Tag Archives: Sci-fi

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

11 Tuesday Feb 2014

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A wealthy family’s pleasure cruise becomes a new occasion
For horror and for trauma of the dinosaur persuasion.
So businessman John Hammond, who has learned from his mistakes(?)
Has decided to dispatch a team for his creations’ sakes.
 
He tells ol’ Ian Malcolm (you remember him, of course)
That some dinos have survived and somehow found a lysine source.
But John’s nephew Peter Ludlow wants to profit from the brutes
And remove them from an island, where the beasts have put down roots.
 
Malcolm tells John that he’s crazy when John offers him a spot
In a survey expedition that still has an open slot.
But when Malcolm learns his girlfriend is already part of it,
He departs to rescue Sarah, who is too headstrong to quit.
 
Though he finds her in one piece, he nonetheless is horrified
When he finds his daughter Kelly has, in secret, hitched a ride.
But then, once they’re all together, a whole helicopter fleet
Drops off Ludlow and his hunters, who are not at all discreet.
 
Malcolm, Sarah, and two others help to free the poachers’ prey
And they take a baby T. rex, who’s too hurt to run away.
While they try to heal the infant, Mom and Dad arrive on edge.
Once they have him, they then push our heroes’ trailer off a ledge.
 
All survivors band together, both the bad guys and the good,
And the body count starts rising, as most viewers knew it would.
One is stepped on; one just walks into an open mouth (which shuts);
One is nibbled by what’s equal to a thousand paper cuts.
 
Yet eventually, they make it to a radio that works,
But a male T. rex is captured as the villain Ludlow smirks.
He then has it shipped by freighter to a San Diego dock,
But the boat arrives by crashing and is lifeless, to his shock.
 
Then the T. rex male emerges, and he’s frankly mad as heck,
And his rampage through the streets leaves San Diego in a wreck.
But, with baby Rex, both Ian and his girlfriend lure the beast
To the ship again, where Ludlow ends up being Junior’s feast.
 
They return the giant creature and its child to the isle,
And mankind at least will try to keep his distance…for a while.
___________________________
 

The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which has an oddly flipped title for a sequel, has the same kind of thrills, chills, and kills that made the original such a success, but it’s missing something, namely intelligent characters. I mean, honestly, except for Ian, everyone is way too stupid to participate in such a dangerous mission. From wandering off too far to go to the bathroom to freaking out over a snake when a T. rex is right on top of them, the hunters are just plain dumb. One supposed expert tells everyone not to wander into the tall grass, but, when everyone else does in panic, he follows them and pays with his life! Even the Velociraptors are dumbed down, having apparently lost their ability to open doors.

Still, a clever script, restrained language, and some impressive, if somewhat violent, creature effects help to move the story along at a brisk pace, and the action sequence with the T. rexes attacking a trailer is particularly riveting. I also believe this one is better than the third film, which suffered from a short length and recycled plot elements. After all, in that one, Sam Neill was too stupid to wait for a check to clear before journeying to a dino-infested island, a mistake Vince Vaughn was at least smart enough to not make in this film. Also, Lost World manages some originality, which other films later drew from. The aforementioned “long grass” scene was reimagined with pygmies in 2001’s The Mummy Returns, and the line “There’s a dinosaur in our backyard” seems suspiciously similar to “There’s a monster outside my room, can I have a glass of water?” in 2002’s Signs. While not perfect, The Lost World is still a worthy addition to the Jurassic Park franchise, and, as for the original film, readers may see it somewhere higher up on the list.

Best line: (Malcolm to Ludlow) “When you try to sound like Hammond, it comes off as a hustle. I mean, it’s not your fault. They say talent skips a generation. So, I’m sure your kids will be sharp as tacks.”

