#FBF: The Importance of Jurassic Park

In the world of cinema this weekend marks an occasion indeed. This weekend marks the release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, AKA: The fifth entry in the now dubbed 'Jurassic' franchise. 

  Now, normally I wouldn't waste my words on a franchise which has become so mindlessly silly in its means to please crowds with nothing more than brainless, stomping action (regardless of my defending of Jurassic World for embracing its silliness), but something about the fans has begun to irritate me since JW's polarizing release three years ago and has now recently resurfaced. In wake of the new Jurassic film, I've now heard multiple cases of defense for these movies by stating, "Well they're all just big, dumb dinosaur movies," and when it comes to disgracing the legacy of Jurassic Park, the singular 1993 film, writing off ANY of the film's brilliance or success by simply stating it's "just a big, dumb dinosaur movie" is an ASTRONOMICALLY chaotic and destructive statement, albeit it's simply just false. So I'm here to clear things up.

Like watching groceries go bad.

  When it comes to the newest release, Fast Jurassic Furious Park  Fallen Kingdom, we're technically talking Jurassic Park 5 here (although if we're being honest, it's technically just the second entry in a softly rebooted, much more outrageous franchise). Now, when it comes to sequels, in the realm of the sometimes-insufferable MCU, the Terminator time-travel nonsense, Johnny Depp pirate movies with 'Caribbean' slapped on the title, the same Transformers movie dressed up in different clothing, and nearly TEN goddamned Fast & Furious films, having only five films in a franchise is mere poppycock these days; it's child's play. The only reason to mention 'Jurassic' at all in regards to its loud, boisterous Blockbuster competitors is that unlike most of the aforementioned films which mostly came from fluff and now suffer from sequelitis, Jurassic actually stems from a film that excels far and wide beyond any mindless Blockbuster, as it sort of mediates that perfect balance between big, loud action and smart, inventive sci-fi. That film is Jurassic Park and when it comes to the Blockbuster, it's a motherf***ing masterpiece. So yeah, we're gonna get after it today.

  First and foremost, Jurassic Park is a g**damned STEVEN SPIELBERG film which immediately separates it from the rest of the pack. That's not to say that Spielberg's name alone mitigates any of the nonsensical sequels to Jurassic Park (as Spielberg himself has deemed his own JP sequel "not as good") but if we're being real here, Spielberg's name alone mitigates ALL of the nonsensical sequels to Jurassic Park.

Listen buddy, it's NOT your fault that the script is terrible.

  Spielberg is one of cinema's greatest pioneers, so it's no surprise that his adaptation of Michael Chrichton's hit novel is also a hit movie. Stevey captures the sense of wonder, excitement and above all else fear that plagues the writing of Chrichton's dino-horror book. As much as Spielberg is a family man of pure, cinematic craft in every sense of the word, it's important to focus on these words, "fear" and "horror" because if there's one feeling anyone can relate to in terms of a carnivorous dinosaur chasing someone in order to eat them alive, it's that it's f**king terrifying, and both Chrichton's words and Spielberg's vision capture this feeling to an immense degree and it is this very feeling of FEAR which has been absent in nearly every Jurassic movie since.

  One of the key aspects to JP being a successful film in terms of frightening audiences is that it's a masterclass example of suspense building. The tension in just the T-Rex scene alone makes it one of the most mesmerizing scenes of any Blockbuster in history. It's nearly impossible to watch that scene even for the nth time, and NOT be thrilled in every sense of the word. Every singular moment in the way the sequence plays out; from the bloody goat leg on the window, to Gennaro being eaten off the toilet, to the destruction of the Jeep; it's all done in a vain of a grand horror. Yet every minuscule detail from the glass of water, to the pupil dilation, to the Rex-puppet snorting and blowing off Grant's hat; it's all crafted to astounding detail.


 Just look at the scene with Newman Dennis and the Dilophosaurus.

                                                                                                                (Hellooo... Newman!)

  The scene is initially played for more comedy than horror, as Nedry playfully talks to the spitter were it a house cat, "I'm gonna run you over when I come back down." And yet once the slender lizard expands its vibrating cowl and begins violently hissing as it spits venomous acid to blind Dennis before devouring him, the humor immediately evaporates into horror. Albeit this is a small moment, it's one that is nearly unmatched by any moment in any Jurassic sequel. Period.

 
Even small moments like "Clever girl" pay off because Steve builds all the anticipation before chow time.

Spielberg ain't no amateur here. He knows exactly how to f*** with his audience by keeping them on the very edge of their seat, dreading every frame of anticipation. Think about the raptor kitchen scene. The entire format in which that sequence is shot is built on the very essence as to what transforms a regular movie into a suspense-filled horror film. The way the frightened children cover their gasps; the use of the reflections in the shiny cabinets; the use of deathly quiet breathing vs. loud dinosaur screech. The sense of dread is utterly unnerving making it perhaps the most intense moment of the entire film.

