckily, they dropped
that idea and went for a more practical and believable approach.
Newcomer Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) was tasked with
revitalizing the franchise properly with screenwriters Amanda Silver, Rick
Jaffa and Derek Connolly. This was the first good sign that we may actually get
a good sequel. Trevorrow has expressed what comes across as true admiration for
the original film in interviews and he also seems to really want to deliver
something good here. While the cynic may say “Well no shit a director of a big
budget film is gonna have good things to say!” I choose to take his word for it
because he comes off as damned sincere.
The writing team of Jaffa and Silver is
another notch on the “hell yes!” belt because they’ve delivered two of the most
solid high concept blockbusters of recent years with “Rise and Dawn of the
Planet of the Apes. So creatively, Universal and Senior Spielbergo went with
quality people who not only have an appreciation for the franchise, but can
also deliver smart blockbuster fare.
Now let’s get to the trailer, shall we?
Well, I loved it. Not to get all fanboy, but the trailer did
exactly what I wanted it to do: It got me excited. On the surface the plot
looks more of the same: Scientists play God. Shit hit’s the fan. People run
away and getting eaten by hungry dinosaurs. That blasted cynic would say “lame!
Give us something new!” And I would say “Hey! Give it a chance! It looks like
they are giving us something new!”
As we all know by now the park is indeed
open. And by the looks of things it’s doing a crapload of business. According
to Trevorrow, the park has been open and operating for a whole 10 years. This
right here is an interest plot point. Based off of this info and visuals from
the trailer, we are going to get an extension of some of the themes and the
morality play from the first film. What would a functioning theme park filled
with real dinosaurs be like in today’s world? After 10 years, what would the
public reaction be like? Trevorrow himself had some interesting words to say on
the matter:
“This film picks up twenty-two years
after Jurassic Park. When Derek [Connolly] and I sat down to find
the movie, we looked at the past two decades and talked about what we’ve seen.
Two things came to the surface. [source]
One was that money has been the gasoline in
the engine of our biggest mistakes. If there are billions to be made, no one
can resist them, even if they know things could end horribly.
The other was that our relationship with
technology has become so woven into our daily lives, we’ve become numb to the
scientific miracles around us. We take so much for granted.
Those two ideas felt like they could work
together. What if, despite previous disasters, they built a new biological
preserve where you could see dinosaurs walk the earth…and what if people were
already kind of over it? We imagined a teenager texting his girlfriend with his
back to a T-Rex behind protective glass. For us, that image captured the way
much of the audience feels about the movies themselves. “We’ve seen CG
dinosaurs. What else you got?” Next year, you’ll see the answer.”
See? I told the guy had some solid ground
to work on!
If executed well, seeing the park
functioning as it was intended to could be the best way for Trevorrow and his
crew to recapture some of that magic the first film had. I’m not under any
illusions “Jurassic World” will make me a 4 year again and give me that same
euphoric feeling the first film gave me. How could it? Magic like that is a
very, very rare thing in films but if JW could manage to just stir up some of
those old tingly feelings of giddy excitement, I will consider it a job well
done. Some of the shots from the trailer looked to have that magic to them
(that River Ride anyone? That Gyro-thingy riding alongside long-necked dinos!
Hello!) so we’ll see if the film can sustain that vibe come June 12th.
Another thing that had me stoked is the
inclusion of an aquatic dinosaur, in particular the Mosasaur. It’s like they
looked into my brain and picked out an image specifically for me, just to make
me happy. If they use that badass looking dude to his full potential in the
film, we are looking at one scary ass new dinosaur.
The trailer also indicates that the
franchise is getting back to its science fiction roots with the inclusion of a
new big bad to the franchise-a mysterious hybrid. The real kicker comes at the
end of the trailer though, when we see a pack of what look to be “trained”
Raptors running alongside Chris Pratt’s character as he rides a motorcycle. The
buzz about hybrids and friendly Raptors sent fans into a panty twisting tizzy,
and honestly I can see why. I wasn’t all that thrilled about it myself until
Mr. Trevorrow put me at ease with these words:
“There’s no such thing as good or bad
dinosaurs. There are predators and prey. The T-Rex in Jurassic Park took human
lives, and saved them. No one interpreted her as good or bad. This film is
about our relationship with animals, how we react to the threat they pose to
our dominance on earth as a species. We hunt them, we cage them in zoos, we
admire them from afar and we try to assert control over them.
Chris Pratt’s character is doing behavioral
research on the raptors. They aren’t trained, they can’t do tricks. He’s just
trying to figure out the limits of the relationship between these highly
intelligent creatures and human beings. If people don’t think there’s potential
in those ideas, maybe they won’t like this movie. But I ask them to give it a
chance.”
This makes all the sense in the world to
me. While setting the film on an island, (yet again) with cocky scientists
playing God (yet again) feels overly familiar on the surface, it’s what the
creators do with that set-up that will make the film stand apart and not feel
like a lazy retread. If the script puts forth the same strong idea’s and themes
with the same confidence and finesse of the first film, I don’t see the
familiarity being a problem what-so-diddly-ever. And that my friends, is what
the film needs the most to succeed-a robust story. Sure, we know how it plays
out, what the message is and all that but I’m of the opinion that no matter
what a movie’s story is, samey or not, it’s all in the execution.
So as you can guess, I am very much looking
forward to Jurassic World. I think
the film has massive potential to be the sequel we deserved way back when Jurassic Park III came out and spit in
all of our eyes. The writing team is strong, the director has passion and
potential (Check out Safety Not Guaranteed, it’s bitchin’) and the cast is
solid as well. So I will sit here for the next 6 months or so, patiently
waiting to visit my favorite fictional theme park again, and I hope (and feel)
that the wait may very well be worth it.
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