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May 1997, Week 4

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Subject:
From:
Donald Larsson <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 27 May 1997 12:19:51 -0600
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Chris Ames complains:
"On another note, I was surprised by how bad The Lost World was--not
even up to the highly commercial standards of Jurassic Park.  The
Lost World seems very poorly plotted (Goldblum's character's daughter
is entirely wasted, for example; Postlethwaite disappears for the
final sequence where he might have been useful (great white hunter
saves San Diego?); the mass of characters on the island provides an
excess of victims and a shortage of developed characters; the
cliffhanger scene is excruciatingly long).  What a mess!  And
from Spielberg who generally has extraordinary narrative gifts."
 
 
I found myself pleasantly surprised--given how low my expectations were.
The major delights, such as they were, were simply in the suspense and
fright elements--rather than the attempt at Wonder that the first film
tried for.  Yes, the daughter's role could have been developed more (as
could the heroine's).  But Postlethwaite's disappearance made sense in
context--I just wish there had been more leading up to it.
 
The most interesting thing about the film was its reversion to an old
Spielberg film--the primacy of Family and especially the Responsibility
of the Father.  No, I don't mean Goldblum--although his character fits
in her.  I mean the male T. rex!
 
Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)
 
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