NIGHTMARE FUEL

  But it's also very important to note that every memorable sequence of Jurassic Park; every grandiose moment is staged with earned anticipation. Folks often recall the film by its action beats; the T-Rex scene being the first, followed by the Dilophosaurus, followed by the Gallimimus "flocking" stampede, followed by "Clever girl," followed by the electric fence; so on and so forth. These are the physical moments that thrill us; that stay with us. And yet, if you break down the film's run time, the T-Rex scene doesn't clock in until an hour into the film.

(GIVE IT UP FOR THE PUPPETS)

  Spielberg takes his time in crafting his characters to ensure we care about them before they become potential dino-chow, and he succeeds with flying colors. Just the combination of Sam Neil's Alan Grant, Laura Dern's Ellie, and show-stealing Jeff Goldblum as Ian Malcom; these folks alone hold down the entire film. Granted, Newman, Sam Jackson and Bob Peck's Muldoon: Raptor-hunter are all thrown in for good measure as icing on the cake. Even the late Richard Attenborough as Dr. Hammond honestly doesn't DO much throughout the film, but his mere presence as the fiercely loyal park owner is one that is necessarily balanced for this story. Hell, even B.D. Wong's two minutes of screen time was enough to merit a call back role for a follow-up film more than twenty years later. To put it simply, these are great characters and ones that have yet to be outmatched by even the likes of studly Chris Pratt (and for the books, I'm a big fangirl for studly Chris Pratt).

Even if he is just phoning it in with that ridiculous, indecisive mustache.

  I mean, look at Grant's entire character arc. Here's a good-hearted paleontologist who's thrown into a dinosaur science experiment gone mad, meanwhile Alan's biggest emotional struggles come from the determination as to whether or not he and Ellie want children. Throw in annoying children Tim and Lex to tag along and now we got us some chemistry! Sure, we all remember tiny Tim for getting 10,000 g**damned volts of electricity surged through his puny body and NOT becoming fried chicken, but what that scene paints more than anything else is Grant's devastation by Tim's potential demise (CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT).

THIS MF SHOULD HAVE BEEN A CHICKEN NUGGET

YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME???

  But even beyond the unnerving horror, the dino-mite action (PUNS), and the well carved out characters, it's the complexity in the morals of evolution; the themes of science vs. humanity; the dark consequences of opening Pandora's box that resonate so brilliantly with the film's mechanisms; the very aspects that are so ingeniously crafted here, and so very lazily thrown together with re-hashed formula and repetitive dialogue in the sequels.

  Part of what makes Goldblum such a memorable presence in the film at all (aside from the fact that he's a g**damned national treasure) is that his suave, comical aroma masquerades his entirely dramatic nature of Chaos Theory. Sure he's a charming dude who attempts to woo Laura Dern by so-seductively dripping water on her hand, but it's his argument with Hammond in regards to how dangerous this park could be that makes for one of the most poignant parts of the film.

Dropping panties since '93

"You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it."

PREACH.

  I mean, the entire setup of Jurassic Park is an hour's worth of exploring a new potential for living man and extinct beast to co-exist; a potential that is challenged by themes of science, evolution and natural selection. Sure Goldblum is comic relief but his character also represents the entire notion that challenges the fantasy of a Disney-World-style dinosaur theme park. No matter what the outcome is, the idea alone is morally corrupt. This is a theme that ran strong in Chrichton's novel and Spielberg tapped into the book's cynical selfishness of human economics flawlessly, where every follow-up film has traded this notion for a fun-house-horror approach, which just gets old when you've done it four hundred times (ie: Jurassic World).

Herds on Herds

  And what's emotionally rewarding in themes of humans genetically engineering dinosaurs for the modern age is that there's a sense of remorse for these dinosaurs existing purely as instinctual animals. The first JP film is perhaps the only one that truly paints the dinos as understandably innocent creatures, even when they're eating people alive. Sure, there are shots in The Lost World that gaze upon the beauty of the Stegosaurus herd, if just to show that harmless herbivores exist. In TLW we also feel sorry for that baby T-Rex in the sling but that's also because that goofy San-Diego-third-act reveals that the baby dino is being held captive by a cartoonish villain. Even Jurassic World has that scene with the dying Brontosaurus puppet, but it's only there to show the threat of the Indominous Rex Frankensteinosaur. The sequels mostly glorify scenes where the carnivores are out to attack the humans, keeping them purely as threats, mostly because it's way more fun to watch. 

