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Jurassic Park (1993)

Director: Steven Spielberg

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From Time Out London

No 3D enhancements or spiced-up SFX, just a straight digital restoration for Steven Spielberg’s multiplex marvel, the film which established CGI as the dominant force in mainstream moviemaking. You know the plot – crumbly billionaire Dickie Attenborough resurrects prehistoric lizards for a fast buck, nature rebels, Sam Neill and assorted brats attempt to avoid becoming lunch.

But time cannot dull the jawdropping impact of the film’s key sequences: the first brontosaurus encounter, the T-rex chase, the velociraptor attack. Famously, the film was edited concurrently with the shooting of ‘Schindler’s List’, and one can’t help thinking that it must have been as much of an escape for its director as it went on to be for his audience. Either way, this is one of the peaks of modern blockbuster cinema: a little rough around the edges, perhaps (that ultra-convenient ending is still a let-down), but crammed with invention, wit, skill and, as usual for Spielberg, more than its fair share of perfectly judged, off-kilter character moments.

Author: Tom Huddleston

Time Out London Issue 2144: 22-28 Sept, 2011


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