 
Artistry: 5
Characters/Actors: 4
Entertainment: 6
Visual Effects: 6
Originality: 6
Watchability: 5
Other (language and violence): -3
 
TOTAL: 29 out of 60
 

Tomorrow: #323: The Road to El Dorado

© 2014 S. G. Liput

 

City of Ember (2008)

20 Monday Jan 2014

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The city of Ember lies deep underground,
And all believe they’re the last humans around,
For some huge disaster that stays undefined
Has forced man below “for the good of mankind.”
This city of light bulbs can thank its creators
For granting it one of the best generators,
Supplying its power for as long as it takes,
So its citizens won’t know of mankind’s mistakes.
These Builders provide some advice, it appears,
For leaving the town after two hundred years.
They give this dear box to the city’s first mayor,
But it somehow gets lost, till it’s found by a pair
Of teens who’ve lived here since before they remember,
But suspect that perhaps it is time to leave Ember.
 
This Lina Mayfleet swaps jobs with Doon Harrow
So she can run messages through the streets narrow.
While Doon’s thoughts of working in Pipeworks are mixed,
He hopes, through his efforts, the power can be fixed.
For blackouts are frequent as lights start to flicker,
And food shortages make the citizens bicker.
Down deep in a closet, Mayfleet finds the case
And pieces together the rules put in place.
 
Both Lina and Doon, out on tunnel patrol,
Just barely escape a gargantuan mole,
And later they find that, while food’s getting rare,
The Mayor has stocked full his own secret lair.
They dig ever deeper and find that their fathers
Once tried to leave Ember (since no one else bothers),
But failed, since they didn’t know where they should go,
But, thanks to that box, Doon and Lina now know.
 
Once Lina accuses the Mayor of stealing,
He wants them arrested to hide his dark dealing.
So Lina and Doon, with her young sister Poppy,
Knowing the Builders were careful, not sloppy,
Find clues in the Pipeworks, and, with their instructions,
Review and complete their escape’s reconstruction.
Meanwhile, the mayor fears his future’s not bright,
And, back in his bunker, the mole proves him right.
 
The children, with faith as their ultimate guide,
Take the way out, which includes a flume ride.
They find the earth vacant but bright and alive,
And invite Ember up, where they once more can thrive.
____________________________
 

City of Ember, based on the novel by Jeanne DuPrau, completes the trilogy of young adult books-turned-movies here at the bottom of the list, which also includes Eragon and Inkheart. City of Ember is higher than these others because it avoids some of their obvious flaws, neither feeling too rushed nor annoying me with its departures from the source material, perhaps because I haven’t read DuPrau’s bestseller. But, even as a film on its own, it succeeds best in creating a believable world brought to life by an impressive set design. The acting is also quite good across the board with Saoirse Ronan and Harry Treadaway being quite believable as Lina and Doon, not to mention Bill Murray’s hammy performance as the mayor.

Like the two previously mentioned fantasies, City of Ember never got the sequel it deserved since neither critics nor audiences embraced it. While many referred to flaws and unanswered questions in the plot, I think the film did an excellent job at revealing (through National Treasure-style clue-finding) just enough to keep one interested while peeling more away as the characters discover things for themselves. It certainly has fewer open mysteries than Prometheus did.

The score, while less memorable than Eragon’s, is nice, but the special effects are a tad inconsistent. I thought the people of Ember were unusually apathetic, but that doesn’t necessarily surprise me, considering how many people tend to act like sheep in situations they think are out of their control. There are also some very interestingly photographed scenes, such as the initial passing down of the box and the dropping of the rock at the end. Also, did anyone think the mayor’s comeuppance was reminiscent of Paul Reiser’s end in Aliens? While the finale inexplicably has the heroes’ riding down waterfalls and yet somehow ending up aboveground, the end nevertheless had me wanting more. Many adults may write it off as kids’ fare, but City of Ember is a decent dystopian adventure that was sadly left by the wayside.

Best line: “Ours is the only light in a dark world.” (the end of Ember’s pledge of allegiance)

Artistry: 5
Characters/Actors: 5
Entertainment: 5
Visual Effects: 4
Originality: 4
Watchability: 5
 
TOTAL: 28 out of 60
 

Tomorrow: #345: Entrapment

© 2014 S. G. Liput

Prometheus (2012)

18 Saturday Jan 2014

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An alien humanoid visits the Earth
And drinks a dark liquid that helps to give birth
To the whole human race, by inducing decay
Of the alien’s body, to spread DNA.
 
