Zigsta
Disney Film Director
Link to original post: [drupal=3088]Jurassic Park 3: Looking to the future[/drupal]
I've been wanting to rewatch the Jurassic Park trilogy for some time now, and I finally got around to it. It's been about two weeks since I finished reading a biography of Steven Spielberg that I got for Christmas, and reading the excerpts on Jurassic Park and The Lost World only strengthened my desire to watch the trilogy. As I watched all three films over the course of a week, I made mental notes as to how Spielberg presented the first two. Knowing that I've become a much more knowledgeable filmmaker and student since the last time I saw the trilogy, I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast the two films directed by Spielberg and the third film directed by Joe Johnston, who is lined up to direct the fourth film at this time. With this note, I'm just going to focus on Jurassic Park III, the worst by far of the trilogy. What went wrong with it?
First of all, crappy editing really, really bugs me. When I edit, I always want to top my last work, and I want to challenge myself to learn new things, often via trial-and-error. When I watched the first two Jurassic Park films, the editing was invisible to me. That's editing at its finest. But I quickly noticed during Jurassic Park III that Joe Johnston's view is reflected in his cutting. Now whether this vision was the editor's or Johnston's, I'm not sure. But I do know that the director gets to make the final decisions in the cutting room. If he doesn't like what he sees, then the editor cuts it differently. Many scenes in Jurassic Park III end in a dissolve. Someone correct me if I'm mistaken, but the only fades I can think of in the first two are when the first image comes up and then when the final image fades to black. Fading after every scene is old, boring, and the lazy man's way to edit. Does it work in some movies? Absolutely. There's no finite rule on how to make a perfect film. But as a viewer of films, it's readily apparent to me whenever a film series switches directors just by looking at how they cut their film in comparison to previous films. If I ever had to take over the reins of a film franchise, I'd do my best to follow with the same vision as previous directors, especially if the film was as successful as Jurassic Park.
Secondly, let's bring up characters. Jurassic Park III has 8 characters on the island. The mom, the dad, the son, Dr. Alan Grant, Billy, and 3 mercenaries-for-hire. The latter get killed quickly, with the first two being killed in the first scene on the island. In previous films, characters largely are killed off because they've sinned in some sort of way. The lawyer in Jurassic Park was not only greedy, but he also abandoned the kids in efforts to save himself. In The Lost World, the 3rd hunter in charge sparked the innocent, curious Comthagnathys. I know I'm spelling this wrong, but I can pronounce it--they're the small green dinosaurs labeled as jackal-like in the second film that attack the young girl in the opening scene. Again, in the first film, Dennis steals the dinosaur embryos and is largely the cause for all the problems the main characters face. All three aforementioned characters sinned on innocent characters, and they pay for it with their lives. A notable exception is Eddie from The Lost World; he continues to press his foot against the gas of the jeep in an effort to save his friends despite the fact that two T-rexes flank him. He dies a tragic and noble death. But Jurassic Park III? The first two mercenaries get killed by the spinosaurus with the only background information we get on them is them blowing up a plane spraypainted to look like a dinosaur's face. We don't get to know them at all. They're just used strictly for dino-chow. The third mercenary dies shortly after, but he's not given much story, too. He says he's not really a mercenary; he's just filling in. And he says he wants to go with Dr. Grant and Billy if the group splits up. That's it. Then he's raptor food. Did the three of them sin in any way? We don't know.
