The commercials looked exciting, and managed to highlight most of the action displayed in "Jurassic Park III," making the final viewing of the film more a checklist of scenes than anything else.
"Have I seen any part of this scene yet? No, no, great, it'll get good again."
I have to admit, that's what kept going through my head while watching this movie. The exciting action pieces were all that carried this fairly flimsy movie through its meager 95 minutes. The "plot" isn't really thought through, at least compared to the original, which went out of its way to be logical and set up the story. And it still offered some excellent action (my favorite being Ellie vs. the raptor when she was turning on the power). I also liked "The Lost World," though I haven't seen it in a long time. As far as this sequel goes, it seems to be in a mad rush to cart everyone off to the island, for a fairly transparent reason, just so we can see a handful of characters run around and spout bad lines.
The plot has been turned over a hundred times, so I don't need to waste time explaining. It isn't the most intelligable scenario I've ever heard of, and Dr. Grant (Sam Neill) seemed a little too willing to be a part of it all, after mentioning earlier on that nothing could bring him back to those dinosaurs. And I would have expected him to be only a little more upset by the fact that he was ONCE AGAIN stuck on an island with the man-eating prehistoric beings, running for his life. A little too calm for my tastes.
Amanda and Paul Kirby's (Tea Leoni and William H. Macy, respectively) rekindled admiration and love for one another once stuck in this nightmare seemed terribly inplausible. I can see people working together to survive, but falling in love again? I don't know, running for my life with my ex probably wouldn't turn me on to them again. And their wayward son Eric (Trevor Morgan) is so terrible a character, you wonder why we couldn't have likable JP kids again, like in the original, and even the sequel. (Okay, so the girl sneaking along on the trip in "The Lost World" was sort of a annoying, but I still liked her character.) Eric is way too resilient, and to have survived for 8 weeks, when in a matter of minutes, two very tough adults, armed with weapons, were killed once they arrived on the island, just doesn't make sense. When he's finally found, looking like some "Lord of the Flies" reject, smirking about how he survived for so long, you sort of wish he wasn't found at all, or ended up being the sound heard in the dinosaur's stomach in the distance (and not the phone--God, that was weak.)
And for further complaints, Billy's (Alessandro Nivola) decision to bring along the raptor eggs made no sense, since he should have known better. It seems the only reason that happened was to give an excuse for why the characters were being hunted down, other than, "The dinosaurs are hungry," and then, so later on, when he rescues Billy from the pterodactyls or whatever the hell they're called, or however it's spelt, he can redeem himself and be a hero. Sort of a tired idea. And last, but not least, Ellie (Laura Dern) is so terribly wasted! Why couldn't she come along. She and Alan have such amazing chemistry together, I would have loved to see them back together. The characters that ended up on the island had zippo chemistry, and no one seemed to really fit with anyone else.
Anyway, the movie does have its merits. The action pieces are fairly exciting, though lacking some suspense. Still, they were carried out fairly well, and went on for some time. Made the movie almost seem to be a non-stop adventure, had it not paused for Amanda and Paul to make up, or for Alan to spout some wisdom, and Eric to be precocious.
As for the acting, it's minimal at best. Sam Neill gives a good show, and I like his accent. He brings some depth to the characters in the movie. William H. Macy is a great actor, but gives a fairly weak performance here. Action movies are not his forte. I think he's better in good comedies and dramas. He belongs in a better movie than this. Tea Leoni, actually, isn't too bad here. She has a good delivery of most of her lines, and I loved her big freak-out scene, with the body in the parachute. She executed that one brilliantly. Would have liked some more of that type of panic and frenzy from her, she did it well. Alessandro Nivola is also fairly good, and I thought he gave a likable show, at least before we found out about the eggs he stole. Trevor Morgan is annoying as the requisite kid, and I could have done without him in the entire movie. Michael Jeter has a limited screen time as Udarsky, and I didn't like him. His voice got on my nerves, and he even got a chance to scream like a blubbering idiot, which only made me happier to see him go. And Laura Dern, reprising her role as Ellie, is terribly underused, and I really liked her limited performance. It's too bad she didn't show up more often.
Overall, "Jurassic Park III" is not a great movie. As a whole, it's a disappointment. But there is some great action, and for fans of the original score (sorry, that doesn't include me, it sort of got on my nerves after a while), it's here again. The production standards are a little lower (check out the terrible backdrop scenes in the close-ups of the earlier hang-gliding scenes) and the setting is a slightly smaller scale, and sort of feels like it's an adventure through the junkyard of the previous two films. The acting and story are so-so, but at least it's sort of fun. In the end, I recommend it for some mindless fun, but don't waste nine dollars on a ticket, and wait for it to come out on video.
