It's obviously not the old-fashioned adventure thrills that populate the INDIANA JONES series; these are scary adventure thrills, thematically reminiscent of Universal monster movies from the 1930's-1940's and the pulpy sci-fi morality plays of 1950's b-movie matinees. This kind of filmmaking was a return to the form of Spielberg's JAWS (1975), a man vs. nature survival adventure-thriller populated with human entrees and introspection.
As far as setups and executions of cinematic tension go, JURASSIC PARK remains one of the most magnificent examples in all of cinematic history. Take for instance, the Tyrannosaurus Rex introduction sequence; what really brings in the audience is the promise of seeing a big ol' T-Rex wreaking havoc up on the big screen and people getting gobbled up (because we're all a little sick), but after an hour, the Rex still has yet to show up and only a single man has become dinosaur fodder, with most of it implied. They tease us with a goat chained to a stake meant to lure the T-Rex out to the fence, but that fails. Then it starts to rain (always a fine dramatic touch) and the ground tremors. There's the iconic image of the glass of water on the tour transport's dashboard, the water rippling more with each approaching thunderous impact. Then, Lex (Ariana Richards) notices the goat is gone; the slowly building tension is then punctuated by the goat's bloody leg landing on the roof window, accompanied by the roar of the tyrannosaur. A couple glimpses are teased, claws testing the deactivated electric fence, the dinosaur throwing back what's left of the goat. Like Spielberg did out of necessity in JAWS, he's patient and deliberate in delivering the goods. The tension multiplies as we get tiny tastes of the sweet stuff and scoot to the edges of our seats, yearning for more. Then, the payoff, as the Tyrannosaurus ventures out of its paddock, and then the characters really panic. The rain, the dark, the noise and the spectacle are all combined into a massive energy as the long-awaited dinosaur struts to let us soak it all in. The reality of the threat is enhanced by the detail, such as the Rex's eye brought close to the window guarding Lex and Tim (Joseph Mazzello), and Lex shines a light at it, causing the beast's pupil to constrict. Then the Tyrannosaur knocks the roof window in, with only the sheet of glass between the terrified children and the dagger-like teeth while Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ian Malcolm watch on from their car. After Grant and Malcolm distract the beast, we get the best kill in the movie: the Tyrannosaurus Rex eating a lawyer off of a toilet. Brilliant.
For better or worse, JURASSIC PARK also ushered in a new era of the summer blockbuster and other big budget Hollywood films by busting down the last remaining physical barriers of imaginative filmmaking with the revolutionary technology of "photo-realistic" computer-rendered effects. Computer generated imagery (CGI) had been utilized in many films previously, but was limited to relatively simplistic, non-organic objects such as the watery "pseudopod" in THE ABYSS (1988) and the metallic T-1000 from T2: JUDGEMENT DAY, or within an appropriate context, such as the computer-rendered world of TRON (1982). JURASSIC PARK's dinosaurs were always intended to use state-of-the-art animatronic puppets for close-up shots of the dinosaurs and shots that required direct human interaction as appears in the finished film, but the wide shots were initially developed with stop-motion animation by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) special fx man, Phil Tippet, designed specially to include "motion blur", to make the effects look more natural (as seen on the JURASSIC PARK Blu-ray bonus material). The results fell somewhat short of satisfactory though in the test shots, so animators at ILM began experimenting with CGI technology, and the rest is history. The CG dinosaurs included skeletal and muscular animation layers with detailed, textured skin. Now, I'm no Luddite, but I will say that it's unfortunate that some of today's filmmakers (*cough* *cough* Michael Bay *cough* Stephen Sommers *cough*) haven't taken a cue from the way this technology was used in JURASSIC PARK, even if out of necessity, where it was used when practical effects were physically impossible or financially unfeasible, because, while excessive CGI alone cannot break a good film, there certainly is something to be said of real-life, on-set spectacle.For a two decades-old blockbuster, one of the most crippling effects of age can be the special effects, which often provoke laughs to contemporary audiences accustomed to the most up-to-date visuals, but surprisingly, JURASSIC PARK still does pretty well on that front. There are certain shots of dinosaurs that have a noticeably "computery" look to them, but the well-placed use of CG effects makes such flaws relatively unobtrusive, and there are several shots that would not garner complaints in a major new movie today. The fashion styles of a few characters are really about as dated as it gets, and the children characters are especially reminiscent of the nineties, but that's okay because, as usual, Spielberg directs them to be childlike but not irritating to the audience. However, I must confess that young Lex's aptitude for the advanced theme park's computer system at a climactic moment strains credulity.
Some have accused the film of being little more than spectacle, as flashy but vapid special effects extravaganza, but that is an unfortunate misread, because the film is actually insightful and multi-layered. There are meta themes and elements threaded throughout regarding the nature of technology outpacing its creators and the evolution of the outdated, and the major characters are all very richly developed. Plus, it's fun as hell.
JURASSIC PARK (1993)
4 out of 4 stars
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Richard Attenborough, Jeff Goldblum
PG-13 for intense science fiction terror.
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