Now let's move on to the poster dinosaur of Jurassic Park III: the spinosaurus. Looks pretty wicked, huh? Sure. But he doesn't get the same star treatment as the T-rex of the previous films. Any saavy screenwriter and director knows that it's best not to reveal the creature straight away. In Jurassic Park, we're taunted along with the main characters as they pull up alongside the T-rex enclosure. We know it's in there somewhere, but the thing just doesn't come out, even when the goat is thrown into the mix. So the cars leave. After the scene with the sick triceratops, we cut to John Hammond and his assistants at the main facility. He asks where the cars have stopped, and BOOM! Cut outside the T-rex enclosure again. The goat's still there. We get some conversation within the two cars and get to know our characters better. Then the boy looks out through the night vision goggles he finds underneath his seat to find that the goat is gone. Then we get the infamous close-up of the water-filled cup vibrating as we hear loud footsteps. And THEN we get to see the T-rex, our creature. Jaws does it. Cloverfield does it. Any halfway decent monster film does it. A good filmmaker knows the audience is here to see the film's monster. Bait them. In Jurassic Park III, all we get is shots going off, followed by two of the mercenaries running out of the jungle and yelling for everyone to get back in the plane. Billy says it sounds like a T-rex, but Dr. Grant says it's much bigger. They get in the plane, and the third mercenary runs onto the runway. Just as the plane is about to hit him, the spinosaurus runs out and eats him. And in the first scene on the island, we already see the monster. The spinosaurus seems to hunt the crew whenever he feels like it, unlike the three T-rexes of the previous films. In Jurassic Park, the T-rex only attacks the humans when they're around his enclosure. In The Lost World, it's perfectly clear to us that the parent T-rexes hunt the humans for their baby back, and this plot point is used to corral the bull rex to return to the ship in San Diego. But not the spinosaurus. He only seems to want to destroy the humans. He exits in a particularly boring fashion, too, with Dr. Grant shooting him in the neck with a flare, and the beast runs as the fire spreads. With previous films, we also learned more about the carnivores, causing us to understand that dinosaur better. We learn in Jurassic Park that T-rexes have horrible vision, so by standing still, a T-rex can't see you. We also learn that velociraptors are incredibly intelligent and hunt in packs, where oftentimes a decoy waits in front while the other ambush their target. We learn both of these bits first from Dr. Allan Grant, and then we see the dinosaurs fall right in line with these statements. But we are told nothing about the spinosaurus. He's just a mean, human- and T-rex-eating monster who can apparently swim.
What makes Jurassic Park so fascinating is the contrast between the beauty and the horror. The first two films captivate us with the wonders of meeting real-life dinosaurs. In the first film, there's the famous scene where the main characters meet their first dinosaur: a brachiosaurus. And then there's the petting of the sick triceratops. And waking up next to the brachiosauruses high in the treetops. And watching a baby dinosaur hatch from an egg. In The Lost World, the lead woman pets a baby stegosaurus, and we witness the bond between parent and child through the T-rex family. But we get horror as soon as we arrive on the island in Jurassic Park III, not wonder, beauty, and amazement. We don't get a breathtaking view of these majestic creatures until when the main characters board a motorboat after surviving two spinosaurus attacks, a raptor attack, and a pterodactyl attack.
There's also a completely random and unnecessary scene in the third film. When the characters dig through hot, steaming piles of spinosaurus poo to find the dad's phone, a cerataurus, a completely new carnivore to the trilogy, appears. It stares at the shocked main characters, huffs, and turns away. What a waste of money. That could have been a plot point--they cover themselves in poo to ward off dinosaurs from attacking them. But no, what do we get? Another scene where the obligatory spinosaurus comes out of nowhere to attack.
Billy is also severely underdeveloped as a character. We are first introduced to him as he helps a woman gently brush the rock from a dinosaur skeleton at a dig site. There's obviously some romantic connection here. This parallels how Dr. Grant felt about the female lead from the first film. There's room here to compare the two relationships and to question if Billy's relationship can last, since Dr. Grant's didn't. Furthermore, why did Dr. Grant and the female lead end their relationship? We're given no insight into this, and it makes the film less personable. Add that with the fact that the film is about 30 minutes shorter than the previous two films, and you've got a movie just filled with chase scenes and no character development.
But the most frustrating part of Jurassic Park III is how the film treats the T-rex, the symbol of the entire Jurassic Park trilogy. He's given one scene. In it, as you may remember, he follows our main characters. They run away from him and run into the spinosaurus. A fight breaks out, and the spinosaurus kills the T-rex with ease, thereby successfully killing the hero from the first film and the loving parent of the second film. What's worse, the T-rex's roar isn't that same iconic roar from the previous films. It's a weak, wimpy roar fitting for a beast taken down so easily.
It had been a while since I watched these films, and I didn't remember the third film rubbing me in such a wrong way. It's sad thinking about the problems the film has, and audiences around the world agreed: Jurassic Park III made only $368,780,806 worldwide, well behind the $618,638,999 earned by The Lost World and even moreso behind Jurassic Park's $914,691,118. Recently, Joe Johnston announced that the fourth film would begin a new trilogy and would be "vastly different" than the previous three films. I hope and pray that he doesn't mess things up for such a great franchise. If I were Steven Spielberg, I would be concerned.