"Have I seen any part of this scene yet? No, no, great, it'll get good again."
I have to admit, that's what kept going through my head while watching this movie. The exciting action pieces were all that carried this fairly flimsy movie through its meager 95 minutes. The "plot" isn't really thought through, at least compared to the original, which went out of its way to be logical and set up the story. And it still offered some excellent action (my favorite being Ellie vs. the raptor when she was turning on the power). I also liked "The Lost World," though I haven't seen it in a long time. As far as this sequel goes, it seems to be in a mad rush to cart everyone off to the island, for a fairly transparent reason, just so we can see a handful of characters run around and spout bad lines.
The plot has been turned over a hundred times, so I don't need to waste time explaining. It isn't the most intelligable scenario I've ever heard of, and Dr. Grant (Sam Neill) seemed a little too willing to be a part of it all, after mentioning earlier on that nothing could bring him back to those dinosaurs. And I would have expected him to be only a little more upset by the fact that he was ONCE AGAIN stuck on an island with the man-eating prehistoric beings, running for his life. A little too calm for my tastes.
Amanda and Paul Kirby's (Tea Leoni and William H. Macy, respectively) rekindled admiration and love for one another once stuck in this nightmare seemed terribly inplausible. I can see people working together to survive, but falling in love again? I don't know, running for my life with my ex probably wouldn't turn me on to them again. And their wayward son Eric (Trevor Morgan) is so terrible a character, you wonder why we couldn't have likable JP kids again, like in the original, and even the sequel. (Okay, so the girl sneaking along on the trip in "The Lost World" was sort of a annoying, but I still liked her character.) Eric is way too resilient, and to have survived for 8 weeks, when in a matter of minutes, two very tough adults, armed with weapons, were killed once they arrived on the island, just doesn't make sense. When he's finally found, looking like some "Lord of the Flies" reject, smirking about how he survived for so long, you sort of wish he wasn't found at all, or ended up being the sound heard in the dinosaur's stomach in the distance (and not the phone--God, that was weak.)
And for further complaints, Billy's (Alessandro Nivola) decision to bring along the raptor eggs made no sense, since he should have known better. It seems the only reason that happened was to give an excuse for why the characters were being hunted down, other than, "The dinosaurs are hungry," and then, so later on, when he rescues Billy from the pterodactyls or whatever the hell they're called, or however it's spelt, he can redeem himself and be a hero. Sort of a tired idea. And last, but not least, Ellie (Laura Dern) is so terribly wasted! Why couldn't she come along. She and Alan have such amazing chemistry together, I would have loved to see them back together. The characters that ended up on the island had zippo chemistry, and no one seemed to really fit with anyone else.
Anyway, the movie does have its merits. The action pieces are fairly exciting, though lacking some suspense. Still, they were carried out fairly well, and went on for some time. Made the movie almost seem to be a non-stop adventure, had it not paused for Amanda and Paul to make up, or for Alan to spout some wisdom, and Eric to be precocious.
As for the acting, it's minimal at best. Sam Neill gives a good show, and I like his accent. He brings some depth to the characters in the movie. William H. Macy is a great actor, but gives a fairly weak performance here. Action movies are not his forte. I think he's better in good comedies and dramas. He belongs in a better movie than this. Tea Leoni, actually, isn't too bad here. She has a good delivery of most of her lines, and I loved her big freak-out scene, with the body in the parachute. She executed that one brilliantly. Would have liked some more of that type of panic and frenzy from her, she did it well. Alessandro Nivola is also fairly good, and I thought he gave a likable show, at least before we found out about the eggs he stole. Trevor Morgan is annoying as the requisite kid, and I could have done without him in the entire movie. Michael Jeter has a limited screen time as Udarsky, and I didn't like him. His voice got on my nerves, and he even got a chance to scream like a blubbering idiot, which only made me happier to see him go. And Laura Dern, reprising her role as Ellie, is terribly underused, and I really liked her limited performance. It's too bad she didn't show up more often.
Overall, "Jurassic Park III" is not a great movie. As a whole, it's a disappointment. But there is some great action, and for fans of the original score (sorry, that doesn't include me, it sort of got on my nerves after a while), it's here again. The production standards are a little lower (check out the terrible backdrop scenes in the close-ups of the earlier hang-gliding scenes) and the setting is a slightly smaller scale, and sort of feels like it's an adventure through the junkyard of the previous two films. The acting and story are so-so, but at least it's sort of fun. In the end, I recommend it for some mindless fun, but don't waste nine dollars on a ticket, and wait for it to come out on video.