Jurassic Park (1994, VHS)

I suspect that Jurassic Park was one of those movies that brought people to the theatre simply to gawk at the effects. The sound, imagery and plot were presented into such a way that it made it a holistic event.

Brought home to DVD, the movie loses a bit of its luster, although DVD with a home theatre is probably as good as it's going to get. I had this on VHS but hadn't watched it for a very long time (and skipped the second one, The Lost World entirely.)

The video transfer of this edition is very nice. I doubt that it's been "remastered" or fiddled with too much, given that the movie was produced in 1993. It's a Dual Layer DVD, so your player might stutter here or there (mine did once or twice) but nothing terrible.

Sound blasting through my home theatre speakers is great in the Dolby Surround 5.1 I can really shake the house with this :-)


Jurassic Park (Minor Spoilers)

John Hammond is a showman from way back, and this time he's got a doozy of an idea. Using modern science, he extracts DNA from long dead dinosaurs, clones them, and readies a park, complete with rides, t-shirts and live dinos. His investors are concerned with some problems, and he flies in two dinosaur scientists, a mathematician and the investor's lawyer for a look see. One terrifying day later, he learns the error of his ways.

This film contains no nudity, not much swearing, but an awful lot of scary stuff. Sensitive children should not watch this film, at least not without their parents.


Characters

John Hammond - Played by Richard Attenborough, Hammond is a thick skinned man who knows what he wants, knows how to get it, and figures he can sort out the consequences later. Attenborough is fantastic in this role. He's alternatively a kindly grandfather, a bubbly kid in a candy store, and a man who's terrified with what he's unleashed.

Dr. Alan Grant - With the classic "I know that guy, what's his name" actor Sam Neill, Grant is a little less believable. He's initially amazed and thrilled with the concept, then later (after being literally beaten over the head with it) he starts to reconsider.

Dr. Ellie Sattler - I have a bit of a problem with this character, played by Laura Dern. For the most part, she seems to fill the role of the screaming female in all classic B-movies, and while she occasionally shows some brilliance, for the most part, she's window dressing.

Robert Muldoon - The games keeper of the park, Muldoon is played fantastically by Bob Peck. He is the perfect person for this role, and quite believable in the scene where he's hunting the veloci-raptor.

Ray Arnold - Something of an unsung role for Samuel L. Jackson, Arnold spends most of his time smoking and complaining.

Dennis Nedry - Where do I start with this guy? Well, he was Newman on Seinfeld and is about as likable here as there. Let's cast the role of an evil computer programmer as a fat and disagreeable person.

Tim and Lex - Two child actors who, like Dr. Sattler, are thrust into the movie as convenient victims, yet show themselves to be solid in their own ways. Unfortunately, neither is believable as a ten year old expert in their chosen fields (dinos and computer). The scene where Lex navigates Nedry's Un*x interface is particularly repellent.

Dr. Ian Malcolm - I'm going to hang onto this description for a few minutes.

With the exception of Dr. Malcolm, all characters are one dimensional and somewhat dull -- they have their interests and we don't learn a whole lot about them beyond that.


the Double Edged Blade (Major spoilers)

Okay, the purpose of this write off is to discuss a "double edged blade" -- something that has good and bad results -- and I could think of no better example than this film. However, maybe not in the sense that most people do.

Clearly, the idea of creating a species of animal that hasn't been around for 65 million years and expecting it to live within the confines that an alien species (man) has created for it is just asking for trouble.

Now, we can sit back and say (like my daughter did while watching this movie) "Oh, it was stupid to create the raptors. They're just inherently dangerous. They should have stuck with the gentle dinosaurs." Or, perhaps, "Well, if that Nedry guy wouldn't have shut off the security system, everything would have been fine."

Well, that's Chaos Theory in a nutshell, baby. The more complex a system is, the more you absolutely cannot predict and plan for what will happen. And what's the most complex system that you can think of?

In reality, we're living in Jurassic Park today, the dinosaurs have been released, and we're wandering around, oblivious of the potential for disaster, or even that something's going on. The real double edged blade in this movie is not the dinosaurs eating people, it's contained in a line that Dr. Malcolm says, and which, while the thrust of modern scientific ethical arguments, is glossed over in the film.

"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

Technology is whizzing past at such a rate that no one has the ability to understand even a fraction of it, what it implies, or how it interacts with everything else that is being developed faster than anyone can assess it.


Dr. Ian Malcolm

I have a personal interest in this character, because, you see, he's modeled after me. Not in the sense that Crichton came around and profiled me for the person, but in the sense that what you see up on the screen there is a fairly actual representation of who I am.