In the future, some scientists find common bonds
In ancient cave paintings; a star corresponds,
So Elizabeth Shaw and Holloway too
Think their creators are out there. (Do you?)
So they tell Peter Weyland, a dying patrician,
Who sends them and others on this expedition.
 
They fly for two years to the farthest of places
Till David, an android, awakes them from stasis.
Their ship, the Prometheus, lands on a moon,
And Holloway’s eager to find something soon.
Thinking they’ve found their progenitors’ home,
They enter a hollow, gargantuan dome.
They find some black urns, but not what they seek,
So David takes one, and the rest start to leak.
They do bag a guillotined alien head,
But a storm sends them back to their vessel instead.
 
Two redshirts are left and don’t live through the night,
For that liquid spawns something that gives us a fright.
Meanwhile, poor Holloway’s given a drink
That David has spiked with that dangerous ink.
He’s sick by next morning, and things go awry
When Holloway says that he’d much rather die.
But Shaw was impregnated by him last night
And has a machine cut her open (that’s right!)
And take out an odious, squid-like offspring.
She then locks the door to trap the gross thing.
 
Shaw finds out that Weyland is onboard, and why?
He hopes that his makers can help him not die.
They visit an alien Dave found asleep.
Dave tries to communicate, but talk is cheap.
The alien kills all but Shaw and prepares
To take off for Earth. Though our DNA’s theirs,
These Engineers somehow decided to spread
This liquid to Earth to kill us instead.
The alien tries to fulfill now that mission,
But Prometheus’ captain won’t give him permission.
The two ships collide, leaving Shaw the last here,
For she sics her own offspring on that Engineer.
With poor David’s head, she takes some other ship
To find further answers on some other trip.
__________________
 

I was originally not going to have Prometheus on my list because of the language, some very disturbing scenes, and quite a few unanswered questions. Yet Prometheus is the kind of film that keeps one thinking, and, after much consideration, I think I at least have some good theories to satisfy that last point.

I think the black liquid is a powerful mutagen, which is much more severe when ingested. That seems to answer questions like “Where did that snake thing come from?” (from the worms that were exposed to the fluid), “What happened to Holloway and Fifield?” (Holloway was experiencing a slower version of what happened to the alien at the beginning, and Fifield, who did not ingest it, was simply going berserk), and “What happened to the Engineers?” (I tend to think there was a leak, and they killed themselves in the same way Holloway preferred to die. The fact that the head, when reactivated, started breaking down seems to back up this theory.) The fact that the Engineer did not end up in the chair where one was found in Alien tells me that the crew of the Nostromo must have landed on a different planet, perhaps to be visited and set up appropriately in Prometheus 2. Someone else might have very well figured all this out already, but my coming to my own conclusions allowed me to better appreciate the film, though there are still a few unanswered questions about David’s motivations and such. The film left my VC a bit confused at first, but, upon a second viewing, she better understood and liked the film.

The outstanding special effects are light-years ahead of the original Alien, and, though Prometheus takes some cues from its predecessor/sequel, such as ending with a countdown and killing off nearly everyone, it also is able to stand alone, as director Ridley Scott wanted all along.

As a Christian, I don’t believe for a second that aliens created mankind, but this assertion in the film is tempered by Shaw’s unconvincing but sincere faith and her pointing out that someone must have made the Engineers. I find the gruesome, abortion-like surgery scene to be messed up on way too many levels, and Peter Weyland’s death scene seemed very abrupt considering everything before it, but the rest of the film mostly makes up for its faults.

Best line: The aforementioned quote questioning, “Okay, who made the Engineers then?”

 
Artistry: 7
Characters/Actors: 6
Entertainment: 5
Visual Effects: 10
Originality: 6
Watchability: 5
Other (violence, especially surgery scene): -7
Other (confusing elements): -4
 
TOTAL: 28 out of 60
 

Tomorrow: #347: Despicable Me

© 2014 S. G. Liput