I've been wanting to rewatch the Jurassic Park trilogy for some time now, and I finally got around to it. It's been about two weeks since I finished reading a biography of Steven Spielberg that I got for Christmas, and reading the excerpts on Jurassic Park and The Lost World only strengthened my desire to watch the trilogy. As I watched all three films over the course of a week, I made mental notes as to how Spielberg presented the first two. Knowing that I've become a much more knowledgeable filmmaker and student since the last time I saw the trilogy, I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast the two films directed by Spielberg and the third film directed by Joe Johnston, who is lined up to direct the fourth film at this time. With this note, I'm just going to focus on Jurassic Park III, the worst by far of the trilogy. What went wrong with it?
First of all, crappy editing really, really bugs me. When I edit, I always want to top my last work, and I want to challenge myself to learn new things, often via trial-and-error. When I watched the first two Jurassic Park films, the editing was invisible to me. That's editing at its finest. But I quickly noticed during Jurassic Park III that Joe Johnston's view is reflected in his cutting. Now whether this vision was the editor's or Johnston's, I'm not sure. But I do know that the director gets to make the final decisions in the cutting room. If he doesn't like what he sees, then the editor cuts it differently. Many scenes in Jurassic Park III end in a dissolve. Someone correct me if I'm mistaken, but the only fades I can think of in the first two are when the first image comes up and then when the final image fades to black. Fading after every scene is old, boring, and the lazy man's way to edit. Does it work in some movies? Absolutely. There's no finite rule on how to make a perfect film. But as a viewer of films, it's readily apparent to me whenever a film series switches directors just by looking at how they cut their film in comparison to previous films. If I ever had to take over the reins of a film franchise, I'd do my best to follow with the same vision as previous directors, especially if the film was as successful as Jurassic Park.
Secondly, let's bring up characters. Jurassic Park III has 8 characters on the island. The mom, the dad, the son, Dr. Alan Grant, Billy, and 3 mercenaries-for-hire. The latter get killed quickly, with the first two being killed in the first scene on the island. In previous films, characters largely are killed off because they've sinned in some sort of way. The lawyer in Jurassic Park was not only greedy, but he also abandoned the kids in efforts to save himself. In The Lost World, the 3rd hunter in charge sparked the innocent, curious Comthagnathys. I know I'm spelling this wrong, but I can pronounce it--they're the small green dinosaurs labeled as jackal-like in the second film that attack the young girl in the opening scene. Again, in the first film, Dennis steals the dinosaur embryos and is largely the cause for all the problems the main characters face. All three aforementioned characters sinned on innocent characters, and they pay for it with their lives. A notable exception is Eddie from The Lost World; he continues to press his foot against the gas of the jeep in an effort to save his friends despite the fact that two T-rexes flank him. He dies a tragic and noble death. But Jurassic Park III? The first two mercenaries get killed by the spinosaurus with the only background information we get on them is them blowing up a plane spraypainted to look like a dinosaur's face. We don't get to know them at all. They're just used strictly for dino-chow. The third mercenary dies shortly after, but he's not given much story, too. He says he's not really a mercenary; he's just filling in. And he says he wants to go with Dr. Grant and Billy if the group splits up. That's it. Then he's raptor food. Did the three of them sin in any way? We don't know.
