The original is one of my all time favourite films and nothing is going to change that. Jurassic Park worked fine as a standalone story, and the World films are butter scraped over too much bread. I don’t think this was intended to be a franchise in the first place given the way Crichton wrapped things up in the first book. I will say at least The Lost World had Spielberg, Williams and some parts of Crichton’s book to give it a sense of authenticity and atmosphere. If they had to do a sequel that’s where I would’ve ended things.
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I recently watched all 6 films consecutively over the course of a week. Before that, I’d only seen 1 and 2, back in the 90s. Even then, I remember thinking that The Lost World was quite poor compared to the original, notwithstanding that bus-dangling-over-the-cliff scene.
Well a quarter of a century on, the original has grown on me. Not Spielberg’s best movie by any stretch, but still there was much to enjoy and admire. The Lost World is still as poor a movie now as it was then. As for my first exposure to the follow-ups: the 3rd film managed to be considerably worse than TLW. The 4th – Jurassic World – was reasonable. And the 5th and 6th were both dreadful.
The quality drop off in that franchise is quite something. Clearly I’ve gotten too used to the M:I trajectory!
I will give the new film a go at some point, but my expectations remain low.
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I do like the film, mainly because Spielberg once again proves that he can film thrilling setpieces better than anyone else, the story gets nastier with the hunters thinking they can treat dinosaurs like prey, and the Tyrannosaurus Rex wreaking havoc in an American suburb. Oh, and because of Jeff Goldblum, of course.
Nevertheless, it’s not fresh anymore. Just like Jaws 2 never could be as great as the first. How anyone could expect JP 7 be more than serviceable is a mystery to me.
At least they stopped after Jaws 4.
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The Lost World is my favourite Jurassic Park because it’s the most fun… oh and also because of Jeff Goldblum! He is absolutely brilliant in this!
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So, get ready for JP 8…
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Wow. It’s probably been a minute since he’s been told “no.” Sounds like a cool movie, though. I hope Universal rolls the dice on it.
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It is a clear sign that
- Warner has to tighten their belt
- Cruise is not the box office draw he thought he still is
- people start asking why the hell these movies must be so damn expensive
If Universal steps in just to get Cruise on their good side and the movie underperforms, dozens of other films will not get greenlit by Universal.
So I‘m hoping that they will pass or that Liman and Cruise will take a good look at the budget and bring it down.
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The key seems to be this:
What studio is willing to drop $275M on an original, underwater sci-fi film with no built-in audience?
If that was some pre-existing franchise or IP there likely wouldn’t even be a question. But building something original from scratch is just no longer deemed worth the risk.
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Or Warner remembered THE ABYSS (deep sea diving leading to an otherworldly encounter)…
Frankly: audiences have just seen Cruise go diving (no pun). Why do it again?
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They’re no doubt remembering OBLIVION and EDGE OF TOMORROW, both sci-fi vehicles for Cruise costarring somewhat recognizable but far from household names in their female leads, with the latter even directed by Liman. Both, while good films and among Cruise’s more underrated films as of recent, did so-so box office on much smaller budgets. Unless there’s not some other hook that we’re not aware of, it would seem as though a studio would be signing up for more of the same at a higher price tag. Honestly surprised Warners went up to $230 million. Universal would be crazy to agree to that price tag, and this coming from someone who absolutely adores Cruise as an actor and filmmaker.
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This is a key issue for me. I think exciting, action-packed movies can be made for a lot less; and IMHO should be. We are getting close to a time where a big action movie will need to make $1 Billion or be deemed a failure and that’s rediculous.
A lot of times, movies seem to waste money unnecessarily. A good example would be the explosion in SP. If I recall correctly, it was the biggest explosion ever on film. I am guessing it cost a lot, but it didn’t do much for me and I like SP a lot.
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I think we are at the tail end of the unlimited budgets for blockbusters.
For years studios thought they could throw money at a film to get the most lucrative result - even if many flops proved that idea wrong.
Now the studios finally understand that the marketplace won’t give them the returns they were used to.
It will be interesting to see whether even Marvel will have to cut back. If “F4” overperforms, however, they will believe it proved that popular IP always is worth anything.
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That’s a great example. With it being the biggest explosion ever, one would have assumed that it would look awesome on screen. Honestly, that one lone explosion in the CASINO ROYALE parkour chase at the construction yard looked more menacing on screen that that one did. Part of that being, I think anyway, that it looked like Craig and Seydoux were standing in front of a green screen in a warehouse somewhere and Mendes added the footage of the explosion in later. Granted, that’s probably how it works and should work, but it should never LOOK that way. It also doesn’t help that they just kind of look at it happening, shrug their shoulders, and then head on back to London. That was a massive waste of money that EON/MGM could have used to maybe somehow strengthen the film in other places since that explosion added quite literally nothing to the film.
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Absolutely. An explosion which had no emptional resonance, also due to the „one man with a machine gun (and a head injury) easily defeating an army“-action sequence.
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The problem is, SPECTRE’s explosion also has no meaningful impact on the plot. It’s of no consequence whether that base, thoroughly unimpressive as it is, stands or burns or is up on eBay next week. It’s not set up as a physical data storage or the core of the whateveritsnamewas thingy C sets up. It’s a small change villain’s equivalent to a video booth in one of the less reputable sex shops, best not explored what all those Spectre goons are actually doing in there*.
Also, there’s practical no suspense buildup to this big bang, Bond just randomly shoots at vaguely technical looking stuff and the whole affair just chain-reacts over various stations into the final thing. It might just as well have been started by some technician putting in a wrong fuse.
A good example of a buildup for an explosion is Boris playing with the biro. We could expect Boris to end up with the biro-grenade right after they are introduced, yet it’s some considerable tension until the explosion itself.
*Spectre’s FRWL estate in contrast has a tangible physical purpose as a tactical training and ops centre.
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Maybe this needs its own thread?
(gift link)
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Maybe it was. Would go along with the theory that everything post-torture in SPECTRE is just happening in Bond’s head. Bond dreamed he blew the place up but maybe it was Larry, the apprentice electrician on his first day working at Blofeld’s secret lair.
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The response has been very positive so far. Can’t wait to see it tomorrow - I think this has every chance of being Superman’s Batman Begins equivalent in terms of relaunching and saving the cinematic character.
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