So, yeah, imagine being six years old in 1992. Dinosaurs Magazine is out
in the shops weekly, and you read about the Drinker-Cope and the Bone
Wars. You've seen King Kong and the stopmotion dinosaurs of that and
much underrated Valley of Gwanji. You have dinosaur toys and Dinotopia
and much like the rest of your class and every child that age you are
mad about dinosaurs.
And then, whispers in the playground. There's a film coming called Jurassic Park. Confirmed by parents. Momentum builds. You are too young, all of you, for behind the scenes stuff or Empire magazine, you just know a film about dinosaurs is coming in the Summer.
And the wait continues on for so long. Mark Purves in class asking if it was time for Jurassic Park yet instead of answering a question about World War 2, and there were other moments. Weeks and weeks and the anticipation built until... it was there in the cinema.
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But then, a roadblock. Mum isn't keen on a 7 year old going to see the film based on reviews, so sends Dad and his brother Matthew to go check it out. Matthew smoking through the film, responding to complaints that there was no signs about smoking and then, on leaving the cinema, seeing a huge "thank you for not smoking" sign. But Dad said the film was fine for a child.
He did not tell mum about the Raptors. Or the lawyer.
1993. Muirend Cinema. A soft drink and huge bag of popcorn. The curtain rises. I couldn't tell you any of the trailers or adverts now, 26 years on.
What I can tell you is this old indy cinema (sadly no longer with us) was packed to the rafters. Kids, parents, Old Kids (like dad), grandparents.
And when those majestic Brachiosaurs move into view, with the camera swooping upwards to catch their splendour and John Williams ace melodic and celebratory signature theme kicked in, the entire cinema cheered.
¤¤¤¤ing dinosaurs! On the screen!
Time has a habit of dating stuff, but over a quarter of a century on, I go back to Jurassic Park and realise what a great film it is. By focusing on the humans and keeping the dinosaurs in the background, the less is more structure allows the creatures to feel living breathing co-stars in their own world. Yes, the Raptors show up more often than the shark from Jaws, but just enough to make their mark and no more.
A stellar cast is marshaled by Sam Neill, Laura Dern and the magnificent Richard Attenborough, and is so packed of good actors that the lesser roles are taken by people like the much missed Bob Peck and the fun Samuel L Jackson (in an early pre-fame role). John Williams as composer produces his best music since Star Wars, and the camera work, and heavy use of discretionary shots, allow the child audience to keep well within suspension of disbelief.
John Hammond (Attenborough) wanted to open a theme park that felt real. So he cloned dinosaurs and put them on display. He brings some experts along to judge the authenticity and to get them to sign off the safety of the park after one of the workers was mauled by a Raptor. So he brings along Dern, Neill and Jeff Goldblum, who is all full of "life will find a way". Also, Hammond's team breed apex predators for realism too. Unfortunately, Hammond wasn't paying attention to the dire financial situation of his chief programmer, Nedry, and apparently was paying peanuts to the staff that kept everyone alive. This combo leads Nedry to turn wouldbe industrial spy, and turn off the electricity to get the secrets out of dodge. Turning off the electricity to those fences keeping the T.Rex safe and out of the way.
Munching follows.
This is the creature flick to follow all creature flicks. No Jurassic Park film ever quite achieved this greatness, this element of film history. Stan Winston and some nifty but brief CGI achieved something hitherto unachievable on film. When we took Granda George to see the film, his response before hand was: "Ah son, I've seen them all, its either a man in a suit or a model. The T.Rex is never right up there in front of you."
Post-film, there was he was in the car park, smoking a cig, hands trembling with the come down from an adrenaline high. "They were right up there in front of you!"
We also took Granda Bob (Mum's dad) to see the film of course, as the main dinosaur fandom inspiration in the family. He sat through the whole thing with a huge grin on his face.
I could go on and on about the great bits of this film. The Gallimimus charge. The T.Rex escape. The genuine jump out of your seat "Mr Arnold lends a hand". The industrial secrets lost, covered by mud, signifying all the death and disaster is for nowt.
But, let's go back to 1993. September time. We were asked for a sentence with "half" in it. My suggestion - "Half the class have been to see Jurassic Park more than once."
Stegosaurus Davison (well, Simon claimed that's what the S stood for) looked unconvinced. "How many of you have been to see Jurassic Park more than once?"
Every single hand in the class went up.
Some films achieve greatness. Some are fun. Some films are factually 10/10 like Citizen Kane or The Third Man or Rear Window. But... sod them all, Jurassic Park is the greatest film ever made. Preference over fact.
Because you see, for kids of my generation, this WAS our Star Wars. Our shared cultural cinematic event. And it more than held up.
And now, watching it 26 years on, it more than holds up.
This is one of the great films in modern cinema. And if you ask me (and this is my review), on the Mount Rushmore of modern cinema horror/thriller/sf/fantasy/whatever genre you want to call it.
10/10
So totally recommended.
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