  But even the raptors in the original JP, which start to feel like villains by the third act; and even the T-Rex who "saves" the humans; none of it is an animal taking a side in being good or bad, but simply acting out of instinct. This is a huge chunk of what was almost entirely absent from Jurassic World because if THAT movie's goofy third act showed anything it's that we've now digressed by turning these dinos into humanistic characters. Sure it's cute, but once Pratt's pet dog dino 'Blue' teams up with the old T-Rex against the vicious Indominous, we're no longer watching a Jurassic Park movie, rather than a wrestling match; a Fast & Furious sequel with dinosaurs. Granted, as if JW hadn't already thrown in the kitchen sink, one could argue that the Mosasaurus tag-teaming the Frankensaur by outrageously jumping out of the water to take down the big-bad is purely out of instinct, the film still wants you to believe that Indominous is "the bad guy" and Blue is "the good guy."

  The original Jurassic Park is a film that paints the threat of dinosaurs being unleashed and simply letting the story tell itself from there. Sure Hammond is blinded by scientific breakthrough and therefore stubborn and yes, Dennis is a dick and responsible for tons of people getting eaten but they're not villains. There's no good vs. evil - The entire film is a balance between man and nature and explores the consequences of man playing God. This is what keeps the story fresh and believable every viewing, even twenty-five years later. Granted, seeing Nedry or Gennaro being dicks merit their death scenes and makes them much more fun to watch, they're still well developed humanistic characters.

  But even beyond the humans, let's be honest and give credit where credit is most due: 

THE MOTHER F***ING PUPPETS.

  Granted, the CGI technology for 1993 was astoundingly groundbreaking, albeit the special effects were also one of the most crucial driving forces that Spielberg required to work in order to even sign on to the film, the biggest takeaway from all of Jurassic Park as a film, even from just a visual standpoint, is the puppets.

 I mean, that T-Rex scene alone will go down in Blockbuster history because of its remarkably crafted fusion of CGI and puppet working together in harmony but man, just that puppet T-Rex head; the pupil; the demolishing of the Jeep; the fact that it looks so incredibly real make it that much more horrifying and Stevey just pulls it off. But even when he needs to rely on CGI, he carefully stages his big moments in masqueraded secrecy; scenes that are shrouded in darkness, shot at night, during the pouring rain. Steve knew that even for 1993 technology, the computer effects still needed to be disguised in order for audiences to believe what they were watching was real. 

  Spielberg is a master of his craft and one of his biggest tricks is maintaining the illusion that there's more going on than meets the eye. And unfortunately, many people can't do what Stevey can do, so when folks can't pull the special effects off, the puppets in JP3 look like F**KING SESAME STREET:

"May I take your order..?"

And the CGI looks straight out of a Playstation One video game. The fact that most of JP's VFX from 1993 not only hold up, but still look better than not just nearly all the Jurassic sequels, but MOST movies to come out over the last twenty-five years says a lot about how lazy films have become with their over-reliance of CGI, but it also says an unspeakable amount to the talent in craft of Jurassic Park as a singular film. The effects are groundbreaking and have been nearly untouched ever since.

  Listen. We could sit here all day and break down the film shot for shot (Hell, I'm down); Let's just call Jurassic Park what it is: A Blockbuster masterpiece. The reality is, even if not a single JP sequel, se-boot, spinoff, etc. can hold a candle to the original beast, we need to remember JP for its significant impact on Spielberg, the film industry, and for the Blockbuster. And what it all boils down to is that it's a Blockbuster that works for anyone, even those who just tune in for the big, stomping dinosaurs. And lesbehonest, who doesn't love big, stomping dinosaurs? 

  Of COURSE watching a helpless victim attempt to outrun a giant carnivore will never not be a good time. But how far can we stretch that notion before it all just becomes white noise? How many more times can we watch mindless retreads of the same plot where dinosaurs are unleashed before the whole experience becomes nothing more than an engorged ride at Universal Studios? The success of Jurassic World (and the inevitable success of Fallen Kingdom Fast-Chris-Pratt Furious-Bryce-Dallas-Howard) suggests that folks don't seem to mind at all if brainless dino-thrills are the only takeaway they're getting from these films. 

I'm not at all suggesting that the franchise isn't still immensely entertaining (even if it has become astronomically stupid) I just don't think we should be lumping Jurassic World and Jurassic Park into the same category, even if one is a direct sequel reboot to the other. They're totally different movies and like the Indominous-Rex itself, the franchise has grossly evolved into a super-monster, which for entertainment standards in 2018 is absolutely fine, but in my mind; in the realm of pure nostalgia and applause for old school puppets and generic thrills; in my mind Jurassic Park is just a gloriously infallible standalone film. The rest is fan fiction. 

Except for Goldblum. 
Golblum is never fan fiction. 

He's seen Fallen Kingdom. And he has some thoughts:

CHANGE MY MIND.