Jurassic Park Series

[Undeadite]

JP2 was definitely entertaining, but it was really convoluted. There was a lot of needless buildup, and the final act on the mainland felt like an entirely different flick. It should have ended with Malcolm and Sarah discovering that the T-Rex had been taken off the island and had the third be set entirely in the city.

[SM]

now that is surprising. JP2 was so much more entertaining.

Bits were.  It took itself too seriously.  And the ending was arguably worse than JP3.  At least JP3 ended quickly.

[DoomRulz]

I don't understand people's beef with JP2's ending. We knew Ludlow wanted to bring back the T.Rex in the first place. The outcome of that shouldn't have been foregone in my opinion.

[SM]

I think I already said my peice about the end of JP2 on this thread.  Suffice to say that Undeadite echoed it above.

[First Blood]

The whole point of INGEN going to the island was to capture the animals, hence them in the cages when Nick Van Owen released them. They were going to set up a theme park in San Diego. Then everything went to hell. And the only salvageable animal was the T-Rex. I agree with DoomRulz, I have no issue with the second act/ending of the film.

[Undeadite]

But there didn't need to be an hour and a half to get from Isla Sorna to San Diego. Had the raptor attack been fleshed out a little bit, it would have been a very fun climactic ending. Instead there was the crash at the peer (which is just as confusing as the opening to Alien 3) and another twenty minutes of buildup to a mediocre showdown with the T-Rex that was reminiscent to the car chase in the first film. If the whole point of the film was to get to San Diego, it would have been more productive to make the entire film a bridge and have the mainland attack done right in the next movie.

[DoomRulz]

You mean end it on a cliffhanger? Hm, I do remember SM mentioning that now that I think about it, but it would've been silly. That sort of thing doesn't work in movies for me. I don't want to wait for 3 years or so for the next film to come out, assuming it does at all. This isn't like TV where you know for sure you'll get a follow-up episode.

[First Blood]

And at that point, I don't think Spielberg wanted to invest in another 1 to 2 years of planning another movie. He felt he should end it there.

[SM]

You mean end it on a cliffhanger? Hm, I do remember SM mentioning that now that I think about it, but it would've been silly. That sort of thing doesn't work in movies for me. I don't want to wait for 3 years or so for the next film to come out, assuming it does at all. This isn't like TV where you know for sure you'll get a follow-up episode.

It's Jurassic Park.  It's not like it's not going to make enormous amounts of money.  Plus they coulda done like BTTF or LOTR and shot 2 and 3 back to back after the success of the first film.

And it worked an absolute treat for Empire Strikes Back.

[First Blood]

Jurassic Park is one of the highest grossing films of all time.

[Undeadite]

Even if the cliffhanger was never given a conclusion, it would have left the possibility of a movie that could have been better than the third movie we got. Spielberg could have pushed for a package deal if the script assumed there would be a third film.

If a contract for two films couldn't have been made, then there still could have been improvements made to the ending. For a climax it felt weak. The duel T-Rex attack against the convoy and the raptors were far more engaging and terrifying. Overall, I felt the buildup lead nowhere.

[SM]

Yep.  And like the start of Saving Private Ryan, they were sequences in the wrong part of the film.  And as I also think I said the climax lacked Van Owen and Roland, which didn't help it all.

[First Blood]

What do you mean about Saving Private Ryan? If you mean by Ryan in the cemetery when he's old, the film is about him *recalling, remembering* the events that took place.

[SM]

That was a whole other problem when Ryan was remembering events he never witnessed...

No, I meant the major setpeice for the film was in the first 20 minutes, and they could never top that spectacle for the rest of the film.

[Undeadite]

I noticed that too. Had that sequence been broken up and introduced throughout the course of the film it would have made it a bit better, but to be honest I don't know how the pacing would have worked built around it.

In any case, as much as I love Lost World, I can't help but tune out once they get into the helicopter at the end.