Jurassic Park (1993) Retrospective | Lighttrain

Salutations, long time no see! I am your conductor. Sorry for any concern or bitterness involving my inactivity. You see, long story short, I have now been resurrected from the grave and got this train back up and running. Today let’s look at the Steven Spielberg classic Jurassic Park. Because, summer is the season of blockbusters, is it not? Let’s get this show on the road…

A wealthy mogul has done the impossible – creating living dinosaurs out of fossilized DNA samples. What do you do with such a technological brilliance? Well, cash in on it, of course. Obviously investors are rather nervous about the repercussions of a tourist destination filled with unpredictable carnivorous creatures walking about. In response, the billionaire invites over a small group to visit the island and assure its safety. However, unprecedented complications cause the dinosaurs to break loose, as the stranded tourists must now rush to survive.

I want to get the common checkpoints out of the way because, let’s be honest, no one wants to hear what they already know. The CGI graphics for the prehistoric reptiles are stunning, particularly for the early 1990s. The various moments that have since been etched into pop culture is many. And I mean, many! It may be cliche, but it’s that way for a reason. From the water in the glass to the t-rex in the rear view mirror, it’s all so iconic! Honestly my favorite line is when Jeff Goldblum’s character says in response to the creation of the dinosaurs…

Michael Crichton, the writer for both the original novel and this screen adaption, truly knows how to write tonal shifts. He absolutely nails it with tense scenes, but handles sentimental or intelligent ones just as well. The seminal director, Spielberg, gets a bunch of applause for his work on this film, and sure, he did excellently, but let’s not edge out the visionary behind the scenes.

Jurassic Park in general is overflowing with a myriad of details that I always seem to find with every viewing. For instance, did Hammond really spare no expense? Because he only hired a single guy to run computers for the whole park! Goldblum and Laura Dern have some kind of odd chemistry to them that I like a lot. They remind me of two goofballs that are sharing a brain cell together. It’s cute. A sentence in the film early on explaining the connections between common birds and these extinct reptiles indeed foreshadows the final shots of the film. As the survivors are on the helicopter, finally fleeing from the abandoned island, Alan Grant (played decently by Sam Neill) gazes outside to see a flock of birds, reminding the audience how they’ll “never see birds the same way again”.

By Hollywood standards, there is no ignoring that Spielberg and Crichton’s classic Jurassic Park is unrivaled. Hidden beneath breathtaking special effects and action that leaves us on the edge of our seats is a genuinely intelligent piece. No matter how many blockbusters keep getting churned out, I don’t feel that anything will ever connect with people the same way this movie did. What else is there to say, I highly recommend!

RATING: 10/10

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JULY UPDATES

Now that I have returned from my visit up to Washington, I am now returning full time to blogging! Next Thursday I will posting the finale of the series Out of Order discussing the terrible 90s television show The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. It’s going to be a fun one. After that review however, I’ll be starting to upload a new post every two weeks instead. I mean to be completely honest with you here; my blogging hobby has evolved from a passion of mine to something of a chore. I do still enjoy making reviews and fun retrospectives and stuff like that, but I find it difficult to pressure myself into writing every week. Essentially I need some more air to breathe. But, you can still check my Instagram (@g.nowak_art) and Letterboxd (@Kraken Nowak) to keep up to date with my additional projects. Future posts here on the Lighttrain will be a two-part ranking of the Marvel short films, a review of Galaxy Quest, As You Like It, and Koyaanisquatsi, as well as “Son of Octerror” returning for the Halloween season. Thank you so much for tuning in this far and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the month. See you next Thursday!