Now let's move on to the poster dinosaur of Jurassic Park III: the spinosaurus. Looks pretty wicked, huh? Sure. But he doesn't get the same star treatment as the T-rex of the previous films. Any saavy screenwriter and director knows that it's best not to reveal the creature straight away. In Jurassic Park, we're taunted along with the main characters as they pull up alongside the T-rex enclosure. We know it's in there somewhere, but the thing just doesn't come out, even when the goat is thrown into the mix. So the cars leave. After the scene with the sick triceratops, we cut to John Hammond and his assistants at the main facility. He asks where the cars have stopped, and BOOM! Cut outside the T-rex enclosure again. The goat's still there. We get some conversation within the two cars and get to know our characters better. Then the boy looks out through the night vision goggles he finds underneath his seat to find that the goat is gone. Then we get the infamous close-up of the water-filled cup vibrating as we hear loud footsteps. And THEN we get to see the T-rex, our creature. Jaws does it. Cloverfield does it. Any halfway decent monster film does it. A good filmmaker knows the audience is here to see the film's monster. Bait them. In Jurassic Park III, all we get is shots going off, followed by two of the mercenaries running out of the jungle and yelling for everyone to get back in the plane. Billy says it sounds like a T-rex, but Dr. Grant says it's much bigger. They get in the plane, and the third mercenary runs onto the runway. Just as the plane is about to hit him, the spinosaurus runs out and eats him. And in the first scene on the island, we already see the monster. The spinosaurus seems to hunt the crew whenever he feels like it, unlike the three T-rexes of the previous films. In Jurassic Park, the T-rex only attacks the humans when they're around his enclosure. In The Lost World, it's perfectly clear to us that the parent T-rexes hunt the humans for their baby back, and this plot point is used to corral the bull rex to return to the ship in San Diego. But not the spinosaurus. He only seems to want to destroy the humans. He exits in a particularly boring fashion, too, with Dr. Grant shooting him in the neck with a flare, and the beast runs as the fire spreads. With previous films, we also learned more about the carnivores, causing us to understand that dinosaur better. We learn in Jurassic Park that T-rexes have horrible vision, so by standing still, a T-rex can't see you. We also learn that velociraptors are incredibly intelligent and hunt in packs, where oftentimes a decoy waits in front while the other ambush their target. We learn both of these bits first from Dr. Allan Grant, and then we see the dinosaurs fall right in line with these statements. But we are told nothing about the spinosaurus. He's just a mean, human- and T-rex-eating monster who can apparently swim.
What makes Jurassic Park so fascinating is the contrast between the beauty and the horror. The first two films captivate us with the wonders of meeting real-life dinosaurs. In the first film, there's the famous scene where the main characters meet their first dinosaur: a brachiosaurus. And then there's the petting of the sick triceratops. And waking up next to the brachiosauruses high in the treetops. And watching a baby dinosaur hatch from an egg. In The Lost World, the lead woman pets a baby stegosaurus, and we witness the bond between parent and child through the T-rex family. But we get horror as soon as we arrive on the island in Jurassic Park III, not wonder, beauty, and amazement. We don't get a breathtaking view of these majestic creatures until when the main characters board a motorboat after surviving two spinosaurus attacks, a raptor attack, and a pterodactyl attack.
There's also a completely random and unnecessary scene in the third film. When the characters dig through hot, steaming piles of spinosaurus poo to find the dad's phone, a cerataurus, a completely new carnivore to the trilogy, appears. It stares at the shocked main characters, huffs, and turns away. What a waste of money. That could have been a plot point--they cover themselves in poo to ward off dinosaurs from attacking them. But no, what do we get? Another scene where the obligatory spinosaurus comes out of nowhere to attack.
Billy is also severely underdeveloped as a character. We are first introduced to him as he helps a woman gently brush the rock from a dinosaur skeleton at a dig site. There's obviously some romantic connection here. This parallels how Dr. Grant felt about the female lead from the first film. There's room here to compare the two relationships and to question if Billy's relationship can last, since Dr. Grant's didn't. Furthermore, why did Dr. Grant and the female lead end their relationship? We're given no insight into this, and it makes the film less personable. Add that with the fact that the film is about 30 minutes shorter than the previous two films, and you've got a movie just filled with chase scenes and no character development.
But the most frustrating part of Jurassic Park III is how the film treats the T-rex, the symbol of the entire Jurassic Park trilogy. He's given one scene. In it, as you may remember, he follows our main characters. They run away from him and run into the spinosaurus. A fight breaks out, and the spinosaurus kills the T-rex with ease, thereby successfully killing the hero from the first film and the loving parent of the second film. What's worse, the T-rex's roar isn't that same iconic roar from the previous films. It's a weak, wimpy roar fitting for a beast taken down so easily.
It had been a while since I watched these films, and I didn't remember the third film rubbing me in such a wrong way. It's sad thinking about the problems the film has, and audiences around the world agreed: Jurassic Park III made only $368,780,806 worldwide, well behind the $618,638,999 earned by The Lost World and even moreso behind Jurassic Park's $914,691,118. Recently, Joe Johnston announced that the fourth film would begin a new trilogy and would be "vastly different" than the previous three films. I hope and pray that he doesn't mess things up for such a great franchise. If I were Steven Spielberg, I would be concerned.
