Jurassic World – In Cinemas Thursday – Jurassic Park: The Definitive Blockbuster
As Jurassic World fills the multiplexes this month, the latest of this year’s big summer blockbusters, it presents an opportunity to examine the original 22 years after it first blew audiences away. Despite all that has happened since 1993, Jurassic Park is still the definitive summer blockbuster, yet it’s also one that goes somewhat against convention for what we’ve come to expect from a blockbuster these days.
On the surface it is an adventure about escaping dinosaurs. Deeply beneath that surface, it’s a fable about the dangers of acting upon scientific discovery. Essentially, it’s a re-working of Frankenstein. A scientist creates something that develops its own take and understandings on the world it inhabits and mankind is powerless to control that which it has made.
It is here that we can see something in Jurassic Park that is somewhat surprising for a big summer film – the heroes are actually the villains of the piece. It’s humans that are indirectly responsible for the demise of many of the characters and dangers that evolve.
The films best scene takes place, not amidst impressive CGI and dinosaur attacks, but in the canteen where what has been witnessed by Dr Sattler, Dr Grant, Ian Malcolm and Donald Gennaro is discussed with the parks creator, John Hammond. ‘How can we stand on the shores of discovery and not act?’ Hammond asks his guests. He is a scientist that has done something incredible, but that doesn’t mean it’s right. He hasn’t really thought about what happens next; the consequences of his actions, whether what he has done is scientifically moral or socially responsible.
As Ian Malcolm states ‘Your scientists were so pre-occupied with whether they could, that they didn’t stop to think if they should’. The film is highlighting the dangers of mankind interfering with nature and natural selection, or ‘the rape of the natural world’ as Malcolm charmingly puts it. There’s a blind assumption that, because Hammond has created the dinosaurs, he can control the eco-system and the creatures themselves – man has become drunk with power and this, will be its undoing.
As Dr Sattler says, ‘these are aggressive living things that have no idea what century they’re in and they’ll defend themselves, violently if necessary’. Lo and behold, that is what happens when the man made security procedures fail and the human characters fall down the food chain, while natural science takes over and the dinosaurs breed. And it’s mankind’s fault – by playing God, they create something more powerful than they can imagine that tries to destroy them, despite their own brilliance.
How many summer films over the past twenty years have had such deep themes and complex morals that are so prevalent to a world in which we are constantly trying to push the scientific boundaries beyond human understanding? You can probably count them on one hand.
Yet while it is a deep film on many levels, it is also great fun. It’s remarkable effects still stand up to this day, largely down to Spielberg’s use on animatronics rather than an overt use of CGI. It also has a sprinkling of humour and a huge sense of adventure (although, somewhat bizarrely, a lack of romantic sub plot, Malcolm’s casual flirting with Sattler aside).
It is a complete standalone film. Obvious, you might think, but this is another way in which the film is set apart from many a modern blockbuster. They’re so interested in creating a franchise that they forget to have a story the first time around. This is a criticism pointed mainly at superhero films, often interested almost solely in introducing characters and future story strands the first time around. And just look at how every Marvel film in the Avengers series seems to be building up to something else, even eleven films into the series.
While Jurassic Park has spawned three sequels, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park 3 were largely uninspiring and often forgotten about. There was also no sequel ‘hook’ at the end, no cut back to an unresolved plot point or argument still to be had. It’s quite telling that of the principle cast only Jeff Goldblum in The Lost World: Jurassic World and Sam Neill in Jurassic Park 3 have returned for anything more than fleeting cameos. The dinosaurs take over and no man nor machine could stop them.
Hammond, in a break from the character in Michael Chricton’s source novel, comes to accept this. The park is not endorsed. It might be back up and running for Jurassic World, but the plot looks like a little more than a re-tread of the original with the tagline of ‘The Park is open’ and a ‘hybrid’ dinosaur creation being the only overt difference. This YouTube video suggests it may even be a shot for shot re-make on some levels.
In a world where most Blockbusters offer little by way of originality, Jurassic Park exists as its own unique beast. It’s a remarkable film, one that has stood the test of time. One that still has something to say. One with a spectacle of both terror and grace. It’s an adventure 65 million years in the making that will last for as long as there is cinema.
Written by Phil Slatter
JURASSIC WORLD HITS CINEMAS ON JUNE 11
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