He's a classic Jeff Goldblum character -- narcissistic, cynical, sarcastic, smart, and completely unable to deal with the people around him. He is the voice of reason in a world that doesn't really care to listen to it.

Malcolm is at odds with Hammond from the moment that we meet him, and not without reason. However, although he's ultimately proven right, it's the more pedestrian Dr. Grant and Hammond who are given the "Okay, this wasn't such a good idea" conclusion.

About mid-way through the film, Malcolm proves himself such an ineffective action hero that he's largely relegated to the back of the movie. A lot like me, he says his piece and then retreats to the background, as he's a) unable to easily articulate the problem and b) unlikable enough that no one wants to listen to him and give him credit anyway.

Now, in saying that I'm a lot like Dr. Malcolm, I'm leaving out the physical nature of Goldblum. I'm tall, but not as tall as him; I've got lighter hair than he does; and I've got classic Norwegian features, unlike Goldblum's Jewish stylings.

But what if I wanted to "be like Jeff"?


Our Brave New World

Hardly a day goes by when you don't hear reports of scientists discovering the gene that causes some part of the human condition...the gene that makes you like chocolate, the gene that makes you fat (probably the same one :-) the gene that makes you likely to get diabetes, the list goes on and on.

There are already efforts underway to perform gene therapy on fetuses in the womb. With testing during and before pregnancy, doctors can tell whether your child will have a variety of characteristics, and possibly alter the child in the womb before things reach the point of permanence.

At this stage, we're still talking debilitating and chronic disease, and who can be against that? If we can prevent autism in the womb or by manipulating genes in a test tube, who would say that's a bad thing? I've read many things written by parents of autistic children who, although they admit the problems of raising such a child, also say that their appreciation of life has increased greatly through the care of such a child.

Now, let's fast forward a couple of years. We've discovered the gene that causes violent tendencies in some people. A few more Columbine's and Oklahoma City bombings down the road, who will stand up and question the need to "eliminate this gene" in the womb?

Insurance companies pay billions each year because of chronic obesity. Will you protest when they get a law passed that says your child's "fat gene" must be removed before birth, or s/he won't be able to get health insurance?

There's an article in last month's Wired magazine about how cloning is either happening now, or will be happening in the near future. If I want to "be like Jeff," who will stand in the way when I clone myself and replace a couple of my genes with a few of his?

Maybe these seem a bit trivial to you, but muse on this for a moment. Different types of people (whites, blacks, Jews, Norwegians) have different genetic patterns that make them the way they are. As we continue teetering down the path of genetic manipulation, who's to stand in the way when someone engineers a virus that only attacks Jews, left handed people or white females? If you happen across it, check out Frank Herbert's book The White Plague for a chilling tale of this exact scenario.

The genetic engineering that is portrayed in Jurassic Park is beginning to reveal itself within our own society. Have we, like Dr. Malcolm, thought things through and come up with the "could/should" paradigm?

Looking around, I don't see that to be the case, and I fear the results may be far worse than three veloci-raptors and a t-rex on an island off the coast of Costa Rica.


DVD Extras

A ton. There's a documentary on the making of the film, collections of paintings, photos and story boards, DVD-ROM stuff for your computer, Internet links and trailers for JP I, II and III. I need to add that the trailer included here for Jurassic Park III is the most boring thing on the disc. Not a great endorsement for the upcoming movie, but there you go.


Conclusion

Okay, if I was breaking this into bits (the review, not the DVD) I'd give the original Crichton story a 10, the screenplay a 5, the visual effects a 9, the acting about a 4 and the sound a good solid 8. It's one of the few instances where I can honestly say that while I loved the book, I didn't hate the movie (Contact is the only other instance I can think of.)

If you don't have this, or your VHS tape is getting worn, consider the Collector's Edition DVD. The nice picture quality (that won't wear out,) fantastic sound and DVD freebies make it a pretty smart purchase.

Now, as a cautionary tale, I can't help but think that, while Jurassic Park is a bit over the top in the sense of a short term double edged blade, it misses the boat (literally and figuratively) in the big picture. "Make some dinosaurs and they'll kill you." Hmm. That kind of sums up the message delivered by the majority of the characters in this film.

Only Dr. Malcolm is allowed the luxury of defining the true problem of the adoption of technology recklessly and without forethought, and even then it's not in the deep sense. Making his character appear as flaky as me doesn't help the cause much either.

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This article was written as a part of wretchedpyro's "Double Edged Blade" write off. Please check out the other great reviews in this series, whose author's are:

David.C, egab01, fez_monkey, foghorn, InfoScott, kurt_messick, lunadisarm, machkick, monssfisch, mtbat, naphtalia, night_vision, Solid_Snake, straight_up, systemdwn, WretchedPyro, and xeno3998